National Language
Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam
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
Australia, France, United States of America
Not spoken in any of the countries
Regulated By
Not Available
Not Available
Interesting Facts
- Khmer is not the tonal language.
- Khmer language has borrowed philisophical, administrative and technical vocabulary from Sanskrit and Pali.
- 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
Lao Language
Thai Language
Derived From
Pali and Sanskrit Languages
Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages
Alphabets in
Khmer-Alphabets.jpg#200
Lao-Alphabets.jpg#200
Scripts
Khmer
Thai and Lao Braille
Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
Hello
ND
ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i)
Thank You
សូមអរគុណអ្នក (saum arkoun anak)
ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)
How Are You?
អ្នកសុខសប្បាយទេ
ສະບາຍດີບ (sába̖ai-di̖i baw?)
Good Night
ND
ໃນຕອນກາງຄືນ ທີ່ດີ (naitonkangkhun thidi)
Good Evening
ND
ສະບາຍດີຕອນແລງ (sa bai di ton aelng)
Good Afternoon
ND
ສະບາຍດີຕອນສວາຍ (sa bai di ton suaai)
Good Morning
ND
ສະບາຍດີຕອນເຊົ້າ (sa bai di ton sao)
Please
ND
ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)
Sorry
ND
ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)
I Love You
ND
ຂ້ອຍຮັກເຈົ້າ (khony hak chao)
Excuse Me
ND
ຂໍໂທດ (kho othd)
Dialect 1
Northern Khmer
Vientiane Lao
Where They Speak
Australia, Cambodia, France, Thailand, United States of America
Laos
How Many People Speak
Not Available
Dialect 2
Khmer Krom
Northern Lao
Where They Speak
Vietnam
Laos
How Many People Speak
Not Available
Dialect 3
Western Khmer
Central Lao
Where They Speak
Cambodia, Thailand
Laos
Speaking Population
Not Available
Native Name
ភាសាខ្មែរ (bhāsā khmɛ̄r)
ພາສາລາວ (pháasaa láo)
Alternative Names
Cambodian, Khmer
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
khmer central
lao
German Name
Kambodschanisch
Laotisch
Pronunciation
[pʰiːəsaː kʰmaːe]
pʰáːsǎː láːw
Ethnicity
Khmer, Northern Khmer
Not Available
Language Family
Austroasiatic Family
Tai-Kadai Family
Subgroup
Not Available
Tai
Branch
Not Available
Not Available
Early Forms
Proto-Khmer
No Early forms
Standard Forms
Modern Khmer
Lao
Signed Forms
Not Available
Not Available
Scope
Individual
Individual
ISO 639 6
Not Available
Not Available
Glottocode
khme1253
laoo1244
Linguasphere
Not Available
No data available
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object
Subject-Verb-Object
Language Morphological Typology
Analytic, Isolating
Isolating
Khmer 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 Khmer and Lao greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Khmer and Lao language. Khmer word for "Hello" is ND or Lao word for "Thank You" is ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i). Find more of such common Khmer Greetings and Lao Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.
Khmer vs Lao Difficulty
The Khmer vs Lao difficulty level basically depends on the number of Khmer 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 Khmer and Lao are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Khmer and Lao, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Khmer is 44 weeks while to learn Lao time required is 44 weeks.