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Lao vs Chinese


Lao
Lao
Chinese vs Lao


Countries

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

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
5  
10

National Language
Laos, Northeastern Thailand  
China, Taiwan  

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

Speaking Continents
Asia  
Asia  

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

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

Interesting Facts
  • 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.
  
  • 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.
  

Similar To
Thai Language  
Not Available  

Derived From
Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages  
Not Available  

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
53  
32
26  
8

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
28  
20
24  
19

How Many Consonants
27  
17
23  
13

Scripts
Thai and Lao Braille  
Chinese Characters and derivatives  

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

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
6  
5
6  
5

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks  
11
88 weeks  
13

Greetings

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

Thank You
ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)  
谢谢 (Xièxiè)  

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

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

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

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

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

Please
ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)  
请 (Qǐng)  

Sorry
ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)  
遗憾 (Yíhàn)  

Bye
Sôhk dii der  
再见 (Zàijiàn)  

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

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

Dialects

Dialect 1
Vientiane Lao  
Mandarin  

Where They Speak
Laos  
China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan  

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

Dialect 2
Northern Lao  
Wu  

Where They Speak
Laos  
China, United States of America  

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

Dialect 3
Central Lao  
Yue  

Where They Speak
Laos  
China, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam  

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

Total No. Of Dialects
6  
6
10  
10

How Many People Speak

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

Speaking Population
Not Available  
16.00 %  
2

Native Speakers
25.00 million  
32
873.00 million  
1

Second Language Speakers
Not Available  
178.00 million  
3

Native Name
ພາສາລາວ (pháasaa láo)  
中文 (zhōngwén)  

Alternative Names
Eastern Thai, Lào, Lao Kao, Lao Wiang, Lao-Lum, Lao-Noi, Lao-Tai, Laotian, Laotian Tai, Lum Lao, Phou Lao, Rong Kong, Tai Lao  
Not Available  

French Name
lao  
chinois  

German Name
Laotisch  
Chinesisch  

Pronunciation
pʰáːsǎː láːw  
Not Available  

Ethnicity
Not Available  
Han  

History

Origin
1283 CE  
1250 BC  

Language Family
Tai-Kadai Family  
Sino-Tibetan Family  

Subgroup
Tai  
Not Available  

Branch
Not Available  
Not Available  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No Early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Lao  
Standard Chinese  

Language Position
Not Available  
1  
1

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

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
lo  
zh  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
lao  
zho  

ISO 639 2/B
lao  
chi  

ISO 639 3
lao  
zho  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
laoo1244  
sini1245  

Linguasphere
No data available  
79-AAA  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

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

Language Morphological Typology
Isolating  
Analytic, Isolating  

Countries >>
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Lao and Chinese Language History

Comparison of Lao vs Chinese language history gives us differences between origin of Lao and Chinese language. History of Lao language states that this language originated in 1283 CE whereas history of Chinese language states that this language originated in 1250 BC. 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 Lao and Chinese Language History.

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Lao and Chinese 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 Lao and Chinese greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Lao and Chinese language. Lao word for "Hello" is ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i) or Chinese word for "Thank You" is 谢谢 (Xièxiè). Find more of such common Lao Greetings and Chinese Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Lao vs Chinese Difficulty

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

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