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Lao vs Swahili


Lao
Swahili vs Lao


Countries

Countries
Laos  
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
4  
11

National Language
Laos, Northeastern Thailand  
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania  

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Speaking Continents
Asia  
Africa  

Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Regulated By
-  
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)  

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.
  
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
    •   

Similar To
Thai Language  
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages  

Derived From
Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages  
Arabic Language  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Lao-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
53  
32
24  
6

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
28  
20
5  
2

How Many Consonants
27  
17
21  
11

Scripts
Thai and Lao Braille  
Latin  

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  
-  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
6  
5
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks  
17
36 weeks  
13

Greetings

Hello
ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i)  
Habari  

Thank You
ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)  
Asante  

How Are You?
ສະບາຍດີບ (sába̖ai-di̖i baw?)  
Habari gani?  

Good Night
ໃນຕອນກາງຄືນ ທີ່ດີ (naitonkangkhun thidi)  
Usiku mwema  

Good Evening
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ແລງ (sa bai di ton aelng)  
Habari za jioni  

Good Afternoon
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ສວາຍ (sa bai di ton suaai)  
nzuri Alasiri  

Good Morning
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ເຊົ້າ (sa bai di ton sao)  
Habari za asubuhi  

Please
ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)  
tafadhali  

Sorry
ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)  
pole  

Bye
Sôhk dii der  
bye  

I Love You
ຂ້ອຍ​ຮັກ​ເຈົ້າ (khony hak chao)  
nakupenda  

Excuse Me
ຂໍ​ໂທດ (kho othd)  
Samahani  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Vientiane Lao  
Kiunguja  

Where They Speak
Laos  
Zanzibar island  

How Many People Speak
3,000,000.00  
99+
75,000,000.00  
12

Dialect 2
Northern Lao  
Kimrima  

Where They Speak
Laos  
Dar es Salaam  

How Many People Speak
3,000,000.00  
99+
75,000,000.00  
10

Dialect 3
Central Lao  
Kimgao  

Where They Speak
Laos  
Kilwa  

How Many People Speak
3,000,000.00  
99+
75,000,000.00  
9

Total No. Of Dialects
6  
6
12  
12

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
25.00 million  
40
150.00 million  
13

Speaking Population
0.22 %  
99+
0.42 %  
34

Native Speakers
25.00 million  
32
15.00 million  
40

Second Language Speakers
3.00 million  
99+
75.00 million  
14

Native Name
ພາສາລາວ (pháasaa láo)  
Kiswahili  

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  
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili  

French Name
lao  
swahili  

German Name
Laotisch  
Swahili  

Pronunciation
pʰáːsǎː láːw  
[swaˈhili]  

Ethnicity
Lao people  
Swahili people or Waswahili  

History

Origin
1283 CE  
6th century  

Language Family
Tai-Kadai Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Tai  
Benue-Congo  

Branch
-  
Bantu  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No Early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Lao  
Swahili  

Language Position
43  
40
21  
19

Signed Forms
Lao Sign Language  
Swahili Sign Language  

Scope
Individual  
Individual, Macrolanguage  

Code

ISO 639 1
lo  
sw  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
lao  
swa  

ISO 639 2/B
lao  
swa  

ISO 639 3
lao  
swa  

ISO 639 6
lao  
swa  

Glottocode
laoo1244  
swah1254  

Linguasphere
No data available  
99-AUS-m  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object  
-  

Language Morphological Typology
Isolating  
-  

Countries >>
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Lao and Swahili Language History

Comparison of Lao vs Swahili language history gives us differences between origin of Lao and Swahili language. History of Lao language states that this language originated in 1283 CE whereas history of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th 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 Swahili Language History.

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

Lao vs Swahili Difficulty

The Lao vs Swahili difficulty level basically depends on the number of Lao Alphabets and Swahili 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 Swahili are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Lao and Swahili, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Lao is 44 weeks while to learn Swahili time required is 36 weeks.

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