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Amharic vs Swahili


Swahili vs Amharic


Countries

Countries
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.  
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
4  
11

National Language
Ethiopia  
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
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Regulated By
-  
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)  

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

Similar To
Tigrinya and Oromo Languages  
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages  

Derived From
-  
Arabic Language  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Amharic-1.jpg#200  
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
33  
15
24  
6

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
7  
4
5  
2

How Many Consonants
31  
21
21  
11

Scripts
Ethiopic  
Latin  

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  
-  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks  
17
36 weeks  
13

Greetings

Hello
Selam  
Habari  

Thank You
amesege'nallo'  
Asante  

How Are You?
Dehina newot?  
Habari gani?  

Good Night
Dehna dur  
Usiku mwema  

Good Evening
melkam meshe't  
Habari za jioni  

Good Afternoon
i'ndemin walu  
nzuri Alasiri  

Good Morning
i'ndemin adäru  
Habari za asubuhi  

Please
i'bakwon  
tafadhali  

Sorry
aznallehu  
pole  

Bye
tschao  
bye  

I Love You
afekirishalehu  
nakupenda  

Excuse Me
yiqirta  
Samahani  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Gondar  
Kiunguja  

Where They Speak
Gondar  
Zanzibar island  

How Many People Speak
22,000,000.00  
27
75,000,000.00  
12

Dialect 2
Gojjami  
Kimrima  

Where They Speak
Ethiopia  
Dar es Salaam  

How Many People Speak
22,000,000.00  
24
75,000,000.00  
10

Dialect 3
Showa  
Kimgao  

Where They Speak
Ethiopia  
Kilwa  

How Many People Speak
22,000,000.00  
22
75,000,000.00  
9

Total No. Of Dialects
5  
5
12  
12

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
18.70 million  
99+
150.00 million  
13

Speaking Population
0.37 %  
37
0.42 %  
34

Native Speakers
25.00 million  
32
15.00 million  
40

Second Language Speakers
10.00 million  
99+
75.00 million  
14

Native Name
አማርኛ  
Kiswahili  

Alternative Names
Abyssinian, Amarigna, Amarinya, Amhara, Ethiopian  
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili  

French Name
amharique  
swahili  

German Name
Amharisch  
Swahili  

Pronunciation
[amarɨɲɲa]  
[swaˈhili]  

Ethnicity
Amharas  
Swahili people or Waswahili  

History

Origin
13th century  
6th century  

Language Family
Afro-Asiatic Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Semitic  
Benue-Congo  

Branch
Ethiopic  
Bantu  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
Ge'ez  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Amharic  
Swahili  

Language Position
55  
99+
21  
19

Signed Forms
Signed Amharic  
Swahili Sign Language  

Scope
Individual  
Individual, Macrolanguage  

Code

ISO 639 1
am  
sw  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
amh  
swa  

ISO 639 2/B
amh  
swa  

ISO 639 3
amh  
swa  

ISO 639 6
amh  
swa  

Glottocode
amha1245  
swah1254  

Linguasphere
12-ACB-a  
99-AUS-m  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
-  
-  

Language Morphological Typology
Fusional  
-  

Countries >>
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Amharic and Swahili Language History

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

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

Amharic vs Swahili Difficulty

The Amharic vs Swahili difficulty level basically depends on the number of Amharic 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 Amharic and Swahili are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Amharic and Swahili, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Amharic is 44 weeks while to learn Swahili time required is 36 weeks.

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