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Chewa vs Swahili


Swahili vs Chewa


Countries

Countries
Malawi, Zimbabwe   
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya   

Total No. Of Countries
2   
13
4   
11

National Language
Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe   
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
Zambia   
Not spoken in any of the countries   

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

Interesting Facts
  • Chewa is one of the 55 languages featured on the Voyager spacecraft.
  • Most widely known language of Malawi is Chewa.
  
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
    •   

Similar To
Zulu language   
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages   

Derived From
Not Available   
Arabic Language   

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
31   
13
24   
6

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5   
2
5   
2

How Many Consonants
18   
8
21   
11

Scripts
Latin   
Latin   

Writing Direction
Not Available   
Not Available   

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
Not Available   
3   
2

Time Taken to Learn
Not Available   
36 weeks   
10

Greetings

Hello
Moni   
Habari   

Thank You
Zikomo   
Asante   

How Are You?
Muli bwanji?   
Habari gani?   

Good Night
Usiku wabwino   
Usiku mwema   

Good Evening
Madzulo abwino   
Habari za jioni   

Good Afternoon
Masana abwino   
nzuri Alasiri   

Good Morning
M'mawa wabwino   
Habari za asubuhi   

Please
Chonde   
tafadhali   

Sorry
pepani   
pole   

Bye
anatsanzikana   
bye   

I Love You
Ndimakukondani   
nakupenda   

Excuse Me
Pepani   
Samahani   

Dialects

Dialect 1
Kasungu   
Kiunguja   

Where They Speak
Malawi, Zambia   
Zanzibar island   

Dialect 2
Kikamtunda   
Kimrima   

Where They Speak
Malawi, Zambia   
Dar es Salaam   

Dialect 3
Kimaravi   
Kimgao   

Where They Speak
Malawi, Zambia   
Kilwa   

Total No. Of Dialects
5   
5
12   
12

How Many People Speak

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

Speaking Population
0.17 %   
99+
Not Available   

Native Speakers
12.00 million   
99+
15.00 million   
40

Native Name
Nyanja   
Not Available   

Alternative Names
Chichewa, Chinyanja, Nyanja, Nyanja-Chewa   
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili   

French Name
chichewa; chewa; nyanja   
swahili   

German Name
Nyanja-Sprache   
Swahili   

Pronunciation
Not Available   
Not Available   

Ethnicity
Chewa people   
Swahili people or Waswahili   

History

Origin
15th Century   
6th century   

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family   
Niger-Congo Family   

Subgroup
Benue-Congo   
Benue-Congo   

Branch
Bantu   
Bantu   

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms   
No early forms   

Standard Forms
Chewa   
Swahili   

Signed Forms
Not Available   
Not Available   

Scope
Individual   
Individual, Macrolanguage   

Code

ISO 639 1
ny   
sw   

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
nya   
swa   

ISO 639 2/B
nya   
swa   

ISO 639 3
nya   
swa   

ISO 639 6
Not Available   
Not Available   

Glottocode
nyan1308   
swah1254   

Linguasphere
99-AUS-xaa – xag   
99-AUS-m   

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living   
Living   

Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available   
Not Available   

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available   
Not Available   

Countries >>
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Chewa and Swahili Language History

Comparison of Chewa vs Swahili language history gives us differences between origin of Chewa and Swahili language. History of Chewa language states that this language originated in 15th 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 Chewa and Swahili Language History.

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

Chewa vs Swahili Difficulty

The Chewa vs Swahili difficulty level basically depends on the number of Chewa 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 Chewa and Swahili are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Chewa and Swahili, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Chewa is Not Available while to learn Swahili time required is 36 weeks.

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