Home
Languagevs


Swahili vs Indonesian


Indonesian vs Swahili


Countries

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

Total No. Of Countries
4   
11
1   
14

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

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries   
East Timor, Indonesia   

Speaking Continents
Africa   
Asia   

Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries   
Denmark, East Timor, Netherlands   

Regulated By
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)   
Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa   

Interesting Facts
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
    •   
  • The modern Indonesian language uses many loan words from Persian, Chinese and Arabic.
  • In Indonesian language, spelling is phonetically precise, so that words are spelled as they sound.
  

Similar To
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages   
Malay language   

Derived From
Arabic Language   
Malay and Dutch Languages   

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
24   
6
26   
8

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5   
2
6   
3

How Many Consonants
21   
11
19   
9

Scripts
Latin   
Latin   

Writing Direction
Not Available   
Not Available   

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3   
2
7   
6

Time Taken to Learn
36 weeks   
10
36 weeks   
10

Greetings

Hello
Habari   
Halo   

Thank You
Asante   
Terima kasih   

How Are You?
Habari gani?   
Apa kabar?   

Good Night
Usiku mwema   
Selamat Malam   

Good Evening
Habari za jioni   
Malam yang baik   

Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri   
Selamat Sore   

Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi   
Selamat Pagi   

Please
tafadhali   
mohon Untuk   

Sorry
pole   
maaf   

Bye
bye   
Selamat tinggal   

I Love You
nakupenda   
Aku cinta kamu   

Excuse Me
Samahani   
Permisi   

Dialects

Dialect 1
Kiunguja   
Sundanese   

Where They Speak
Zanzibar island   
Indonesia   

How Many People Speak
Not Available   
38,000,000.00   
8

Dialect 2
Kimrima   
Balinese   

Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam   
Bali, Indonesia, Lombok and Java, Nusa Penida   

How Many People Speak
Not Available   
3,300,000.00   
17

Dialect 3
Kimgao   
Minangkabau   

Where They Speak
Kilwa   
Indonesia, Malaysia   

How Many People Speak
Not Available   
6,000,000.00   
7

Total No. Of Dialects
12   
12
46   
30

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
150.00 million   
13
163.00 million   
11

Speaking Population
Not Available   
1.16 %   
14

Native Speakers
15.00 million   
40
23.00 million   
34

Second Language Speakers
Not Available   
140.00 million   
4

Native Name
Not Available   
Bahasa Melayu   

Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili   
Bahasa Indonesia   

French Name
swahili   
indonésien   

German Name
Swahili   
Bahasa Indonesia   

Pronunciation
Not Available   
Not Available   

Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili   
Indonesians   

History

Origin
6th century   
7th Century   

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family   
Austronesian Family   

Subgroup
Benue-Congo   
Indonesian   

Branch
Bantu   
Not Available   

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms   
Old Malay   

Standard Forms
Swahili   
Indonesian   

Language Position
Not Available   
56   
99+

Signed Forms
Not Available   
Sistem Isyarat Bahasa Indonesia (SIBI, "Signed Indonesian")   

Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage   
Individual   

Code

ISO 639 1
sw   
id   

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
swa   
ind   

ISO 639 2/B
swa   
ind   

ISO 639 3
swa   
ind   

ISO 639 6
Not Available   
Not Available   

Glottocode
swah1254   
indo1316   

Linguasphere
99-AUS-m   
No data available   

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living   
Living   

Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available   
Subject-Verb-Object   

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available   
Agglutinative   

Countries >>
<< All

Swahili and Indonesian Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs Indonesian language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Indonesian language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of Indonesian language states that this language originated in 7th 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 Indonesian Language History.

Compare Easiest Languages to Learn

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

Swahili vs Indonesian Difficulty

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

Easiest Languages to Learn

Easiest Languages to Learn

» More Easiest Languages to Learn

Compare Easiest Languages to Learn

» More Compare Easiest Languages to Learn