Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
  
Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
  
National Language
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania
  
Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
  
Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries
  
Not spoken in any of the countries
  
Speaking Continents
Africa
  
Africa, Asia
  
Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries
  
Not spoken in any of the countries
  
Regulated By
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)
  
Academy of the Arabic Language, Arabic Language International Council
  
Interesting Facts
- Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
- The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
- Arabic is 5th common language in world.
- Classical Arabic is the language of Quran and also it is official language. Classical Arabic is the only way to learn Arabic language in academic way and it does not change.
  
Similar To
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
  
Amharic and Hebrew
  
Derived From
Arabic Language
  
Not Available
  
Alphabets in
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200
  
Arabic.jpg#200
  
Phonology
  
  
Scripts
Latin
  
Arabic
  
Writing Direction
Not Available
  
Right-To-Left, Horizontal
  
Hard to Learn
  
  
Hello
Habari
  
مرحبا
  
Thank You
Asante
  
شكرا
  
How Are You?
Habari gani?
  
كيف حالك؟
  
Good Night
Usiku mwema
  
تصبح على خير
  
Good Evening
Habari za jioni
  
مساء الخير
  
Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri
  
مساء الخير
  
Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi
  
صباح الخير
  
Please
tafadhali
  
من فضلك
  
Sorry
pole
  
آسف
  
Bye
bye
  
وداعا
  
I Love You
nakupenda
  
أحبك
  
Excuse Me
Samahani
  
اعذرني
  
Dialect 1
Kiunguja
  
Maghrebi
  
Where They Speak
Zanzibar island
  
Algeria, Libya, Maghreb, Morocco, Tunisia
  
Dialect 2
Kimrima
  
Sudanese
  
Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam
  
Sudan
  
How Many People Speak
Not Available
  
17,000,000.00
  
6
Dialect 3
Kimgao
  
Levantine
  
Where They Speak
Kilwa
  
Cyprus, Levant
  
How Many People Speak
Not Available
  
21,000,000.00
  
3
How Many People Speak?
150.00 million
  
13
452.00 million
  
4
Speaking Population
Not Available
  
Native Speakers
15.00 million
  
40
206.00 million
  
6
Second Language Speakers
Not Available
  
246.00 million
  
2
Native Name
Not Available
  
(al arabiya) العربية
  
Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
  
Al-’Arabiyya, Al-Fusha, Literary Arabic
  
French Name
swahili
  
arabe
  
German Name
Swahili
  
Arabisch
  
Pronunciation
Not Available
  
/al ʕarabijja/, /ʕarabi/
  
Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili
  
Arabs
  
Origin
6th century
  
512 CE
  
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
  
Afro-Asiatic Family, Semitic Family
  
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
  
Semitic
  
Branch
Bantu
  
North Arabic
  
Language Forms
  
  
Early Forms
No early forms
  
No early forms
  
Standard Forms
Swahili
  
Modern Standard Arabic
  
Language Position
Not Available
  
Signed Forms
Not Available
  
Signed Arabic
  
Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage
  
Macrolanguage
  
ISO 639 1
sw
  
ar
  
ISO 639 2
  
  
ISO 639 2/T
swa
  
ara
  
ISO 639 2/B
swa
  
ara
  
ISO 639 3
swa
  
ara
  
ISO 639 6
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Glottocode
swah1254
  
arab1395
  
Linguasphere
99-AUS-m
  
12-AAC
  
Types of Language
  
  
Language Type
Living
  
Living
  
Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available
  
Subject-Verb-Object
  
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
  
Fusional, Synthetic