Swahili vs Amharic
Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
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 in
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200
Amharic-1.jpg#200
Writing Direction
Not Available
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
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
I Love You
nakupenda
afekirishalehu
Excuse Me
Samahani
yiqirta
Dialect 1
Kiunguja
Gondar
Where They Speak
Zanzibar island
Gondar
Dialect 2
Kimrima
Gojjami
Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam
Ethiopia
Where They Speak
Kilwa
Ethiopia
Speaking Population
Not Available
Second Language Speakers
Not Available
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
Origin
6th century
13th century
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Afro-Asiatic Family
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Semitic
Early Forms
No early forms
Ge'ez
Standard Forms
Swahili
Amharic
Language Position
Not Available
Signed Forms
Not Available
Signed Amharic
Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual
ISO 639 6
Not Available
Not Available
Glottocode
swah1254
amha1245
Linguasphere
99-AUS-m
12-ACB-a
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available
Not Available
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
Fusional
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.
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.