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Cantonese
Cantonese

Lao
Lao



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Cantonese
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Lao

Cantonese vs Lao

Lao
Lao
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Countries

Countries

Hong Kong, Macau
Laos

Total No. Of Countries

21
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

China, Guangdong
Laos, Northeastern Thailand

Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Not spoken in any of the countries

Speaking Continents

Asia
Asia

Minority Language

Hawaii
Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

Civil Service Bureau, Government of Hong Kong, Official Language Division
-

Interesting Facts

  • Cantonese have lot of slangs, many of them include words that do not make sense at all and some also have English in them.
  • Even though Cantonese and Mandarin are dialects of Chinese, Cantonese has 8 tones instead of Mandarin's 4.
  • There is no space left between words, only between phrases or sentences in Lao language.
  • The Lao alphabets has been reformed many times over the past 50 years.

Similar To

Chinese Language
Thai Language

Derived From

-
Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2853
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

828
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2027
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Chinese Characters and derivatives
Thai and Lao Braille

Writing Direction

Left-To-Right, Horizontal, Top-To-Bottom
Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

106
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

88 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

您好
ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i)

Thank You

谢谢
ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)

How Are You?

你好吗?
ສະບາຍດີບ (sába̖ai-di̖i baw?)

Good Night

晚安
ໃນຕອນກາງຄືນ ທີ່ດີ (naitonkangkhun thidi)

Good Evening

晚上好
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ແລງ (sa bai di ton aelng)

Good Afternoon

下午好
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ສວາຍ (sa bai di ton suaai)

Good Morning

早上好
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ເຊົ້າ (sa bai di ton sao)

Please

ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)

Sorry

遗憾
ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)

Bye

再见
Sôhk dii der

I Love You

我爱你
ຂ້ອຍ​ຮັກ​ເຈົ້າ (khony hak chao)

Excuse Me

原谅我
ຂໍ​ໂທດ (kho othd)

Dialects

Dialect 1

Guangzhou
Vientiane Lao

Where They Speak

outside mainland China
Laos

How Many People Speak

71,000,000.003,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Xiguan
Northern Lao

Where They Speak

Hong Kong
Laos

How Many People Speak

71,000,000.003,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Hong Kong
Central Lao

Where They Speak

Hong Kong
Laos

How Many People Speak

70,000,000.003,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

36
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

60.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

16.00 %0.22 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

52.00 million25.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

71.00 million3.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Kwang Tung Wa
ພາສາລາວ (pháasaa láo)

Alternative Names

Guangfu, Metropolitan Cantonese
Eastern Thai, Lào, Lao Kao, Lao Wiang, Lao-Lum, Lao-Noi, Lao-Tai, Laotian, Laotian Tai, Lum Lao, Phou Lao, Rong Kong, Tai Lao

French Name

cantonais
lao

German Name

Kantonesisch
Laotisch

Pronunciation

[kʰɐn˧˥tʰœːn˧˥sɨ˧˥]
pʰáːsǎː láːw

Ethnicity

Han Chinese
Lao people

History

Origin

17th century
1283 CE

Language Family

Sino-Tibetan Family
Tai-Kadai Family

Subgroup

-
Tai

Branch

-
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
No Early forms

Standard Forms

Standard Cantonese
Lao

Language Position

143
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Signed Cantonese
Lao Sign Language

Scope

-
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

No data available
lo

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

yue
lao

ISO 639 2/B

yue
lao

ISO 639 3

No data available
lao

ISO 639 6

yue
lao

Glottocode

cant1236
laoo1244

Linguasphere

No data available
No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

-
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

-
Isolating

Cantonese vs Lao Speaking Countries

There are plenty of languages spoken around the world. Every country has its own official language. Compare Cantonese vs Lao speaking countries, so that you will have total count of countries that speak Cantonese or Lao language.

  • Cantonese is spoken as a national language in: China, Guangdong.
  • Lao is spoken as a national language in: Laos, Northeastern Thailand.

You will also get to know the continents where Cantonese and Lao speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Cantonese language is 1 and position of Lao language is 43. Find all the information about these languages on Cantonese and Lao.

Cantonese and Lao Language History

Comparison of Cantonese vs Lao language history gives us differences between origin of Cantonese and Lao language. History of Cantonese language states that this language originated in 17th century whereas history of Lao language states that this language originated in 1283 CE. Family of the language also forms a part of history of that language. More on language families of these languages can be found out on Cantonese and Lao Language History.

Cantonese and Lao Greetings

People around the world use different languages to interact with each other. Even if we cannot communicate fluently in any language, it will always be beneficial to know about some of the common greetings or phrases from that language. This is where Cantonese and Lao greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Cantonese and Lao language. Cantonese word for "Hello" is 您好 or Lao word for "Thank You" is ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i). Find more of such common Cantonese Greetings and Lao Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Cantonese vs Lao Difficulty

The Cantonese vs Lao difficulty level basically depends on the number of Cantonese Alphabets and Lao Alphabets. Also the number of vowels and consonants in the language plays an important role in deciding the difficulty level of that language. The important points to be considered when we compare Cantonese and Lao are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Cantonese and Lao, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Cantonese is 88 weeks while to learn Lao time required is 44 weeks.