×

Swahili
Swahili

Lao
Lao



ADD
Compare
X
Swahili
X
Lao

Swahili vs Lao

Lao
Lao
Add ⊕

Countries

Countries

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

Total No. Of Countries

41
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

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

Second Language

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

Speaking Continents

Africa
Asia

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

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

Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Thai Language

Derived From

Arabic Language
Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2453
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

528
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2127
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Thai and Lao Braille

Writing Direction

-
Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

36
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

36 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Habari
ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i)

Thank You

Asante
ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)

How Are You?

Habari gani?
ສະບາຍດີບ (sába̖ai-di̖i baw?)

Good Night

Usiku mwema
ໃນຕອນກາງຄືນ ທີ່ດີ (naitonkangkhun thidi)

Good Evening

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

Good Afternoon

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

Good Morning

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

Please

tafadhali
ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)

Sorry

pole
ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)

Bye

bye
Sôhk dii der

I Love You

nakupenda
ຂ້ອຍ​ຮັກ​ເຈົ້າ (khony hak chao)

Excuse Me

Samahani
ຂໍ​ໂທດ (kho othd)

Dialects

Dialect 1

Kiunguja
Vientiane Lao

Where They Speak

Zanzibar island
Laos

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.003,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Kimrima
Northern Lao

Where They Speak

Dar es Salaam
Laos

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.003,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Kimgao
Central Lao

Where They Speak

Kilwa
Laos

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.003,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

126
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

150.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.42 %0.22 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

15.00 million25.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

75.00 million3.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Kiswahili
ພາສາລາວ (pháasaa láo)

Alternative Names

Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
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

swahili
lao

German Name

Swahili
Laotisch

Pronunciation

[swaˈhili]
pʰáːsǎː láːw

Ethnicity

Swahili people or Waswahili
Lao people

History

Origin

6th century
1283 CE

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Tai-Kadai Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Tai

Branch

Bantu
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
No Early forms

Standard Forms

Swahili
Lao

Language Position

2143
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Swahili Sign Language
Lao Sign Language

Scope

Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

sw
lo

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

swa
lao

ISO 639 2/B

swa
lao

ISO 639 3

swa
lao

ISO 639 6

swa
lao

Glottocode

swah1254
laoo1244

Linguasphere

99-AUS-m
No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

-
Isolating

Swahili vs Lao Speaking Countries

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

  • Swahili is spoken as a national language in: Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania.
  • Lao is spoken as a national language in: Laos, Northeastern Thailand.

You will also get to know the continents where Swahili and Lao speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Swahili language is 21 and position of Lao language is 43. Find all the information about these languages on Swahili and Lao.

Swahili and Lao Language History

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

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

Swahili vs Lao Difficulty

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