Somali

Swahili

Somali vs Swahili

Somali

Swahili

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1 Countries

1.1 Countries

Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia

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

1.2 Total No. Of Countries

0 46

1.3 National Language

Somalia

Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania

1.4 Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries

1.5 Speaking Continents

Africa, Middle East

Africa

1.6 Minority Language

Yemen

Not spoken in any of the countries

1.7 Regulated By

National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy

Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)

1.8 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.

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

1.9 Similar To

Afar and Oromo Language

Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages

1.10 Derived From

Arabic Language

2 Alphabets

2.1 Alphabets in

2.2 Alphabets

2624

18 247

2.3 Phonology

2.3.1 How Many Vowels

0 32

2.3.2 How Many Consonants

2121

9 60

2.4 Scripts

Arabic, Latin, Osmanya

Latin

2.5 Writing Direction

Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Not Available

2.6 Hard to Learn

2.6.1 Language Levels

2 12

2.6.2 Time Taken to Learn

52 weeks36 weeks

3 88

3 Greetings

3.1 Hello

Hello

Habari

3.2 Thank You

Waad ku mahadsan tahay

Asante

3.3 How Are You?

Sidee tahay ?

Habari gani?

3.4 Good Night

Habeenka Good

Usiku mwema

3.5 Good Evening

Evening Good

Habari za jioni

3.6 Good Afternoon

galab wanaagsan

nzuri Alasiri

3.7 Good Morning

Subax wanaagsan

Habari za asubuhi

3.8 Please

Fadlan

tafadhali

3.9 Sorry

sorry

pole

3.10 Bye

caraysiiyo

bye

3.11 I Love You

Waan ku jeclahay

nakupenda

3.12 Excuse Me

iga raali ahow

Samahani

4 Dialects

4.1 Dialect 1

Northern Somali

Kiunguja

4.1.1 Where They Speak

Gabon, Standard Somali

Zanzibar island

4.1.2 How Many People Speak

NANA

1.5 960000000

4.2 Dialect 2

Benaadir

Kimrima

4.2.1 Where They Speak

Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu

Dar es Salaam

4.2.2 How Many People Speak

NANA

700 80000000

4.3 Dialect 3

Af-Ashraaf

Kimgao

4.3.1 Where They Speak

Standard Somali

Kilwa

4.3.2 How Many People Speak

NANA

1400 96000000

4.4 Total No. Of Dialects

312

0 188

5 How Many People Speak

5.1 How Many People Speak?

13.00 million150.00 million

0.13 1200

5.2 Speaking Population

NANA

0.11 89

5.3 Native Speakers

8.00 million15.00 million

0.13 873

5.3.1 Second Language Speakers

NANA

0.01 400

5.3.2 Native Name

af Soomaali

Not Available

5.3.3 Alternative Names

Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga

Kisuaheli, Kiswahili

5.3.4 French Name

somali

swahili

5.3.5 German Name

Somali

Swahili

5.4 Pronunciation

Not Available

5.5 Ethnicity

Somalis

Swahili people or Waswahili

6 History

6.1 Origin

19th century

6th century

6.2 Language Family

Afro-Asiatic Family

Niger-Congo Family

6.2.1 Subgroup

Cushitic

Benue-Congo

6.2.2 Branch

Not Available

Bantu

6.3 Language Forms

6.3.1 Early Forms

No early forms

6.3.2 Standard Forms

Somali

Swahili

6.3.3 Language Position

83NA

1 120

6.3.4 Signed Forms

Somali Sign Language

Not Available

6.4 Scope

Individual

Individual, Macrolanguage

7 Code

7.1 ISO 639 1

7.2 ISO 639 2

7.2.1 ISO 639 2/T

som

swa

7.2.2 ISO 639 2/B

som

swa

7.3 ISO 639 3

som

swa

7.4 ISO 639 6

Not Available

7.5 Glottocode

soma1255

swah1254

7.6 Linguasphere

No data available

99-AUS-m

7.7 Types of Language

7.7.1 Language Type

Living

7.7.2 Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Object-Verb

Not Available

7.7.3 Language Morphological Typology

Not Available

Somali vs Swahili Speaking Countries

There are plenty of languages spoken around the world. Every country has its own official language. Compare Somali vs Swahili speaking countries, so that you will have total count of countries that speak Somali or Swahili language.

Somali is spoken as a national language in: Somalia.
Swahili is spoken as a national language in: Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania.

You will also get to know the continents where Somali and Swahili speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Somali language is 83 and position of Swahili language is not available. Find all the information about these languages on Somali and Swahili.

Somali and Swahili Language History

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

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

Somali vs Swahili Difficulty

The Somali vs Swahili difficulty level basically depends on the number of Somali 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 Somali and Swahili are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Somali and Swahili, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Somali is 52 weeks while to learn Swahili time required is 36 weeks.