South-Eastern Asia
Video Chat with People from Myanmar
"Mingalaba" is the hello you'll hear first from most people in Myanmar, whether they're in busy downtown Yangon, in Mandalay, near the temple plains of Bagan or in a village on Inle Lake. Burmese is the main language, alongside regional languages such as Shan, Karen and Mon. English is more common in Yangon and among younger adults who studied it, so simple English sprinkled with a few Burmese words usually works well.
Myanmar keeps an unusual clock: UTC+6:30, half an hour behind Thailand, with no daylight saving. An 8 PM chat in Yangon lands mid-morning on the US East Coast and mid-afternoon in Western Europe. Food is the easiest way in: ask about mohinga, the fish noodle soup often eaten for breakfast, tea leaf salad or Shan noodles. Football, chinlone (a cane-ball game played with the feet) and favorite tea shops come close behind. To meet people there specifically, pick Myanmar in Omlet's country filter.
Myanmar at a glance
| Flag | 🇲🇲 |
|---|---|
| Official name | Republic of the Union of Myanmar |
| Capital | Naypyidaw |
| Region | Asia · South-Eastern Asia |
| Official language | Burmese |
| Currency | Burmese kyat (Ks, MMK) |
| Calling code | +95 |
| Time zone | Myanmar Time (Asia/Yangon) |
How to say hello
A few words of Burmese make a great first impression, even if you switch to English right after.
| Language | Phrase | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burmese | မင်္ဂလာပါ | min-gah-lah-BAH | Hello |
| Burmese | နေကောင်းလား | nay KOWNG lah | Are you well? / How are you? |
| Burmese | ထမင်းစားပြီးပြီလား | tha-MIN sah PEE-bee lah | Have you eaten yet? (a friendly, casual greeting) |
Tips for chatting with people from Myanmar
- Burmese names usually have no family name, so there's no "first" and "last" name to split; just ask what they'd like you to call them.
- Add the half hour when you convert times: 9 PM in Bangkok is 8:30 PM in Yangon. Our time zone guide walks through the math.
- Ask about Thingyan, the April water festival that marks the Burmese New Year; it's a cheerful topic with plenty of stories.
- Connections vary from place to place, so if the video stutters, keep going in the text chat for a minute before pressing Next.
Only meet people from Myanmar
Omlet matches you Worldwide by default. To meet only people from Myanmar, use the country filter, the only filter Omlet has:
- Open Omlet and press Country on the control panel.
- Search for Myanmar and select it.
- Press Start. Press Next to meet someone else from Myanmar, or switch back to Worldwide any time.
Your first day is free: you add a card through Stripe to start it, and nothing is charged that day. When the 24 hours end, the country filter costs $3 one time, charged to that card, unless you cancel before then in Settings (if you cancel, you can still pick a country until the day ends). It's not a subscription, and it stays unlocked on that device and browser. It doesn't carry over to other devices or browsers, and clearing your browser data removes it. There's one free day per device, home network and card. Payment goes through Stripe, so Omlet never sees your card number.
The filter works both ways, and matching can be slower when fewer people from Myanmar are online. Chatting itself is free, and Worldwide matching never costs anything.
Your own country is detected automatically and shown to the people you meet as a flag.
Neighboring countries
Myanmar borders 5 countries. Curious about the people next door? Meet them too: