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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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