Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
  
Burma
  
National Language
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania
  
Burundi, Gambia
  
Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries
  
Not spoken in any of the countries
  
Speaking Continents
Africa
  
Africa, Asia
  
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.
- Kirundi language is tonal, since it has high and low essential tones.
- Kirundi Language is referred as a language where Meeussen's rule is active, this rule describes a certain pattern of tonal change in Bantu languages.
  
Similar To
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
  
Kinyarwanda Language
  
Derived From
Arabic Language
  
Not Available
  
Alphabets in
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200
  
Kirundi-Alphabets.jpg#200
  
Phonology
  
  
Scripts
Latin
  
Latin
  
Writing Direction
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Hard to Learn
  
  
Language Levels
Not Available
  
Time Taken to Learn
Not Available
  
Hello
Habari
  
Bwakeye
  
Thank You
Asante
  
Urakoze
  
How Are You?
Habari gani?
  
Urakomeye?
  
Good Night
Usiku mwema
  
Ijoro ryiza
  
Good Evening
Habari za jioni
  
Mwiriwe
  
Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri
  
Mwiriwe
  
Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi
  
Mwaramutse
  
Please
tafadhali
  
Ndagusavye
  
Sorry
pole
  
Not available
  
Bye
bye
  
N’agasaga
  
I Love You
nakupenda
  
Not available
  
Excuse Me
Samahani
  
Not available
  
Dialect 1
Kiunguja
  
Rwanda-Rundi
  
Where They Speak
Zanzibar island
  
Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
  
How Many People Speak
Not Available
  
20,000,000.00
  
10
Dialect 2
Kimrima
  
Ha
  
Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam
  
Tanzania
  
How Many People Speak
Not Available
  
Dialect 3
Kimgao
  
Shubi
  
Where They Speak
Kilwa
  
Tanzania
  
How Many People Speak
Not Available
  
How Many People Speak?
150.00 million
  
13
8.80 million
  
99+
Speaking Population
Not Available
  
Native Speakers
15.00 million
  
40
8.80 million
  
99+
Native Name
Not Available
  
íkiRǔndi
  
Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
  
Not Available
  
French Name
swahili
  
rundi
  
German Name
Swahili
  
Kirundi
  
Pronunciation
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili
  
Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa
  
Origin
6th century
  
1500
  
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
  
Niger-Congo Family
  
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
  
Not Available
  
Branch
Bantu
  
Not Available
  
Language Forms
  
  
Early Forms
No early forms
  
No early forms
  
Standard Forms
Swahili
  
Kirundi
  
Language Position
Not Available
  
Signed Forms
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage
  
Not Available
  
ISO 639 1
sw
  
rn
  
ISO 639 2
  
  
ISO 639 2/T
swa
  
run
  
ISO 639 2/B
swa
  
run
  
ISO 639 3
swa
  
run
  
ISO 639 6
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Glottocode
swah1254
  
rund1242
  
Linguasphere
99-AUS-m
  
No data available
  
Types of Language
  
  
Language Type
Living
  
Not Available
  
Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Swahili and Kirundi 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 Kirundi greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Swahili and Kirundi language. Swahili word for "Hello" is Habari or Kirundi word for "Thank You" is Urakoze. Find more of such common Swahili Greetings and Kirundi Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.
Swahili vs Kirundi Difficulty
The Swahili vs Kirundi difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili Alphabets and Kirundi 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 Kirundi are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Kirundi, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Kirundi time required is Not Available.