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Amharic vs Swahili


Swahili vs Amharic


Countries

Countries
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.   
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya   

Total No. Of Countries
1   
14
4   
11

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

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

Speaking Continents
Africa   
Africa   

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

Regulated By
Not Available   
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)   

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.
  
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
    •   

Similar To
Not Available   
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages   

Derived From
Not Available   
Arabic Language   

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
33   
15
24   
6

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
7   
4
5   
2

How Many Consonants
31   
21
21   
11

Scripts
Ethiopic   
Latin   

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal   
Not Available   

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3   
2
3   
2

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks   
11
36 weeks   
10

Greetings

Hello
Selam   
Habari   

Thank You
amesege'nallo'   
Asante   

How Are You?
Dehina newot?   
Habari gani?   

Good Night
Dehna dur   
Usiku mwema   

Good Evening
melkam meshe't   
Habari za jioni   

Good Afternoon
i'ndemin walu   
nzuri Alasiri   

Good Morning
i'ndemin adäru   
Habari za asubuhi   

Please
i'bakwon   
tafadhali   

Sorry
aznallehu   
pole   

Bye
tschao   
bye   

I Love You
afekirishalehu   
nakupenda   

Excuse Me
yiqirta   
Samahani   

Dialects

Dialect 1
Gondar   
Kiunguja   

Where They Speak
Gondar   
Zanzibar island   

Dialect 2
Gojjami   
Kimrima   

Where They Speak
Ethiopia   
Dar es Salaam   

Dialect 3
Showa   
Kimgao   

Where They Speak
Ethiopia   
Kilwa   

Total No. Of Dialects
5   
5
12   
12

How Many People Speak

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

Speaking Population
0.37 %   
35
Not Available   

Native Speakers
25.00 million   
32
15.00 million   
40

Second Language Speakers
10.00 million   
23
Not Available   

Alternative Names
Abyssinian, Amarigna, Amarinya, Amhara, Ethiopian   
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili   

French Name
amharique   
swahili   

German Name
Amharisch   
Swahili   

Pronunciation
[amarɨɲɲa]   
Not Available   

Ethnicity
Amharas   
Swahili people or Waswahili   

History

Origin
13th century   
6th century   

Language Family
Afro-Asiatic Family   
Niger-Congo Family   

Subgroup
Semitic   
Benue-Congo   

Branch
Ethiopic   
Bantu   

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
Ge'ez   
No early forms   

Standard Forms
Amharic   
Swahili   

Language Position
55   
40
Not Available   

Signed Forms
Signed Amharic   
Not Available   

Scope
Individual   
Individual, Macrolanguage   

Code

ISO 639 1
am   
sw   

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
amh   
swa   

ISO 639 2/B
amh   
swa   

ISO 639 3
amh   
swa   

ISO 639 6
Not Available   
Not Available   

Glottocode
amha1245   
swah1254   

Linguasphere
12-ACB-a   
99-AUS-m   

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living   
Living   

Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available   
Not Available   

Language Morphological Typology
Fusional   
Not Available   

Countries >>
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Amharic and Swahili Language History

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

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

Amharic vs Swahili Difficulty

The Amharic vs Swahili difficulty level basically depends on the number of Amharic 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 Amharic and Swahili are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Amharic and Swahili, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Amharic is 44 weeks while to learn Swahili time required is 36 weeks.

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