Ministry of Health 2020 System

General Rules

The Rominisation of Lao is mainly transliteration that swaps letters in predictable ways.
Each alphabet corresponds to only one phonetic sound. However, exceptions are allowed with clear rules.
Diacritics (accents) are no longer used. è, é, ô are replaced by plain Roman alphabets e/eh, o.
Short and long vowels are romanised the same.
Tone marks x່, x້, x໊, x໋ should not be romanised.
Romanisation is based on the Lao spelling reforms by the Lao government in the 1975.
A geographic name should be written in Roman script as a single word with only the first letter capitalised.

Consonant

The table below shows the Lao consonant letters and their transcriptions according to IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), new MoH 2020, BGN/PCGN 1966, LC (US ALA-LC) and Thai (RTGS) systems as well as several different informal "Karaoke" styles which are popular among the Lao public.

No.

Lao

Initial Position

Lao

Final Position

IPA

MoH
2020

BGN/
PCGN

Thai
(RTGS)

"Karaoke"

IPA

MoH
2020

BGN/
PCGN

Thai
(RTGS)

"Karaoke"

ກ

/k/

ກ

/k/

k,ck

ຂ

/kʰ, x/

ຂ

–

ຄ

/kʰ, x/

ຄ

–

ງ

/ŋ/

ງ

/ŋ/

ຈ

/tɕ/

ch,j

ຈ

–

ສ

/s/

s,x,z

ສ

–

ຊ

/s/

s,x,z

ຊ

–

ຍ*

/ɲ/

–

y,nh

ຍ*

/j/

–

i,y

ດ

/d/

ດ

/t/

d,t,th

ຕ

/t/

ຕ

–

ຖ

/tʰ/

ຖ

–

ທ

/tʰ/

ທ

–

ນ

/n/

ນ

/n/

n,ne,nh

ບ

/b/

ບ

/p/

b,p

ປ

/p/

ປ

–

ຜ

/pʰ/

ຜ

–

ຝ

/f/

ຝ

–

ພ

/pʰ/

ພ

–

ຟ

/f/

ຟ

–

ມ

/m/

ມ

/m/

m, me

ຢ

/j/

ຢ

–

ຣ

/r/,/l/

l,r

ຣ

/n/

–

ລ

/l/

ລ

–

ວ

/ʋ/,/w/

v,w

ວ

–

v,o

v,o,w

ຫ

/h/

ຫ

–

ອ

/ʔ/

–

ອ

–

ຮ

/h/

ຮ

–

ຫງ

/ŋ/

ຫຍ*

/ɲ/

–

y,nh

ໜ(ຫນ)

/n/

ໝ(ຫມ)

/m/

ຫຼ(ຫລ)

/l/

ຫວ

/ʋ/,/w/

v,w

No.8 - The Lao consonants follow BGN/PCGN except only one ຍ (/ɲ/) which is romanised as 'ny' instead of 'gn' (BGN/PCGN)
No.8, 9, 14 - 3 consonants ຍ, ດ, ບ are romanised differently when they are in the final position of a word.
No.24 - ວ has different transcriptions depending on its position. At the beginning of a syllable, it should be romanized 'v', As the second character of a combination, 'o'. At the end of a syllable, it is generally romanised as 'o', but after 'i', it should be 'ou', The syllable xົວ, xວx should be romanised as 'oua'
No.25 - At the beginning of a syllable, ຫ unaccompanied by a vowel or tone mark and occurring immediately before ຍ, ນ, ມ, ລ, ວ should not be romanised.
No.26 - At the beginning of a syllable, ອ should not be romanised.
No.30, 31, 32 - Only ligatures or combined consonants ໜ, ໝ, ຫຼ are officially used for the Romanisation.

Vowel

The table below shows the Lao vowel letters and their transcriptions. Vowel nuclei (highlighted in red) are combined with the Roman letter X.

Short Vowels

Long Vowels

No.

