Swahili vs Chewa
Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
Malawi, Zimbabwe
National Language
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania
Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe
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
Zambia
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.
- Chewa is one of the 55 languages featured on the Voyager spacecraft.
- Most widely known language of Malawi is Chewa.
Similar To
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Zulu language
Derived From
Arabic Language
Not Available
Alphabets in
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200
Chewa-Alphabets.jpg#200
Writing Direction
Not Available
Not Available
Language Levels
Not Available
Time Taken to Learn
Not Available
How Are You?
Habari gani?
Muli bwanji?
Good Night
Usiku mwema
Usiku wabwino
Good Evening
Habari za jioni
Madzulo abwino
Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri
Masana abwino
Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi
M'mawa wabwino
I Love You
nakupenda
Ndimakukondani
Excuse Me
Samahani
Pepani
Dialect 1
Kiunguja
Kasungu
Where They Speak
Zanzibar island
Malawi, Zambia
Dialect 2
Kimrima
Kikamtunda
Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam
Malawi, Zambia
Dialect 3
Kimgao
Kimaravi
Where They Speak
Kilwa
Malawi, Zambia
Speaking Population
Not Available
Native Name
Not Available
Nyanja
Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
Chichewa, Chinyanja, Nyanja, Nyanja-Chewa
French Name
swahili
chichewa; chewa; nyanja
German Name
Swahili
Nyanja-Sprache
Pronunciation
Not Available
Not Available
Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili
Chewa people
Origin
6th century
15th Century
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo
Early Forms
No early forms
No early forms
Standard Forms
Swahili
Chewa
Signed Forms
Not Available
Not Available
Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual
ISO 639 6
Not Available
Not Available
Glottocode
swah1254
nyan1308
Linguasphere
99-AUS-m
99-AUS-xaa – xag
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available
Not Available
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
Not Available
Swahili and Chewa Language History
Comparison of Swahili vs Chewa language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Chewa language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of Chewa language states that this language originated in 15th 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 Chewa Language History.
Swahili and Chewa 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 Chewa greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Swahili and Chewa language. Swahili word for "Hello" is Habari or Chewa word for "Thank You" is Zikomo. Find more of such common Swahili Greetings and Chewa Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.
Swahili vs Chewa Difficulty
The Swahili vs Chewa difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili Alphabets and Chewa 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 Chewa are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Chewa, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Chewa time required is Not Available.