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Afrikaans vs Swahili


Swahili vs Afrikaans


Countries

Countries
South Africa   
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya   

Total No. Of Countries
1   
14
4   
11

National Language
South Africa   
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania   

Second Language
Namibia, South Africa   
Not spoken in any of the countries   

Speaking Continents
Africa   
Africa   

Minority Language
Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe   
Not spoken in any of the countries   

Regulated By
Die Taalkommissie, National Languages Committee   
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)   

Interesting Facts
  • Afrikaans Language is a mixture of English, Dutch, German, French and some South African language like Xhosa.
  • Afrikaans Language lacks case and gender distinctions.
  
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
    •   

Similar To
Dutch Language   
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages   

Derived From
Dutch Language   
Arabic Language   

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Afrikaans-Alphabets.jpg#200   
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200   

Alphabets
32   
14
24   
6

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
15   
12
5   
2

How Many Consonants
17   
7
21   
11

Scripts
Latin   
Latin   

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal   
Not Available   

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3   
2
3   
2

Time Taken to Learn
24 weeks   
6
36 weeks   
10

Greetings

Hello
hallo   
Habari   

Thank You
Dankie   
Asante   

How Are You?
Hoe gaan dit   
Habari gani?   

Good Night
goeie nag   
Usiku mwema   

Good Evening
Goeienaand   
Habari za jioni   

Good Afternoon
Goeie middag   
nzuri Alasiri   

Good Morning
goeie more   
Habari za asubuhi   

Please
asseblief   
tafadhali   

Sorry
jammer   
pole   

Bye
Not Available   
bye   

I Love You
Ek het jou lief   
nakupenda   

Excuse Me
Verskoon my   
Samahani   

Dialects

Dialect 1
Kaapse Afrikaans   
Kiunguja   

Where They Speak
Not Available   
Zanzibar island   

Dialect 2
Oranjeriverafrikaans   
Kimrima   

Where They Speak
Not Available   
Dar es Salaam   

Dialect 3
Baster Afrikaans   
Kimgao   

Where They Speak
Namibia   
Kilwa   

Total No. Of Dialects
3   
3
12   
12

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
19.00 million   
99+
150.00 million   
13

Speaking Population
Not Available   
Not Available   

Native Speakers
7.10 million   
99+
15.00 million   
40

Second Language Speakers
10.30 million   
22
Not Available   

Native Name
Afrikaans   
Not Available   

Alternative Names
Cape Dutch   
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili   

French Name
afrikaans   
swahili   

German Name
Afrikaans   
Swahili   

Pronunciation
[ɐfriˈkɑːns]   
Not Available   

Ethnicity
Afrikaners   
Swahili people or Waswahili   

History

Origin
17th Century   
6th century   

Language Family
Indo-European Family   
Niger-Congo Family   

Subgroup
Germanic   
Benue-Congo   

Branch
Western   
Bantu   

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
Cape dutch or kitchen dutch   
No early forms   

Standard Forms
Standard Afrikaans   
Swahili   

Signed Forms
Signed Afrikaans (signs of SASL)   
Not Available   

Scope
Individual   
Individual, Macrolanguage   

Code

ISO 639 1
af   
sw   

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
afr   
swa   

ISO 639 2/B
afr   
swa   

ISO 639 3
afr   
swa   

ISO 639 6
afrs   
Not Available   

Glottocode
afri1274   
swah1254   

Linguasphere
52-ACB-ba   
99-AUS-m   

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living   
Living   

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Object-Verb   
Not Available   

Language Morphological Typology
Analytic   
Not Available   

Countries >>
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Afrikaans and Swahili Language History

Comparison of Afrikaans vs Swahili language history gives us differences between origin of Afrikaans and Swahili language. History of Afrikaans language states that this language originated in 17th Century whereas history of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century. 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 Afrikaans and Swahili Language History.

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Afrikaans and Swahili 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 Afrikaans and Swahili greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Afrikaans and Swahili language. Afrikaans word for "Hello" is hallo or Swahili word for "Thank You" is Asante. Find more of such common Afrikaans Greetings and Swahili Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Afrikaans vs Swahili Difficulty

The Afrikaans vs Swahili difficulty level basically depends on the number of Afrikaans Alphabets and Swahili 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 Afrikaans and Swahili are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Afrikaans and Swahili, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Afrikaans is 24 weeks while to learn Swahili time required is 36 weeks.

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