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Malagasy vs Swahili


Swahili vs Malagasy


Countries

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

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
4  
11

National Language
Comoros, Madagascar, Mayotte  
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
  • Malagasy language was originated in southeast Asia, since it shares several common words and meanings with Indonesian Languages.
  • About 93% of the basic vocabulary is of Malayo-Polynesian origin in Malagasy language.
  
  • 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
Malagasy-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
21  
3
24  
6

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5  
2
5  
2

How Many Consonants
20  
10
21  
11

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
Not Available  
Not Available  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
Not Available  
36 weeks  
10

Greetings

Hello
Salama!  
Habari  

Thank You
Misaotra  
Asante  

How Are You?
Manao ahoana!  
Habari gani?  

Good Night
Alina tsara  
Usiku mwema  

Good Evening
Manao ahoana e  
Habari za jioni  

Good Afternoon
Manao ahoana e  
nzuri Alasiri  

Good Morning
Maraina tsara  
Habari za asubuhi  

Please
azafady  
tafadhali  

Sorry
Miala tsiny  
pole  

Bye
Veloma!  
bye  

I Love You
Tiako ianao.  
nakupenda  

Excuse Me
Azafady  
Samahani  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Eastern Malagasy  
Kiunguja  

Where They Speak
Merina  
Zanzibar island  

How Many People Speak
5,000,000.00  
17
Not Available  

Dialect 2
Western Malagasy  
Kimrima  

Where They Speak
Sakalava  
Dar es Salaam  

How Many People Speak
1,200,000.00  
24
Not Available  

Dialect 3
Not Available  
Kimgao  

Where They Speak
Not Available  
Kilwa  

Total No. Of Dialects
2  
2
12  
12

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
Not Available  
150.00 million  
13

Speaking Population
0.28 %  
40
Not Available  

Native Speakers
18.00 million  
38
15.00 million  
40

Native Name
Fiteny Malagasy  
Not Available  

Alternative Names
Malagasy Sign Language  
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili  

French Name
malgache  
swahili  

German Name
Malagassi-Sprache  
Swahili  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
Not Available  

Ethnicity
Malagasy people  
Swahili people or Waswahili  

History

Origin
1000 AD  
6th century  

Language Family
Austronesian Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Austronesian  
Benue-Congo  

Branch
Indonesian  
Bantu  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
standard Malagasy  
Swahili  

Language Position
84  
99+
Not Available  

Signed Forms
Not Available  
Not Available  

Scope
Macrolanguage  
Individual, Macrolanguage  

Code

ISO 639 1
mg  
sw  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
mlg  
swa  

ISO 639 2/B
mlg  
swa  

ISO 639 3
mlg  
swa  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
mala1537  
swah1254  

Linguasphere
No data available  
99-AUS-m  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Verb-Object-Subject  
Not Available  

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Not Available  

Countries >>
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Malagasy and Swahili Language History

Comparison of Malagasy vs Swahili language history gives us differences between origin of Malagasy and Swahili language. History of Malagasy language states that this language originated in 1000 AD 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 Malagasy and Swahili Language History.

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

Malagasy vs Swahili Difficulty

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

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