Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
  
Madagascar
  
National Language
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania
  
Comoros, Madagascar, Mayotte
  
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
  
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.
- Malagasy language was originated in southeast Asia, since it shares several common words and meanings with Indonesian Languages.
- About 93% of the basic vocabulary is of Malayo-Polynesian origin in Malagasy language.
  
Similar To
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
  
Not Available
  
Derived From
Arabic Language
  
Not Available
  
Alphabets in
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200
  
Malagasy-Alphabets.jpg#200
  
Phonology
  
  
Scripts
Latin
  
Latin
  
Writing Direction
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Hard to Learn
  
  
Time Taken to Learn
Not Available
  
Hello
Habari
  
Salama!
  
Thank You
Asante
  
Misaotra
  
How Are You?
Habari gani?
  
Manao ahoana!
  
Good Night
Usiku mwema
  
Alina tsara
  
Good Evening
Habari za jioni
  
Manao ahoana e
  
Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri
  
Manao ahoana e
  
Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi
  
Maraina tsara
  
Please
tafadhali
  
azafady
  
Sorry
pole
  
Miala tsiny
  
Bye
bye
  
Veloma!
  
I Love You
nakupenda
  
Tiako ianao.
  
Excuse Me
Samahani
  
Azafady
  
Dialect 1
Kiunguja
  
Eastern Malagasy
  
Where They Speak
Zanzibar island
  
Merina
  
How Many People Speak
Not Available
  
5,000,000.00
  
17
Dialect 2
Kimrima
  
Western Malagasy
  
Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam
  
Sakalava
  
How Many People Speak
Not Available
  
1,200,000.00
  
24
Dialect 3
Kimgao
  
Not Available
  
Where They Speak
Kilwa
  
Not Available
  
How Many People Speak?
150.00 million
  
13
Not Available
  
Speaking Population
Not Available
  
Native Speakers
15.00 million
  
40
18.00 million
  
38
Native Name
Not Available
  
Fiteny Malagasy
  
Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
  
Malagasy Sign Language
  
French Name
swahili
  
malgache
  
German Name
Swahili
  
Malagassi-Sprache
  
Pronunciation
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili
  
Malagasy people
  
Origin
6th century
  
1000 AD
  
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
  
Austronesian Family
  
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
  
Austronesian
  
Branch
Bantu
  
Indonesian
  
Language Forms
  
  
Early Forms
No early forms
  
No early forms
  
Standard Forms
Swahili
  
standard Malagasy
  
Language Position
Not Available
  
Signed Forms
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage
  
Macrolanguage
  
ISO 639 1
sw
  
mg
  
ISO 639 2
  
  
ISO 639 2/T
swa
  
mlg
  
ISO 639 2/B
swa
  
mlg
  
ISO 639 3
swa
  
mlg
  
ISO 639 6
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Glottocode
swah1254
  
mala1537
  
Linguasphere
99-AUS-m
  
No data available
  
Types of Language
  
  
Language Type
Living
  
Living
  
Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available
  
Verb-Object-Subject
  
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Swahili and Malagasy 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 Malagasy greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Swahili and Malagasy language. Swahili word for "Hello" is Habari or Malagasy word for "Thank You" is Misaotra. Find more of such common Swahili Greetings and Malagasy Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.
Swahili vs Malagasy Difficulty
The Swahili vs Malagasy difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili Alphabets and Malagasy 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 Malagasy are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Malagasy, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Malagasy time required is Not Available.