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Chinese vs Lao


Lao
Lao
Lao vs Chinese


Countries

Countries
China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan  
Laos  

Total No. Of Countries
5  
10
1  
14

National Language
China, Taiwan  
Laos, Northeastern Thailand  

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

Speaking Continents
Asia  
Asia  

Minority Language
Indonesia, Malaysia  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Regulated By
Chinese Language Standardization Council, National Commission on Language and Script Work, Promote Mandarin Council  
Not Available  

Interesting Facts
  • Chinese language is tonal, since meaning of a word changes according to its tone.
  • In Chinese language, there is no grammatical distinction between singular or plural, no declination of verbs according to tense, mood and aspect.
  
  • 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
Not Available  
Thai Language  

Derived From
Not Available  
Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages  

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
26  
8
53  
32

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
24  
19
28  
20

How Many Consonants
23  
13
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
6  
5
6  
5

Time Taken to Learn
88 weeks  
13
44 weeks  
11

Greetings

Hello
您好 (Nín hǎo)  
ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i)  

Thank You
谢谢 (Xièxiè)  
ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)  

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

Good Night
晚安 (Wǎn'ān)  
ໃນຕອນກາງຄືນ ທີ່ດີ (naitonkangkhun thidi)  

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

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

Good Morning
早安 (Zǎo ān)  
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ເຊົ້າ (sa bai di ton sao)  

Please
请 (Qǐng)  
ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)  

Sorry
遗憾 (Yíhàn)  
ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)  

Bye
再见 (Zàijiàn)  
Sôhk dii der  

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

Excuse Me
劳驾 (Láojià)  
ຂໍ​ໂທດ (kho othd)  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Mandarin  
Vientiane Lao  

Where They Speak
China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan  
Laos  

How Many People Speak
960,000,000.00  
1
Not Available  

Dialect 2
Wu  
Northern Lao  

Where They Speak
China, United States of America  
Laos  

How Many People Speak
80,000,000.00  
1
Not Available  

Dialect 3
Yue  
Central Lao  

Where They Speak
China, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam  
Laos  

How Many People Speak
60,000,000.00  
2
Not Available  

Total No. Of Dialects
10  
10
6  
6

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
1,051.00 million  
2
25.00 million  
40

Speaking Population
16.00 %  
2
Not Available  

Native Speakers
873.00 million  
1
25.00 million  
32

Second Language Speakers
178.00 million  
3
Not Available  

Native Name
中文 (zhōngwén)  
ພາສາລາວ (pháasaa láo)  

Alternative Names
Not Available  
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
chinois  
lao  

German Name
Chinesisch  
Laotisch  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
pʰáːsǎː láːw  

Ethnicity
Han  
Not Available  

History

Origin
1250 BC  
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 Chinese  
Lao  

Language Position
1  
1
Not Available  

Signed Forms
Wenfa Shouyu 文法手語 ("Grammatical Sign Language", Signed Mandarin (Taiwan))  
Not Available  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
zh  
lo  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
zho  
lao  

ISO 639 2/B
chi  
lao  

ISO 639 3
zho  
lao  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
sini1245  
laoo1244  

Linguasphere
79-AAA  
No data available  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object  
Subject-Verb-Object  

Language Morphological Typology
Analytic, Isolating  
Isolating  

Countries >>
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Chinese and Lao Language History

Comparison of Chinese vs Lao language history gives us differences between origin of Chinese and Lao language. History of Chinese language states that this language originated in 1250 BC 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 Chinese and Lao Language History.

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

Chinese vs Lao Difficulty

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

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