Countries
India, Nepal
  
Laos
  
National Language
Nepal
  
Laos, Northeastern Thailand
  
Second Language
Republic of Brazil
  
Not spoken in any of the countries
  
Speaking Continents
Asia
  
Asia
  
Minority Language
People's Republic of China
  
Not spoken in any of the countries
  
Regulated By
Language Academy of Nepal
  
Not Available
  
Interesting Facts
- Before the term "Nepali" was coined, historically the language was first called the Khas language, Gorkhali or Gukhali.
- Nepali has borrowed many loanwords from neighboring Tibeto-Burmese languages.
  
- 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
Hindi
  
Thai Language
  
Derived From
Sanskrit Language
  
Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages
  
Alphabets in
Nepali-Alphabets.jpg#200
  
Lao-Alphabets.jpg#200
  
Phonology
  
  
Scripts
Devanagari
  
Thai and Lao Braille
  
Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
  
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
  
Hard to Learn
  
  
Hello
नमस्ते (namaste)
  
ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i)
  
Thank You
धन्यवाद (dhanyabad)
  
ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)
  
How Are You?
तिमीलाई कस्तो छ? (timi lai kasto cha?)
  
ສະບາຍດີບ (sába̖ai-di̖i baw?)
  
Good Night
शुभ रात्री (subha ratri)
  
ໃນຕອນກາງຄືນ ທີ່ດີ (naitonkangkhun thidi)
  
Good Evening
शुभ सन्ध्या (subha sandhya)
  
ສະບາຍດີຕອນແລງ (sa bai di ton aelng)
  
Good Afternoon
Good afternoon
  
ສະບາຍດີຕອນສວາຍ (sa bai di ton suaai)
  
Good Morning
शुभ प्रभात (subha prabhat)
  
ສະບາຍດີຕອນເຊົ້າ (sa bai di ton sao)
  
Please
कृपया
  
ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)
  
Sorry
माफ गनुस् (maapha ganus)
  
ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)
  
Bye
नमस्ते (namaste)
  
Sôhk dii der
  
I Love You
म तपाइलाइ माया गर्छु। (ma tapainlai maya garchu)
  
ຂ້ອຍຮັກເຈົ້າ (khony hak chao)
  
Excuse Me
माफ गनुस् (maapha ganus)
  
ຂໍໂທດ (kho othd)
  
Dialect 1
Doteli
  
Vientiane Lao
  
Where They Speak
Nepal
  
Laos
  
How Many People Speak
Not Available
  
Dialect 2
Bajhangi
  
Northern Lao
  
Where They Speak
India, Nepal
  
Laos
  
Dialect 3
Baitadeli
  
Central Lao
  
Where They Speak
Nepal
  
Laos
  
How Many People Speak?
30.00 million
  
36
25.00 million
  
40
Speaking Population
Not Available
  
Native Speakers
25.00 million
  
32
25.00 million
  
32
Second Language Speakers
5.00 million
  
29
Not Available
  
Native Name
नेपाली (nēpālī)
  
ພາສາລາວ (pháasaa láo)
  
Alternative Names
Eastern Pahadi, Gorkhali, Gurkhali, Khaskura, Nepalese, Parbate
  
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
népalais
  
lao
  
German Name
Nepali
  
Laotisch
  
Pronunciation
Not Available
  
pʰáːsǎː láːw
  
Ethnicity
Gurkha, Khas people, Madhesi and Tharu
  
Not Available
  
Origin
19 BC
  
1283 CE
  
Language Family
Indo-European Family
  
Tai-Kadai Family
  
Subgroup
Indo-Iranian
  
Tai
  
Branch
Indic
  
Not Available
  
Language Forms
  
  
Early Forms
Khas language, Gurkhali, Parbatiya, Dzongkha Lhotshammikha
  
No Early forms
  
Standard Forms
Nepali
  
Lao
  
Language Position
Not Available
  
Signed Forms
Signed Nepali
  
Not Available
  
Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage
  
Individual
  
ISO 639 1
ne
  
lo
  
ISO 639 2
  
  
ISO 639 2/T
nep
  
lao
  
ISO 639 2/B
nep
  
lao
  
ISO 639 3
npi
  
lao
  
ISO 639 6
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Glottocode
nepa1254
  
laoo1244
  
Linguasphere
12
  
No data available
  
Types of Language
  
  
Language Type
Living
  
Living
  
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Object-Verb
  
Subject-Verb-Object
  
Language Morphological Typology
Agglutinative
  
Isolating
  
Nepali 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 Nepali and Lao greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Nepali and Lao language. Nepali word for "Hello" is नमस्ते (namaste) or Lao word for "Thank You" is ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i). Find more of such common Nepali Greetings and Lao Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.
Nepali vs Lao Difficulty
The Nepali vs Lao difficulty level basically depends on the number of Nepali 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 Nepali and Lao are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Nepali and Lao, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Nepali is 44 weeks while to learn Lao time required is 44 weeks.