Skills on AI

Locale Lo 001

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Use when working with the Lao locale (`lo-001`) — its endonym ລາວ, Lao script, left-to-right (LTR) direction, or spoken-population data. Reference data and translation guidance (register, grammar, idiom, typography) for this specific locale; see [[locale]] for general i18n/l10n concepts (BCP 47, plural rules, RTL) that apply across all locales.

Reference data for the Lao locale — endonym ລາວ, written in the Lao script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

  • BCP 47 tag: lo-001
  • ISO 639-1: lo
  • ISO 639-3: lao
  • Script: Laoo (Lao)
  • Region: 001 (World)
  • Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

  • L1 (native): 3,400,000
  • L2 (additional): 800,000
  • L1+L2 (total): 4,200,000

Regional variants

This is the base/macro locale for Lao. Region-specific variants in this dataset:

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: other (1 form).

  • other — everything else (e.g. 0~15, 100, 1000, 10000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Lao is a tonal language written in the Lao script (left to right, no spaces between words), closely related to Thai. See Locale Lo La. This guidance is lower-confidence; have a native reviewer check it.

Translate ideas, not words.

  • Lao drops subjects and pronouns when the context is clear; address people by title, name, or kinship term instead of a direct "you".
  • Modifiers follow the noun. English noun stacks must be reversed.
  • Lao has no inflection; time, plural, and number are shown by words and classifiers.
  • Do not copy Thai vocabulary or spelling; Lao has its own words and spelling.

Register.

  • Lao has polite and informal pronouns ("ເຈົ້າ" is general "you", "ທ່ານ" is formal). Use the formal forms and polite particles in public text.
  • Official language in government and education follows the Lao standard; foreign terms are often adapted from Pali, Sanskrit, or French and English.

Orthography and typography.

  • There are no spaces between words; spaces mark phrase or sentence boundaries. Use a Lao-aware line breaker.
  • Tone marks and vowels must be in correct Unicode order.
  • Lao digits (໐ to ໙) and Arabic digits both appear; Arabic digits are common in UI. Currency: kip (₭ or ກີບ).
  • Dates may show the Buddhist Era in addition to the Gregorian year.

Common pitfalls

  • Copying Thai spelling or vocabulary.
  • Inserting word spaces.
  • Using the wrong register for the audience.

Learn more

  • Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
  • Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
  • Unicode Standard, Lao block
  • Unicode CLDR locale data for lo (https://cldr.unicode.org)

View locale-lo-001/SKILL.md on GitHub