Swahili

Somali

Swahili vs Somali

Swahili

Somali

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1 Countries

1.1 Countries

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

Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia

1.2 Total No. Of Countries

0 46

1.3 National Language

Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania

Somalia

1.4 Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries

1.5 Speaking Continents

Africa

Africa, Middle East

1.6 Minority Language

Not spoken in any of the countries

Yemen

1.7 Regulated By

Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)

National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy

1.8 Interesting Facts

Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.

Somali language is one of the best documented Afro-Asiatic languages.
One of the most widely spoken of the Cushitic languages is the Somali Language.

1.9 Similar To

Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages

Afar and Oromo Language

1.10 Derived From

Arabic Language

2 Alphabets

2.1 Alphabets in

2.2 Alphabets

2426

18 247

2.3 Phonology

2.3.1 How Many Vowels

0 32

2.3.2 How Many Consonants

2121

9 60

2.4 Scripts

Latin

Arabic, Latin, Osmanya

2.5 Writing Direction

Not Available

Left-To-Right, Horizontal

2.6 Hard to Learn

2.6.1 Language Levels

2 12

2.6.2 Time Taken to Learn

36 weeks52 weeks

3 88

3 Greetings

3.1 Hello

Habari

Hello

3.2 Thank You

Asante

Waad ku mahadsan tahay

3.3 How Are You?

Habari gani?

Sidee tahay ?

3.4 Good Night

Usiku mwema

Habeenka Good

3.5 Good Evening

Habari za jioni

Evening Good

3.6 Good Afternoon

nzuri Alasiri

galab wanaagsan

3.7 Good Morning

Habari za asubuhi

Subax wanaagsan

3.8 Please

tafadhali

Fadlan

3.9 Sorry

pole

sorry

3.10 Bye

bye

caraysiiyo

3.11 I Love You

nakupenda

Waan ku jeclahay

3.12 Excuse Me

Samahani

iga raali ahow

4 Dialects

4.1 Dialect 1

Kiunguja

Northern Somali

4.1.1 Where They Speak

Zanzibar island

Gabon, Standard Somali

4.1.2 How Many People Speak

NANA

1.5 960000000

4.2 Dialect 2

Kimrima

Benaadir

4.2.1 Where They Speak

Dar es Salaam

Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu

4.2.2 How Many People Speak

NANA

700 80000000

4.3 Dialect 3

Kimgao

Af-Ashraaf

4.3.1 Where They Speak

Kilwa

Standard Somali

4.3.2 How Many People Speak

NANA

1400 96000000

4.4 Total No. Of Dialects

123

0 188

5 How Many People Speak

5.1 How Many People Speak?

150.00 million13.00 million

0.13 1200

5.2 Speaking Population

NANA

0.11 89

5.3 Native Speakers

15.00 million8.00 million

0.13 873

5.3.1 Second Language Speakers

NANA

0.01 400

5.3.2 Native Name

Not Available

af Soomaali

5.3.3 Alternative Names

Kisuaheli, Kiswahili

Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga

5.3.4 French Name

swahili

somali

5.3.5 German Name

Swahili

Somali

5.4 Pronunciation

Not Available

5.5 Ethnicity

Swahili people or Waswahili

Somalis

6 History

6.1 Origin

6th century

19th century

6.2 Language Family

Niger-Congo Family

Afro-Asiatic Family

6.2.1 Subgroup

Benue-Congo

Cushitic

6.2.2 Branch

Bantu

Not Available

6.3 Language Forms

6.3.1 Early Forms

No early forms

6.3.2 Standard Forms

Swahili

Somali

6.3.3 Language Position

NA83

1 120

6.3.4 Signed Forms

Not Available

Somali Sign Language

6.4 Scope

Individual, Macrolanguage

Individual

7 Code

7.1 ISO 639 1

7.2 ISO 639 2

7.2.1 ISO 639 2/T

swa

som

7.2.2 ISO 639 2/B

swa

som

7.3 ISO 639 3

swa

som

7.4 ISO 639 6

Not Available

7.5 Glottocode

swah1254

soma1255

7.6 Linguasphere

99-AUS-m

No data available

7.7 Types of Language

7.7.1 Language Type

Living

7.7.2 Language Linguistic Typology

Not Available

Subject-Object-Verb

7.7.3 Language Morphological Typology

Not Available

Swahili vs Somali Speaking Countries

There are plenty of languages spoken around the world. Every country has its own official language. Compare Swahili vs Somali speaking countries, so that you will have total count of countries that speak Swahili or Somali language.

Swahili is spoken as a national language in: Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania.
Somali is spoken as a national language in: Somalia.

You will also get to know the continents where Swahili and Somali speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Swahili language is not available and position of Somali language is 83. Find all the information about these languages on Swahili and Somali.

Swahili and Somali Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs Somali language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Somali language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of Somali language states that this language originated in 19th 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 Somali Language History.

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

Swahili vs Somali Difficulty

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