Locale Lo La
Use when working with the Lao (Laos) locale (`lo-LA`) — its endonym ລາວ (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 (Laos) locale — endonym ລາວ (ລາວ), written in the Lao script, left-to-right (LTR).
Identifiers
- BCP 47 tag:
lo-LA - ISO 639-1:
lo - ISO 639-3:
lao - Script: Laoo (Lao)
- Region: LA (Laos)
- Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)
Speakers (approximate)
- L1 (native): 3,400,000
- L2 (additional): 800,000
- L1+L2 (total): 4,200,000
Base locale
This is a regional variant of Locale Lo 001 (Lao), the base/macro locale for this language.
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
Apply Locale Lo 001 with the conventions of Laos.
- Context: Lao is the official language, and the government publishes in Lao; minority languages are used locally.
- Formats: kip (₭) after the amount; day/month/year; Buddhist Era is used alongside the Gregorian year in some documents.
- Tone: polite and respectful; titles and kinship terms matter.
Common pitfalls
- Using Thai-language conventions or script forms.
- Using Western date formats in official forms.
- The general pitfalls in Locale Lo 001 also apply.
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 CLDR locale data for lo-LA (https://cldr.unicode.org)