Literature of Laos families: Lao-Tai (Tai-Kadai); Mon-Khmer (Austroasiatic); Hmong-Mien (Miao-Yao), and Sino-Tibetan (primarily Tibeto-Burman). As an inland crossroads of Southeast Asia the political history of Laos has been complicated by frequent warfare and colonial conquests by European and regional rivals. As a result, Laos today has cultural influence from France, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Burma, and Cambodia. Traditionally literature is held high regard in Lao society. Lao literature spans a wide range of genres including religious, philosophy, prose, epic or lyric poetry, histories, traditional law and customs, folklore, astrology, rituals, grammar and lexicography, dramas, romances, comedies, and non-fiction. Lao thematic elements frequently combine the
French language in Cambodia Cambodian, Cantonese Chinese, and Teochew Chinese. Cambodian French is based on standard Parisian French but contains more differences from standard French than the dialects of Vietnam and Laos. French-language media is present in Cambodia, though less so than in Vietnam and Laos. The nation boasts a French-language newspaper, "Cambodge Nouveau" (and had another, "Cambodge Soir", until 2010), as well as French-language television channels. French language in Cambodia Cambodia is the smallest of the three Francophone communities in Southeast Asia, the others being found in Vietnam and Laos. Out of all Asian Francophone nations, Cambodia is where French has declined the