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Swahili vs Amharic


Amharic vs Swahili


Countries

Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya  
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.  

Total No. Of Countries
4  
11
1  
14

National Language
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania  
Ethiopia  

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
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)  
Not Available  

Interesting Facts
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
    •   
  • 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
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages  
Not Available  

Derived From
Arabic Language  
Not Available  

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
24  
6
33  
15

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5  
2
7  
4

How Many Consonants
21  
11
31  
21

Scripts
Latin  
Ethiopic  

Writing Direction
Not Available  
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
36 weeks  
10
44 weeks  
11

Greetings

Hello
Habari  
Selam  

Thank You
Asante  
amesege'nallo'  

How Are You?
Habari gani?  
Dehina newot?  

Good Night
Usiku mwema  
Dehna dur  

Good Evening
Habari za jioni  
melkam meshe't  

Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri  
i'ndemin walu  

Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi  
i'ndemin adäru  

Please
tafadhali  
i'bakwon  

Sorry
pole  
aznallehu  

Bye
bye  
tschao  

I Love You
nakupenda  
afekirishalehu  

Excuse Me
Samahani  
yiqirta  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Kiunguja  
Gondar  

Where They Speak
Zanzibar island  
Gondar  

Dialect 2
Kimrima  
Gojjami  

Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam  
Ethiopia  

Dialect 3
Kimgao  
Showa  

Where They Speak
Kilwa  
Ethiopia  

Total No. Of Dialects
12  
12
5  
5

How Many People Speak

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

Speaking Population
Not Available  
0.37 %  
35

Native Speakers
15.00 million  
40
25.00 million  
32

Second Language Speakers
Not Available  
10.00 million  
23

Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili  
Abyssinian, Amarigna, Amarinya, Amhara, Ethiopian  

French Name
swahili  
amharique  

German Name
Swahili  
Amharisch  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
[amarɨɲɲa]  

Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili  
Amharas  

History

Origin
6th century  
13th century  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Afro-Asiatic Family  

Subgroup
Benue-Congo  
Semitic  

Branch
Bantu  
Ethiopic  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
Ge'ez  

Standard Forms
Swahili  
Amharic  

Language Position
Not Available  
55  
40

Signed Forms
Not Available  
Signed Amharic  

Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
sw  
am  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
swa  
amh  

ISO 639 2/B
swa  
amh  

ISO 639 3
swa  
amh  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
swah1254  
amha1245  

Linguasphere
99-AUS-m  
12-ACB-a  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available  
Not Available  

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Fusional  

Countries >>
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Swahili and Amharic Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs Amharic language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Amharic language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th 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 Swahili and Amharic Language History.

Compare Easiest Languages to Learn

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

Swahili vs Amharic Difficulty

The Swahili vs Amharic difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili 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 Swahili and Amharic are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Amharic, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Amharic time required is 44 weeks.

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