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Amharic
Amharic

Somali
Somali



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Amharic
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Somali

Amharic vs Somali

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Countries

Countries

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia

Total No. Of Countries

13
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Ethiopia
Somalia

Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Not spoken in any of the countries

Speaking Continents

Africa
Africa, Middle East

Minority Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Yemen

Regulated By

-
National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy

Interesting Facts

  • Amharic ranks as second most spoken Semitic language in the world.
  • Amharic has its own writing system named “fidel” and it uses Amharic alphabets to write.
  • 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.

Similar To

Tigrinya and Oromo Languages
Afar and Oromo Language

Derived From

-
Arabic Language

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

3326
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

75
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

3121
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Ethiopic
Arabic, Latin, Osmanya

Writing Direction

Left-To-Right, Horizontal
Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

35
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

44 weeks52 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Selam
Hello

Thank You

amesege'nallo'
Waad ku mahadsan tahay

How Are You?

Dehina newot?
Sidee tahay ?

Good Night

Dehna dur
Habeenka Good

Good Evening

melkam meshe't
Evening Good

Good Afternoon

i'ndemin walu
galab wanaagsan

Good Morning

i'ndemin adäru
Subax wanaagsan

Please

i'bakwon
Fadlan

Sorry

aznallehu
sorry

Bye

tschao
caraysiiyo

I Love You

afekirishalehu
Waan ku jeclahay

Excuse Me

yiqirta
iga raali ahow

Dialects

Dialect 1

Gondar
Northern Somali

Where They Speak

Gondar
Gabon, Standard Somali

How Many People Speak

22,000,000.0016,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Gojjami
Benaadir

Where They Speak

Ethiopia
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu

How Many People Speak

22,000,000.0016,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Showa
Af-Ashraaf

Where They Speak

Ethiopia
Standard Somali

How Many People Speak

22,000,000.0021.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

53
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

18.70 million13.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.37 %0.07 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

25.00 million8.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

10.00 million21.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

አማርኛ
af Soomaali

Alternative Names

Abyssinian, Amarigna, Amarinya, Amhara, Ethiopian
Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga

French Name

amharique
somali

German Name

Amharisch
Somali

Pronunciation

[amarɨɲɲa]
[afsoomaali]

Ethnicity

Amharas
Somalis

History

Origin

13th century
19th century

Language Family

Afro-Asiatic Family
Afro-Asiatic Family

Subgroup

Semitic
Cushitic

Branch

Ethiopic
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

Ge'ez
No early forms

Standard Forms

Amharic
Somali

Language Position

5583
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Signed Amharic
Somali Sign Language

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

am
so

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

amh
som

ISO 639 2/B

amh
som

ISO 639 3

amh
som

ISO 639 6

amh
som

Glottocode

amha1245
soma1255

Linguasphere

12-ACB-a
No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
Subject-Object-Verb

Language Morphological Typology

Fusional
-

Amharic vs Somali Speaking Countries

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

  • Amharic is spoken as a national language in: Ethiopia.
  • Somali is spoken as a national language in: Somalia.

You will also get to know the continents where Amharic and Somali speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Amharic language is 55 and position of Somali language is 83. Find all the information about these languages on Amharic and Somali.

Amharic and Somali Language History

Comparison of Amharic vs Somali language history gives us differences between origin of Amharic and Somali language. History of Amharic language states that this language originated in 13th 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 Amharic and Somali Language History.

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

Amharic vs Somali Difficulty

The Amharic vs Somali difficulty level basically depends on the number of Amharic 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 Amharic and Somali are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Amharic and Somali, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Amharic is 44 weeks while to learn Somali time required is 52 weeks.