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Lao
Lao

Cantonese
Cantonese



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Lao
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Cantonese

Lao vs Cantonese

Lao
Lao
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Countries

Countries

Laos
Hong Kong, Macau

Total No. Of Countries

12
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Laos, Northeastern Thailand
China, Guangdong

Second Language

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

Speaking Continents

Asia
Asia

Minority Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Hawaii

Regulated By

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

Interesting Facts

  • 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.
  • 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.

Similar To

Thai Language
Chinese Language

Derived From

Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages
-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

5328
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

288
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2720
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Thai and Lao Braille
Chinese Characters and derivatives

Writing Direction

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

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

610
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

44 weeks88 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i)
您好

Thank You

ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)
谢谢

How Are You?

ສະບາຍດີບ (sába̖ai-di̖i baw?)
你好吗?

Good Night

ໃນຕອນກາງຄືນ ທີ່ດີ (naitonkangkhun thidi)
晚安

Good Evening

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

Good Afternoon

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

Good Morning

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

Please

ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)

Sorry

ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)
遗憾

Bye

Sôhk dii der
再见

I Love You

ຂ້ອຍ​ຮັກ​ເຈົ້າ (khony hak chao)
我爱你

Excuse Me

ຂໍ​ໂທດ (kho othd)
原谅我

Dialects

Dialect 1

Vientiane Lao
Guangzhou

Where They Speak

Laos
outside mainland China

How Many People Speak

3,000,000.0071,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Northern Lao
Xiguan

Where They Speak

Laos
Hong Kong

How Many People Speak

3,000,000.0071,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Central Lao
Hong Kong

Where They Speak

Laos
Hong Kong

How Many People Speak

3,000,000.0070,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

63
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

25.00 million60.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.22 %16.00 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

25.00 million52.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

3.00 million71.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

ພາສາລາວ (pháasaa láo)
Kwang Tung Wa

Alternative Names

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

French Name

lao
cantonais

German Name

Laotisch
Kantonesisch

Pronunciation

pʰáːsǎː láːw
[kʰɐn˧˥tʰœːn˧˥sɨ˧˥]

Ethnicity

Lao people
Han Chinese

History

Origin

1283 CE
17th century

Language Family

Tai-Kadai Family
Sino-Tibetan Family

Subgroup

Tai
-

Branch

-
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

No Early forms
No early forms

Standard Forms

Lao
Standard Cantonese

Language Position

431
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Lao Sign Language
Signed Cantonese

Scope

Individual
-

Code

ISO 639 1

lo
No data available

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

lao
yue

ISO 639 2/B

lao
yue

ISO 639 3

lao
No data available

ISO 639 6

lao
yue

Glottocode

laoo1244
cant1236

Linguasphere

No data available
No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
-

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Verb-Object
-

Language Morphological Typology

Isolating
-

Lao vs Cantonese Speaking Countries

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

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

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

Lao and Cantonese Language History

Comparison of Lao vs Cantonese language history gives us differences between origin of Lao and Cantonese language. History of Lao language states that this language originated in 1283 CE whereas history of Cantonese language states that this language originated in 17th century. 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 Lao and Cantonese Language History.

Lao and Cantonese 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 Lao and Cantonese greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Lao and Cantonese language. Lao word for "Hello" is ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i) or Cantonese word for "Thank You" is 谢谢. Find more of such common Lao Greetings and Cantonese Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Lao vs Cantonese Difficulty

The Lao vs Cantonese difficulty level basically depends on the number of Lao Alphabets and Cantonese 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 Lao and Cantonese are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Lao and Cantonese, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Lao is 44 weeks while to learn Cantonese time required is 88 weeks.