Lao

IPA

MoH
2020

BGN/
PCGN

Thai
(RTGS)

"Karaoke"

Lao

IPA

MoH
2020

BGN/
PCGN

Thai
(RTGS)

"Karaoke"

xະ, xັx

/a/

ar,a

xາ

/aː/

ar,a

xິ

/i/

i,e,ee

xີ

/iː/

i,e,ee

xຶ

/ɯ/

eu,ue,u

xື

/ɯː/

ư̄

eu,ue,u

xຸ

/u/

u,ou

xູ

/uː/

u,ou

ເxະ, ເxັx

/e/

ເx

/eː/

ແxະ, ແxັx

/ɛ/

e/eh

ae,a,e,
aa,air,ea

ແx

/ɛː/

e/eh

ae,a,e,
aa,air,ea

ໂxະ, xົx

/o/

ໂx

/oː/

ເxາະ, xັອx

/ɔ/

o/oh

or,o

xໍ, xອx

/ɔː/

o/oh

or,o

ເxິະ, ເxິx

/ɤ/

er,ue,eu,ur

ເxີ

/ɤː/

œ̄

er,ue,eu,ur

ເxັຽະ, xັຽx
ເxັຍ

/iə/

ie,ia

ເxັຽ, xຽx
ເxຍ

/iːə/

īa

ie,ia

ເxຶອະ, ເxຶອx

/ɯə/

ưa

uea

eua,uea,uo

ເxືອ

/ɯːə/

ư̄a

uea

eua,uea,uo

xົວະ, xັວx

/uə/

oua

ua,oua

xົວ, xວx

/uːə/

oua

ūa

ua,oua

ໄx, ໃx, xັຍ

/aj/

aiy,ai,ay

xາຍ

/aːj/

āi

aiy,ai,ay

ເxົາ

/aw/

ao,au

xຳ

/am/

No.1, 8, 9 - Use of 'ar', 'or', 'er' ("Karaoke") - These are not in line with the Lao phonetics or any romanisation standards and should not be used for the official romanisation system. To be specific, /a/, /ɔ/, /ɤ/ are vowel sounds, and there is no phonetic sound represented by a consonant 'r'
No. 5, 6 - ເxະ, ເxັx, ເx, ແxະ, ແxັx, ແx are all romanised as 'e' without distinction between /e/, /eː/ and /ɛ/, /ɛː/. No use of accent/diacritic (é, è)
However, when /ɛ/, /ɛː/ are in the final position of a syllable, they are romanised differently, as 'eh' instead of 'e'. 'eh' represents more open, longer and stressed sound.
No. 7, 8 - ໂxະ, xົx, ໂx, ເxາະ, xັອx, xໍ, xອx are all romanised 'o' without distinction between /o/, /oː/ and /ɔ/, /ɔː/. No use of accent/diacritic (ô)
However, When /ɔ/, /ɔː/ are in the final position of a syllable, they are romanised differently, as 'oh' instead of 'o'. 'oh' represents more open, longer and stressed sound.

Other Rules

A hyphen (-) is used to avoid ambiguity in syllable separation before a succeeding syllable that starts with a vowel and before 'ng' or 'ny' if the preceding syllable ends with a vowel. For proper nouns (unique names), the first letter after a hyphen should not be written in capitals.

When the final character of the preceding syllable is a consonant and the initial character of the succeeding syllable is a bowel. (consonant + vowel)
e.g. ປາກອູ - Pak-ou, ຍອດອູ - Nyot-ou
When the final character of the preceding syllable is ng (ง) and the initial character of the succeeding syllable is a vowel. ('ng' + vowel)
e.g. ຕັງອາໄລ - Tang-alai, ວັງອໍ້ - Vang-oh
When the final character of the preceding syllable is a vowel and the initial character of the succeeding syllable is 'ng' (vowel + 'ng'). It does not apply to 'ny'.
e.g. ເລົ່າງາມ - Lao-ngam, ສະໂງມ - Sa-ngom / ນາຍາງ - Nanyang
When the initial character of the succeeding syllable is a vowel. (vowel + vowel)
e.g. ຜາແອ່ນ - Pha-en, ໂພນສະອາດ - Phonsa-at
When the consonant ອ is at the beginning of a syllable within a word (consonant/vowel + ອ)
e.g. ຄົກແອກ - Khok-ek, ຈອມອ໋ອງ - Chom-ong

Warning: The current Converter is partly supporting automatic hyphens, thus users must review outputs.