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Somali
Somali

Lao
Lao



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Somali
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Somali vs Lao

Lao
Lao
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Countries

Countries

Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia
Laos

Total No. Of Countries

31
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Somalia
Laos, Northeastern Thailand

Second Language

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

Speaking Continents

Africa, Middle East
Asia

Minority Language

Yemen
Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy
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Interesting Facts

  • Somali language is one of the best documented Afro-Asiatic languages.
  • One of the most widely spoken of the Cushitic languages is the Somali Language.
  • 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

Afar and Oromo Language
Thai Language

Derived From

Arabic Language
Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2653
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

528
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2127
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Arabic, Latin, Osmanya
Thai and Lao Braille

Writing Direction

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

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

56
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

52 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Hello
ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i)

Thank You

Waad ku mahadsan tahay
ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)

How Are You?

Sidee tahay ?
ສະບາຍດີບ (sába̖ai-di̖i baw?)

Good Night

Habeenka Good
ໃນຕອນກາງຄືນ ທີ່ດີ (naitonkangkhun thidi)

Good Evening

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

Good Afternoon

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

Good Morning

Subax wanaagsan
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ເຊົ້າ (sa bai di ton sao)

Please

Fadlan
ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)

Sorry

sorry
ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)

Bye

caraysiiyo
Sôhk dii der

I Love You

Waan ku jeclahay
ຂ້ອຍ​ຮັກ​ເຈົ້າ (khony hak chao)

Excuse Me

iga raali ahow
ຂໍ​ໂທດ (kho othd)

Dialects

Dialect 1

Northern Somali
Vientiane Lao

Where They Speak

Gabon, Standard Somali
Laos

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.003,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Benaadir
Northern Lao

Where They Speak

Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu
Laos

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.003,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Af-Ashraaf
Central Lao

Where They Speak

Standard Somali
Laos

How Many People Speak

21.003,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

36
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

13.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.07 %0.22 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

8.00 million25.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

21.00 million3.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

af Soomaali
ພາສາລາວ (pháasaa láo)

Alternative Names

Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga
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

somali
lao

German Name

Somali
Laotisch

Pronunciation

[afsoomaali]
pʰáːsǎː láːw

Ethnicity

Somalis
Lao people

History

Origin

19th century
1283 CE

Language Family

Afro-Asiatic Family
Tai-Kadai Family

Subgroup

Cushitic
Tai

Branch

-
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
No Early forms

Standard Forms

Somali
Lao

Language Position

8343
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Somali Sign Language
Lao Sign Language

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

so
lo

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

som
lao

ISO 639 2/B

som
lao

ISO 639 3

som
lao

ISO 639 6

som
lao

Glottocode

soma1255
laoo1244

Linguasphere

No data available
No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Object-Verb
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

-
Isolating

Somali vs Lao Speaking Countries

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

  • Somali is spoken as a national language in: Somalia.
  • Lao is spoken as a national language in: Laos, Northeastern Thailand.

You will also get to know the continents where Somali and Lao speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Somali language is 83 and position of Lao language is 43. Find all the information about these languages on Somali and Lao.

Somali and Lao Language History

Comparison of Somali vs Lao language history gives us differences between origin of Somali and Lao language. History of Somali language states that this language originated in 19th century 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 Somali and Lao Language History.

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

Somali vs Lao Difficulty

The Somali vs Lao difficulty level basically depends on the number of Somali 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 Somali and Lao are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Somali and Lao, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Somali is 52 weeks while to learn Lao time required is 44 weeks.