×

Khmer
Khmer

Lao
Lao



ADD
Compare
X
Khmer
X
Lao

Khmer vs Lao

Lao
Lao
Add ⊕

Countries

Countries

Cambodia
Laos

Total No. Of Countries

11
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam
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

Australia, France, United States of America
Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

-
-

Interesting Facts

  • Khmer is not the tonal language.
  • Khmer language has borrowed philisophical, administrative and technical vocabulary from Sanskrit and Pali.
  • 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

Lao Language
Thai Language

Derived From

Pali and Sanskrit Languages
Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

5353
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

2028
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

3327
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Khmer
Thai and Lao Braille

Writing Direction

Left-To-Right, Horizontal
Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

46
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

44 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

ជំរាបសួរ (jomreab suor)
ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i)

Thank You

សូមអរគុណអ្នក (saum arkoun anak)
ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)

How Are You?

អ្នក​សុខសប្បាយ​ទេ
ສະບາຍດີບ (sába̖ai-di̖i baw?)

Good Night

រាត្រីលា
ໃນຕອນກາງຄືນ ທີ່ດີ (naitonkangkhun thidi)

Good Evening

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

Good Afternoon

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

Good Morning

អរុណ​ប្រចាំឡើង
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ເຊົ້າ (sa bai di ton sao)

Please

សូម
ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)

Sorry

សូរី
ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)

Bye

លាស់ជាស្រី (leah sah srey)
Sôhk dii der

I Love You

បងបានស្រលាញ់អូន
ຂ້ອຍ​ຮັກ​ເຈົ້າ (khony hak chao)

Excuse Me

សូមទាញយក
ຂໍ​ໂທດ (kho othd)

Dialects

Dialect 1

Northern Khmer
Vientiane Lao

Where They Speak

Australia, Cambodia, France, Thailand, United States of America
Laos

How Many People Speak

1,400,000.003,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Khmer Krom
Northern Lao

Where They Speak

Vietnam
Laos

How Many People Speak

1,200,000.003,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Western Khmer
Central Lao

Where They Speak

Cambodia, Thailand
Laos

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.003,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

66
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

16.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.24 %0.22 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

13.00 million25.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

16.00 million3.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

ភាសាខ្មែរ (bhāsā khmɛ̄r)
ພາສາລາວ (pháasaa láo)

Alternative Names

Cambodian, Khmer
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

khmer central
lao

German Name

Kambodschanisch
Laotisch

Pronunciation

[pʰiːəsaː kʰmaːe]
pʰáːsǎː láːw

Ethnicity

Khmer, Northern Khmer
Lao people

History

Origin

14
1283 CE

Language Family

Austroasiatic Family
Tai-Kadai Family

Subgroup

-
Tai

Branch

-
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

Proto-Khmer
No Early forms

Standard Forms

Modern Khmer
Lao

Language Position

143
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Khmer Sign Language
Lao Sign Language

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

km
lo

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

khm
lao

ISO 639 2/B

khm
lao

ISO 639 3

khm
lao

ISO 639 6

khm
lao

Glottocode

khme1253
laoo1244

Linguasphere

48-ACB
No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Verb-Object
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

Analytic, Isolating
Isolating

Khmer vs Lao Speaking Countries

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

  • Khmer is spoken as a national language in: Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam.
  • Lao is spoken as a national language in: Laos, Northeastern Thailand.

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

Khmer and Lao Language History

Comparison of Khmer vs Lao language history gives us differences between origin of Khmer and Lao language. History of Khmer language states that this language originated in 14 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 Khmer and Lao Language History.

Khmer 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 Khmer and Lao greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Khmer and Lao language. Khmer word for "Hello" is ជំរាបសួរ (jomreab suor) or Lao word for "Thank You" is ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i). Find more of such common Khmer Greetings and Lao Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Khmer vs Lao Difficulty

The Khmer vs Lao difficulty level basically depends on the number of Khmer 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 Khmer and Lao are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Khmer and Lao, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Khmer is 44 weeks while to learn Lao time required is 44 weeks.