Afrikaans vs Swahili
Countries
South Africa
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
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 in
Afrikaans-Alphabets.jpg#200
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200
Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
Not Available
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
I Love You
Ek het jou lief
nakupenda
Excuse Me
Verskoon my
Samahani
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
Speaking Population
Not Available
Not Available
Second Language Speakers
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
Origin
17th Century
6th century
Language Family
Indo-European Family
Niger-Congo Family
Subgroup
Germanic
Benue-Congo
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
ISO 639 6
afrs
Not Available
Glottocode
afri1274
swah1254
Linguasphere
52-ACB-ba
99-AUS-m
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Object-Verb
Not Available
Language Morphological Typology
Analytic
Not Available
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.
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.
