Southeast A sian Mainland

Mainland Southeast Asia refers to the countries of Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The national language of each is written in its own distinctive script, and with the exception of Thai and Lao, which are closely related, they are mutually unintelligible. In the past these countries have often been at war with one another and, even today, many citizens of the region have grown up with attitudes of indifference, suspicion, or hostility toward the countries which border their own. translations of novels from one Southeast Asian language to another are almost nonexistent; the novel has developed separately in each of the five countries, responding to literary influences from outside the region more than from within.