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Yoruba vs Swahili


Swahili vs Yoruba


Countries

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

Total No. Of Countries
2  
13
4  
11

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

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Speaking Continents
Africa  
Africa  

Minority Language
Africa, Brazil, Togo, United Kingdom, United States of America  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Regulated By
Yoruba Academy  
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)  

Interesting Facts
  • One of the largest African ethnic groups is Yoruba in south of Sahara Desert.
  • In Yoruba language, same combination of vowels and consonants have different meanings depending on the pitch of the vowels, so it is tonal language.
  
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
    •   

Similar To
Owo and Itsekiri languages  
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages  

Derived From
Not Available  
Arabic Language  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Yoruba-Alphabet.jpg#200  
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
29  
11
24  
6

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
12  
9
5  
2

How Many Consonants
17  
7
21  
11

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
Not Available  
Not Available  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
30 weeks  
9
36 weeks  
10

Greetings

Hello
Ẹ n lẹ  
Habari  

Thank You
e dupe  
Asante  

How Are You?
Bawo ni o se wa  
Habari gani?  

Good Night
Kasun layọ o  
Usiku mwema  

Good Evening
ka a ale  
Habari za jioni  

Good Afternoon
e kaasan  
nzuri Alasiri  

Good Morning
e kaaro  
Habari za asubuhi  

Please
Jowo  
tafadhali  

Sorry
binu  
pole  

Bye
bye  
bye  

I Love You
mo nifẹ rẹ  
nakupenda  

Excuse Me
mo tọrọ gafara  
Samahani  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Itsekiri  
Kiunguja  

Where They Speak
Nigeria  
Zanzibar island  

How Many People Speak
500,000.00  
34
Not Available  

Dialect 2
Ede  
Kimrima  

Where They Speak
Benin, Togo  
Dar es Salaam  

How Many People Speak
800,000.00  
27
Not Available  

Dialect 3
Ulukwumi  
Kimgao  

Where They Speak
Nigeria  
Kilwa  

How Many People Speak
10,000.00  
34
Not Available  

Total No. Of Dialects
20  
18
12  
12

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
30.00 million  
36
150.00 million  
13

Speaking Population
0.42 %  
32
Not Available  

Native Speakers
28.00 million  
29
15.00 million  
40

Native Name
Yorùbá  
Not Available  

Alternative Names
Yariba, Yooba  
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili  

French Name
yoruba  
swahili  

German Name
Yoruba-Sprache  
Swahili  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
Not Available  

Ethnicity
Yoruba people  
Swahili people or Waswahili  

History

Origin
4 BC  
6th century  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Western Sudanic  
Benue-Congo  

Branch
Kwa  
Bantu  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Yorùbá  
Swahili  

Language Position
49  
36
Not Available  

Signed Forms
Yoruba Sign Language  
Not Available  

Scope
Individual  
Individual, Macrolanguage  

Code

ISO 639 1
yo  
sw  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
yor  
swa  

ISO 639 2/B
yor  
swa  

ISO 639 3
yor  
swa  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
yoru1245  
swah1254  

Linguasphere
No data available  
99-AUS-m  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object  
Not Available  

Language Morphological Typology
Analytic, Isolating  
Not Available  

Countries >>
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Yoruba and Swahili Language History

Comparison of Yoruba vs Swahili language history gives us differences between origin of Yoruba and Swahili language. History of Yoruba language states that this language originated in 4 BC whereas history of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th 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 Yoruba and Swahili Language History.

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

Yoruba vs Swahili Difficulty

The Yoruba vs Swahili difficulty level basically depends on the number of Yoruba Alphabets and Swahili 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 Yoruba and Swahili are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Yoruba and Swahili, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Yoruba is 30 weeks while to learn Swahili time required is 36 weeks.

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