I didn't think Laotian culture was disappearing, it might just seem like it in certain areas.
As long as there's a Laos with Laotian practicing the same thing they always have, it'll be there.
As for how to preserve any culture. The best way is to teach your kids about it, even if they don't like it, eventually they'll grow to appreciate it as an adult.
People tend to forget about how important culture is when they marry outside of their ethnicity, it's even harder when you live in a country like America where the American culture tends to take over. If you don't teach your kids, they won't know or understand it's importance and won't be able to pass it on to their kids. Some times, kids of mix ethnicity tend to sway one way or the other and if their parents don't teach them, society will take over and imbue their kids with what ever culture is dominant in their region.
I have a lot of mix cousins. One is half Vietnamese and when she was younger she saw both sides of the family equally but could only speak Vietnamese and English, her mom didn't bother to teach her Laotian. She picked up a few words from spending summers with my grandparents.
My nephew's mom is Korean and they live far away from my side of the family, besides that his wife is very controlling and tends to not what anything to do with our family (even though we've been nothing but nice to her). Her family is going to play a big part in his life, I don't think he'll even know anything about his Laotian side, he'll most likely grow up to know only Korean and English. My dad bought this gold/jade Buddha charm and necklace for him (nephew) for his birthday but my brother's wife wouldn't let him wear it. She was brought up in a very conservative Christian household.
My aunt's husband is mix, he's Czech/Korean so I don't know how they'll raise their son. I have a feeling he'll learn something about Laotian culture because my aunt is pretty close to the family (even though they live on the East coast), it helps that her husband seems to really like Laotian food
. He'll eat things my aunt wouldn't and he was even willing to do their engagement the Laotian traditional way.
My cousin's wife is hispanic and they have a kid together. They live with my grandparents so he's leaning more towards Laotian than hispanic even though he looks so obviously mix. It's so cute because my grandmother taught him to "why" or "toot" not sure if it's the same thing but it looks the same. He understands Laotian but he hasn't learned to verbalize words yet (only English words) and he loves sticky rice.
As long as there's a Laos with Laotian practicing the same thing they always have, it'll be there.
As for how to preserve any culture. The best way is to teach your kids about it, even if they don't like it, eventually they'll grow to appreciate it as an adult.
People tend to forget about how important culture is when they marry outside of their ethnicity, it's even harder when you live in a country like America where the American culture tends to take over. If you don't teach your kids, they won't know or understand it's importance and won't be able to pass it on to their kids. Some times, kids of mix ethnicity tend to sway one way or the other and if their parents don't teach them, society will take over and imbue their kids with what ever culture is dominant in their region.
I have a lot of mix cousins. One is half Vietnamese and when she was younger she saw both sides of the family equally but could only speak Vietnamese and English, her mom didn't bother to teach her Laotian. She picked up a few words from spending summers with my grandparents.
My nephew's mom is Korean and they live far away from my side of the family, besides that his wife is very controlling and tends to not what anything to do with our family (even though we've been nothing but nice to her). Her family is going to play a big part in his life, I don't think he'll even know anything about his Laotian side, he'll most likely grow up to know only Korean and English. My dad bought this gold/jade Buddha charm and necklace for him (nephew) for his birthday but my brother's wife wouldn't let him wear it. She was brought up in a very conservative Christian household.
My aunt's husband is mix, he's Czech/Korean so I don't know how they'll raise their son. I have a feeling he'll learn something about Laotian culture because my aunt is pretty close to the family (even though they live on the East coast), it helps that her husband seems to really like Laotian food
. He'll eat things my aunt wouldn't and he was even willing to do their engagement the Laotian traditional way. My cousin's wife is hispanic and they have a kid together. They live with my grandparents so he's leaning more towards Laotian than hispanic even though he looks so obviously mix. It's so cute because my grandmother taught him to "why" or "toot" not sure if it's the same thing but it looks the same. He understands Laotian but he hasn't learned to verbalize words yet (only English words) and he loves sticky rice.
