Home
Languagevs


Somali vs Amharic


Amharic vs Somali


Countries

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

Total No. Of Countries
3  
12
1  
14

National Language
Somalia  
Ethiopia  

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

Speaking Continents
Africa, Middle East  
Africa  

Minority Language
Yemen  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

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

Interesting Facts
  • 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.
  
  • 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.
  

Similar To
Afar and Oromo Language  
Not Available  

Derived From
Arabic Language  
Not Available  

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
26  
8
33  
15

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5  
2
7  
4

How Many Consonants
21  
11
31  
21

Scripts
Arabic, Latin, Osmanya  
Ethiopic  

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

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
5  
4
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
52 weeks  
12
44 weeks  
11

Greetings

Hello
Hello  
Selam  

Thank You
Waad ku mahadsan tahay  
amesege'nallo'  

How Are You?
Sidee tahay ?  
Dehina newot?  

Good Night
Habeenka Good  
Dehna dur  

Good Evening
Evening Good  
melkam meshe't  

Good Afternoon
galab wanaagsan  
i'ndemin walu  

Good Morning
Subax wanaagsan  
i'ndemin adäru  

Please
Fadlan  
i'bakwon  

Sorry
sorry  
aznallehu  

Bye
caraysiiyo  
tschao  

I Love You
Waan ku jeclahay  
afekirishalehu  

Excuse Me
iga raali ahow  
yiqirta  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Northern Somali  
Gondar  

Where They Speak
Gabon, Standard Somali  
Gondar  

Dialect 2
Benaadir  
Gojjami  

Where They Speak
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu  
Ethiopia  

Dialect 3
Af-Ashraaf  
Showa  

Where They Speak
Standard Somali  
Ethiopia  

Total No. Of Dialects
3  
3
5  
5

How Many People Speak

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

Speaking Population
Not Available  
0.37 %  
35

Native Speakers
8.00 million  
99+
25.00 million  
32

Second Language Speakers
Not Available  
10.00 million  
23

Native Name
af Soomaali  
Not Available  

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

French Name
somali  
amharique  

German Name
Somali  
Amharisch  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
[amarɨɲɲa]  

Ethnicity
Somalis  
Amharas  

History

Origin
19th century  
13th century  

Language Family
Afro-Asiatic Family  
Afro-Asiatic Family  

Subgroup
Cushitic  
Semitic  

Branch
Not Available  
Ethiopic  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
Ge'ez  

Standard Forms
Somali  
Amharic  

Language Position
83  
99+
55  
40

Signed Forms
Somali Sign Language  
Signed Amharic  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
so  
am  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
som  
amh  

ISO 639 2/B
som  
amh  

ISO 639 3
som  
amh  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
soma1255  
amha1245  

Linguasphere
No data available  
12-ACB-a  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Object-Verb  
Not Available  

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Fusional  

Countries >>
<< All

Somali and Amharic Language History

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

Compare Most Difficult Languages

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

Somali vs Amharic Difficulty

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

Most Difficult Languages

Most Difficult Languages

» More Most Difficult Languages

Compare Most Difficult Languages

» More Compare Most Difficult Languages