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
Not Available
Not Available
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 in
Lao-Alphabets.jpg#200
Khmer-Alphabets.jpg#200
Scripts
Thai and Lao Braille
Khmer
Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
Hello
ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i)
ND
Thank You
ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)
សូមអរគុណអ្នក (saum arkoun anak)
How Are You?
ສະບາຍດີບ (sába̖ai-di̖i baw?)
អ្នកសុខសប្បាយទេ
Good Night
ໃນຕອນກາງຄືນ ທີ່ດີ (naitonkangkhun thidi)
ND
Good Evening
ສະບາຍດີຕອນແລງ (sa bai di ton aelng)
ND
Good Afternoon
ສະບາຍດີຕອນສວາຍ (sa bai di ton suaai)
ND
Good Morning
ສະບາຍດີຕອນເຊົ້າ (sa bai di ton sao)
ND
Please
ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)
ND
Sorry
ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)
ND
I Love You
ຂ້ອຍຮັກເຈົ້າ (khony hak chao)
ND
Excuse Me
ຂໍໂທດ (kho othd)
ND
Dialect 1
Vientiane Lao
Northern Khmer
Where They Speak
Laos
Australia, Cambodia, France, Thailand, United States of America
How Many People Speak
Not Available
Dialect 2
Northern Lao
Khmer Krom
Where They Speak
Laos
Vietnam
How Many People Speak
Not Available
Dialect 3
Central Lao
Western Khmer
Where They Speak
Laos
Cambodia, Thailand
Speaking Population
Not Available
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
Not Available
Khmer, Northern Khmer
Language Family
Tai-Kadai Family
Austroasiatic Family
Subgroup
Tai
Not Available
Branch
Not Available
Not Available
Early Forms
No Early forms
Proto-Khmer
Standard Forms
Lao
Modern Khmer
Signed Forms
Not Available
Not Available
Scope
Individual
Individual
ISO 639 6
Not Available
Not Available
Glottocode
laoo1244
khme1253
Linguasphere
No data available
Not Available
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object
Subject-Verb-Object
Language Morphological Typology
Isolating
Analytic, Isolating
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.