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Cantonese vs Lao


Lao
Lao
Lao vs Cantonese


Countries

Countries
Hong Kong, Macau  
Laos  

Total No. Of Countries
2  
13
1  
14

National Language
China, Guangdong  
Laos, Northeastern Thailand  

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

Speaking Continents
Asia  
Asia  

Minority Language
Hawaii  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Regulated By
Civil Service Bureau, Government of Hong Kong, Official Language Division  
Not Available  

Interesting Facts
  • Cantonese have lot of slangs, many of them include words that do not make sense at all and some also have English in them.
  • Even though Cantonese and Mandarin are dialects of Chinese, Cantonese has 8 tones instead of Mandarin's 4.
  
  • 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
Chinese Language  
Thai Language  

Derived From
Not Available  
Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages  

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
28  
10
53  
32

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
8  
5
28  
20

How Many Consonants
20  
10
27  
17

Scripts
Chinese Characters and derivatives  
Thai and Lao Braille  

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal, Top-To-Bottom  
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
10  
8
6  
5

Time Taken to Learn
88 weeks  
13
44 weeks  
11

Greetings

Hello
您好  
ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i)  

Thank You
谢谢  
ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)  

How Are You?
你好吗?  
ສະບາຍດີບ (sába̖ai-di̖i baw?)  

Good Night
晚安  
ໃນຕອນກາງຄືນ ທີ່ດີ (naitonkangkhun thidi)  

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

Good Afternoon
下午好  
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ສວາຍ (sa bai di ton suaai)  

Good Morning
早上好  
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ເຊົ້າ (sa bai di ton sao)  

Please
请  
ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)  

Sorry
遗憾  
ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)  

Bye
再见  
Sôhk dii der  

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

Excuse Me
原谅我  
ຂໍ​ໂທດ (kho othd)  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Guangzhou  
Vientiane Lao  

Where They Speak
outside mainland China  
Laos  

Dialect 2
Xiguan  
Northern Lao  

Where They Speak
Hong Kong  
Laos  

Dialect 3
Hong Kong  
Central Lao  

Where They Speak
Hong Kong  
Laos  

Total No. Of Dialects
3  
3
6  
6

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
60.00 million  
27
25.00 million  
40

Speaking Population
16.00 %  
2
Not Available  

Native Speakers
52.00 million  
21
25.00 million  
32

Native Name
Kwang Tung Wa  
ພາສາລາວ (pháasaa láo)  

Alternative Names
Guangfu, Metropolitan Cantonese  
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
Not Available  
lao  

German Name
Not Available  
Laotisch  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
pʰáːsǎː láːw  

Ethnicity
Not Available  
Not Available  

History

Origin
17th century  
1283 CE  

Language Family
Sino-Tibetan Family  
Tai-Kadai Family  

Subgroup
Not Available  
Tai  

Branch
Not Available  
Not Available  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
No Early forms  

Standard Forms
Standard Cantonese  
Lao  

Signed Forms
Not Available  
Not Available  

Scope
Not Available  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
No data available  
lo  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
Not Available  
lao  

ISO 639 2/B
Not Available  
lao  

ISO 639 3
No data available  
lao  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
cant1236  
laoo1244  

Linguasphere
No data available  
No data available  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Not Available  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available  
Subject-Verb-Object  

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Isolating  

Countries >>
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Cantonese and Lao Language History

Comparison of Cantonese vs Lao language history gives us differences between origin of Cantonese and Lao language. History of Cantonese language states that this language originated in 17th 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 Cantonese and Lao Language History.

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

Cantonese vs Lao Difficulty

The Cantonese vs Lao difficulty level basically depends on the number of Cantonese 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 Cantonese and Lao are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Cantonese and Lao, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Cantonese is 88 weeks while to learn Lao time required is 44 weeks.

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