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Swahili vs English


English vs Swahili


Countries

Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya  
Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Canada, Dominica, Fiji, Ghana, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Malta, Mauritius, Micronesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somaliland, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Kingdom, Zambia, Zimbabwe  

Total No. Of Countries
4  
11
33  
2

National Language
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania  
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guam, Guyana, Jersey, Montserrat, Nauru, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, United States of America  

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore  

Speaking Continents
Africa  
Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America  

Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
South Africa  

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.
    •   
  • Most of the English words begin with the letter S than any other letter.
  • English is third most commonly spoken language in the world.
  

Similar To
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages  
Not Available  

Derived From
Arabic Language  
Latin  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200  
English-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
24  
6
26  
8

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5  
2
5  
2

How Many Consonants
21  
11
21  
11

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
Not Available  
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
7  
6

Time Taken to Learn
36 weeks  
10
6 weeks  
3

Greetings

Hello
Habari  
Hello  

Thank You
Asante  
Thank you  

How Are You?
Habari gani?  
How are you?  

Good Night
Usiku mwema  
Good Night  

Good Evening
Habari za jioni  
Good Evening  

Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri  
Good Afternoon  

Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi  
Good Morning  

Please
tafadhali  
Please  

Sorry
pole  
Sorry  

Bye
bye  
Bye  

I Love You
nakupenda  
I love you  

Excuse Me
Samahani  
Excuse Me  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Kiunguja  
American English  

Where They Speak
Zanzibar island  
United States of America  

How Many People Speak
Not Available  
225,000,000.00  
3

Dialect 2
Kimrima  
Hiberno-English  

Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam  
Republic of Ireland, United Kingdom  

How Many People Speak
Not Available  
4,500,000.00  
15

Dialect 3
Kimgao  
Welsh English  

Where They Speak
Kilwa  
United Kingdom  

How Many People Speak
Not Available  
2,500,000.00  
14

Total No. Of Dialects
12  
12
188  
34

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
150.00 million  
13
1,200.00 million  
1

Speaking Population
Not Available  
5.43 %  
4

Native Speakers
15.00 million  
40
400.00 million  
3

Second Language Speakers
Not Available  
400.00 million  
1

Native Name
Not Available  
English  

Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili  
Not Available  

French Name
swahili  
anglais  

German Name
Swahili  
Englisch  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
/ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/  

Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili  
Not Available  

History

Origin
6th century  
5th Century AD  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Indo-European Family  

Subgroup
Benue-Congo  
Not Available  

Branch
Bantu  
Not Available  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English and English  

Standard Forms
Swahili  
Standard English  

Language Position
Not Available  
3  
3

Signed Forms
Not Available  
Signed English  

Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
sw  
en  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
swa  
eng  

ISO 639 2/B
swa  
eng  

ISO 639 3
swa  
eng  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
engs  

Glottocode
swah1254  
stan1293  

Linguasphere
99-AUS-m  
52-ABA  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available  
Subject-Verb-Object  

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Analytic, Fusional, Isolating, Synthetic  

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Swahili and English Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs English language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and English language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of English language states that this language originated in 5th Century AD. 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 English Language History.

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

Swahili vs English Difficulty

The Swahili vs English difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili Alphabets and English 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 English are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and English, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn English time required is 6 weeks.

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