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Chinese vs 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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