Countries
Hong Kong, Macau
Laos
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
Not Available
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
Not Available
Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages
Alphabets in
Cantonese-Alphabets.jpg#200
Lao-Alphabets.jpg#200
Scripts
Chinese Characters and derivatives
Thai and Lao Braille
Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal, Top-To-Bottom
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
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
ສະບາຍດີຕອນແລງ (sa bai di ton aelng)
Good Afternoon
下午好
ສະບາຍດີຕອນສວາຍ (sa bai di ton suaai)
Good Morning
早上好
ສະບາຍດີຕອນເຊົ້າ (sa bai di ton sao)
Sorry
遗憾
ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)
I Love You
我爱你
ຂ້ອຍຮັກເຈົ້າ (khony hak chao)
Excuse Me
原谅我
ຂໍໂທດ (kho othd)
Dialect 1
Guangzhou
Vientiane Lao
Where They Speak
outside mainland China
Laos
Dialect 2
Xiguan
Northern Lao
Where They Speak
Hong Kong
Laos
Dialect 3
Hong Kong
Central Lao
Where They Speak
Hong Kong
Laos
Speaking Population
Not Available
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
Not Available
lao
German Name
Not Available
Laotisch
Pronunciation
Not Available
pʰáːsǎː láːw
Ethnicity
Not Available
Not Available
Origin
17th century
1283 CE
Language Family
Sino-Tibetan Family
Tai-Kadai Family
Subgroup
Not Available
Tai
Branch
Not Available
Not Available
Early Forms
No early forms
No Early forms
Standard Forms
Standard Cantonese
Lao
Signed Forms
Not Available
Not Available
Scope
Not Available
Individual
ISO 639 1
No data available
lo
ISO 639 2/T
Not Available
lao
ISO 639 2/B
Not Available
lao
ISO 639 3
No data available
lao
ISO 639 6
Not Available
Not Available
Glottocode
cant1236
laoo1244
Linguasphere
No data available
No data available
Language Type
Not Available
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available
Subject-Verb-Object
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
Isolating
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.