Burmese language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Burmese |
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ျမန္မာစကား (written Burmese) ျမန္မာစကား (spoken Burmese) |
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Pronunciation | IPA: [mjəmàzà] or IPA: [mjəmà zəɡá] | |||
Region | Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore | |||
Ethnicity | Bamar people | |||
Native speakers | 33 million (2007) Second language: 10 million |
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Language family |
Sino-Tibetan
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Early forms: |
Old Burmese
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Writing system | Burmese script | |||
Official status | ||||
Official language in | ![]() |
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Regulated by | Myanmar Language Commission | |||
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Burmese (in Burmese ba-ma-sa, pronounced /baa-MAA-saa/) is a language spoken in Myanmar. Burmese is a Sino-Tibetan language, meaning that is close to Chinese and Tibetan.
Burmese has three tones (high, medium, low: plus two 'stops or abbreviated additional, qualifying 'tones), no gender {have natural gender e.g. saya (male teacher), sayama(female teacher)}, and no tense. Burmese has many English and Indian words(loan words) though is a very distinct and full language itself with a long history and substantial numbers of proudly articulated dialects.
Examples
Here are some examples of words and sentences in Burmese.
Hello = min-ga-la-ba
How are you? = Nei kaun la?
I am (name) = Cha-naw yè nan-bè ga _______
(Kya-naw is replaced with kya-ma for females.
What is your name? = Ka-mya na mei be' lo khal le' (OR) na mei be' lo khal le' (You can omit "Ka-mya=You")
Are you from Burma? = Nae ba-ma pyi ga la da la?
(Note: To ask if someone is from other countries, just replace ba-ma pyi with any of the countries below.)
- America = A-mè-ree-ka
- France = Pyin-thit
- Britain = In-ga-lan
- Germany = Ja-ma-nee
- Russia = Ra-sha
- Thailand = Yoe-da-ya
- Japan = Ja-pan
- Chinese = Ta-yote
- Indian = in-di-yah
Images for kids
