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Swahili vs Igbo


Igbo vs Swahili


Countries

Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya  
Nigeria  

Total No. Of Countries
4  
11
1  
14

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

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  
Equatorial Guinea  

Regulated By
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)  
Society for Promoting Igbo Language and Culture  

Interesting Facts
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
    •   
  • In Igbo, there is complicated system of high and low tones indicating differences in meaning and grammatical relationships.
  • Igbo has inexhaustible and rich linguistic features like idioms, proverbs, aphorisms, anecdotes etc.
  

Similar To
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages  
Not Available  

Derived From
Arabic Language  
Not Available  

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
24  
6
36  
18

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5  
2
8  
5

How Many Consonants
21  
11
28  
18

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
Not Available  
Not Available  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
36 weeks  
10
52 weeks  
12

Greetings

Hello
Habari  
kedụ  

Thank You
Asante  
dalụ  

How Are You?
Habari gani?  
kedụ ka ịmere  

Good Night
Usiku mwema  
ka chi fo  

Good Evening
Habari za jioni  
mgbede ọma  

Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri  
ehihie ọma  

Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi  
ụtụtụ ọma  

Please
tafadhali  
Biko  

Sorry
pole  
Ndo  

Bye
bye  
Not Available  

I Love You
nakupenda  
a hụrụ m gị n'anya  

Excuse Me
Samahani  
ngọpụ  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Kiunguja  
Enuani  

Where They Speak
Zanzibar island  
Nigeria  

Dialect 2
Kimrima  
Ngwa  

Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam  
Nigeria  

How Many People Speak
Not Available  
1,500,000.00  
22

Dialect 3
Kimgao  
Not present  

Where They Speak
Kilwa  
Not Available  

Total No. Of Dialects
12  
12
20  
18

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
150.00 million  
13
25.00 million  
40

Speaking Population
Not Available  
Not Available  

Native Speakers
15.00 million  
40
25.00 million  
32

Native Name
Not Available  
igbo  

Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili  
Ibo  

French Name
swahili  
igbo  

German Name
Swahili  
Ibo-Sprache  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
[iɡ͡boː]  

Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili  
Igbo people  

History

Origin
6th century  
30th Century BC  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Benue-Congo  
Kwa  

Branch
Bantu  
Not Available  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Swahili  
Standard Igbo  

Language Position
Not Available  
57  
99+

Signed Forms
Not Available  
Not Available  

Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
sw  
ig  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
swa  
ibo  

ISO 639 2/B
swa  
ibo  

ISO 639 3
swa  
ibo  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
swah1254  
nucl1417  

Linguasphere
99-AUS-m  
No data available  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available  
Not Available  

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Agglutinative  

Countries >>
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Swahili and Igbo Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs Igbo language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Igbo language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of Igbo language states that this language originated in 30th Century BC. 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 Igbo Language History.

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

Swahili vs Igbo Difficulty

The Swahili vs Igbo difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili Alphabets and Igbo 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 Igbo are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Igbo, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Igbo time required is 52 weeks.

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