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Amharic vs Somali


Somali vs Amharic


Countries

Countries
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.  
Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
3  
12

National Language
Ethiopia  
Somalia  

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Speaking Continents
Africa  
Africa, Middle East  

Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Yemen  

Regulated By
Not Available  
National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy  

Interesting Facts
  • Amharic ranks as second most spoken Semitic language in the world.
  • Amharic has its own writing system named “fidel” and it uses Amharic alphabets to write.
  
  • Somali language is one of the best documented Afro-Asiatic languages.
  • One of the most widely spoken of the Cushitic languages is the Somali Language.
  

Similar To
Not Available  
Afar and Oromo Language  

Derived From
Not Available  
Arabic Language  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Amharic-1.jpg#200  
Somali-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
33  
15
26  
8

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
7  
4
5  
2

How Many Consonants
31  
21
21  
11

Scripts
Ethiopic  
Arabic, Latin, Osmanya  

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
5  
4

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks  
11
52 weeks  
12

Greetings

Hello
Selam  
Hello  

Thank You
amesege'nallo'  
Waad ku mahadsan tahay  

How Are You?
Dehina newot?  
Sidee tahay ?  

Good Night
Dehna dur  
Habeenka Good  

Good Evening
melkam meshe't  
Evening Good  

Good Afternoon
i'ndemin walu  
galab wanaagsan  

Good Morning
i'ndemin adäru  
Subax wanaagsan  

Please
i'bakwon  
Fadlan  

Sorry
aznallehu  
sorry  

Bye
tschao  
caraysiiyo  

I Love You
afekirishalehu  
Waan ku jeclahay  

Excuse Me
yiqirta  
iga raali ahow  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Gondar  
Northern Somali  

Where They Speak
Gondar  
Gabon, Standard Somali  

Dialect 2
Gojjami  
Benaadir  

Where They Speak
Ethiopia  
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu  

Dialect 3
Showa  
Af-Ashraaf  

Where They Speak
Ethiopia  
Standard Somali  

Total No. Of Dialects
5  
5
3  
3

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
18.70 million  
99+
13.00 million  
99+

Speaking Population
0.37 %  
35
Not Available  

Native Speakers
25.00 million  
32
8.00 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
10.00 million  
23
Not Available  

Native Name
Not Available  
af Soomaali  

Alternative Names
Abyssinian, Amarigna, Amarinya, Amhara, Ethiopian  
Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga  

French Name
amharique  
somali  

German Name
Amharisch  
Somali  

Pronunciation
[amarɨɲɲa]  
Not Available  

Ethnicity
Amharas  
Somalis  

History

Origin
13th century  
19th century  

Language Family
Afro-Asiatic Family  
Afro-Asiatic Family  

Subgroup
Semitic  
Cushitic  

Branch
Ethiopic  
Not Available  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
Ge'ez  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Amharic  
Somali  

Language Position
55  
40
83  
99+

Signed Forms
Signed Amharic  
Somali Sign Language  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
am  
so  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
amh  
som  

ISO 639 2/B
amh  
som  

ISO 639 3
amh  
som  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
amha1245  
soma1255  

Linguasphere
12-ACB-a  
No data available  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available  
Subject-Object-Verb  

Language Morphological Typology
Fusional  
Not Available  

Countries >>
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Amharic and Somali Language History

Comparison of Amharic vs Somali language history gives us differences between origin of Amharic and Somali language. History of Amharic language states that this language originated in 13th century whereas history of Somali language states that this language originated in 19th 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 Amharic and Somali Language History.

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Amharic and Somali 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 Amharic and Somali greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Amharic and Somali language. Amharic word for "Hello" is Selam or Somali word for "Thank You" is Waad ku mahadsan tahay. Find more of such common Amharic Greetings and Somali Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Amharic vs Somali Difficulty

The Amharic vs Somali difficulty level basically depends on the number of Amharic Alphabets and Somali 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 Amharic and Somali are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Amharic and Somali, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Amharic is 44 weeks while to learn Somali time required is 52 weeks.

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