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Lao
Lao

Khmer
Khmer



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Lao vs Khmer

Lao
Lao
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Countries

Countries

Laos
Cambodia

Total No. Of Countries

11
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Laos, Northeastern Thailand
Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam

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
Australia, France, United States of America

Regulated By

-
-

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

Similar To

Thai Language
Lao Language

Derived From

Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages
Pali and Sanskrit Languages

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

5353
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

2820
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2733
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Thai and Lao Braille
Khmer

Writing Direction

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

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

64
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

44 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i)
ជំរាបសួរ (jomreab suor)

Thank You

ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)
សូមអរគុណអ្នក (saum arkoun anak)

How Are You?

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

Good Night

ໃນຕອນກາງຄືນ ທີ່ດີ (naitonkangkhun thidi)
រាត្រីលា

Good Evening

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

Good Afternoon

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

Good Morning

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

Please

ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)
សូម

Sorry

ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)
សូរី

Bye

Sôhk dii der
លាស់ជាស្រី (leah sah srey)

I Love You

ຂ້ອຍ​ຮັກ​ເຈົ້າ (khony hak chao)
បងបានស្រលាញ់អូន

Excuse Me

ຂໍ​ໂທດ (kho othd)
សូមទាញយក

Dialects

Dialect 1

Vientiane Lao
Northern Khmer

Where They Speak

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

How Many People Speak

3,000,000.001,400,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Northern Lao
Khmer Krom

Where They Speak

Laos
Vietnam

How Many People Speak

3,000,000.001,200,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Central Lao
Western Khmer

Where They Speak

Laos
Cambodia, Thailand

How Many People Speak

3,000,000.0016,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

66
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

25.00 million16.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.22 %0.24 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

25.00 million13.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

3.00 million16.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

ພາສາລາວ (pháasaa láo)
ភាសាខ្មែរ (bhāsā khmɛ̄r)

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
Cambodian, Khmer

French Name

lao
khmer central

German Name

Laotisch
Kambodschanisch

Pronunciation

pʰáːsǎː láːw
[pʰiːəsaː kʰmaːe]

Ethnicity

Lao people
Khmer, Northern Khmer

History

Origin

1283 CE
14

Language Family

Tai-Kadai Family
Austroasiatic Family

Subgroup

Tai
-

Branch

-
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

No Early forms
Proto-Khmer

Standard Forms

Lao
Modern Khmer

Language Position

431
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Lao Sign Language
Khmer Sign Language

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

lo
km

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

lao
khm

ISO 639 2/B

lao
khm

ISO 639 3

lao
khm

ISO 639 6

lao
khm

Glottocode

laoo1244
khme1253

Linguasphere

No data available
48-ACB

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Verb-Object
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

Isolating
Analytic, Isolating

Lao vs Khmer Speaking Countries

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

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

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

Lao and Khmer Language History

Comparison of Lao vs Khmer language history gives us differences between origin of Lao and Khmer language. History of Lao language states that this language originated in 1283 CE whereas history of Khmer language states that this language originated in 14. 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 Khmer Language History.

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

Lao vs Khmer Difficulty

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