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Chewa
Chewa

Somali
Somali



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Chewa
X
Somali

Chewa vs Somali

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Countries

Countries

Malawi, Zimbabwe
Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia

Total No. Of Countries

23
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe
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

Zambia
Yemen

Regulated By

-
National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy

Interesting Facts

  • Chewa is one of the 55 languages featured on the Voyager spacecraft.
  • Most widely known language of Malawi is Chewa.
  • 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

Zulu language
Afar and Oromo Language

Derived From

-
Arabic Language

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

3126
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

55
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

1821
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Arabic, Latin, Osmanya

Writing Direction

-
Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

55
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

32 weeks52 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Moni
Hello

Thank You

Zikomo
Waad ku mahadsan tahay

How Are You?

Muli bwanji?
Sidee tahay ?

Good Night

Usiku wabwino
Habeenka Good

Good Evening

Madzulo abwino
Evening Good

Good Afternoon

Masana abwino
galab wanaagsan

Good Morning

M'mawa wabwino
Subax wanaagsan

Please

Chonde
Fadlan

Sorry

pepani
sorry

Bye

anatsanzikana
caraysiiyo

I Love You

Ndimakukondani
Waan ku jeclahay

Excuse Me

Pepani
iga raali ahow

Dialects

Dialect 1

Kasungu
Northern Somali

Where They Speak

Malawi, Zambia
Gabon, Standard Somali

How Many People Speak

12,000,000.0016,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Kikamtunda
Benaadir

Where They Speak

Malawi, Zambia
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu

How Many People Speak

10,000,000.0016,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Kimaravi
Af-Ashraaf

Where They Speak

Malawi, Zambia
Standard Somali

How Many People Speak

1,200,000.0021.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

53
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

12.00 million13.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.17 %0.07 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

12.00 million8.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

1.50 million21.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Nyanja
af Soomaali

Alternative Names

Chichewa, Chinyanja, Nyanja, Nyanja-Chewa
Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga

French Name

chichewa; chewa; nyanja
somali

German Name

Nyanja-Sprache
Somali

Pronunciation

[ˈtʃewa]
[afsoomaali]

Ethnicity

Chewa people
Somalis

History

Origin

15th Century
19th century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Afro-Asiatic Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Cushitic

Branch

Bantu
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
No early forms

Standard Forms

Chewa
Somali

Language Position

2783
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Chewa Sign Language
Somali Sign Language

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

ny
so

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

nya
som

ISO 639 2/B

nya
som

ISO 639 3

nya
som

ISO 639 6

nya
som

Glottocode

nyan1308
soma1255

Linguasphere

99-AUS-xaa – xag
No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
Subject-Object-Verb

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Chewa vs Somali Speaking Countries

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

  • Chewa is spoken as a national language in: Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
  • Somali is spoken as a national language in: Somalia.

You will also get to know the continents where Chewa and Somali speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Chewa language is 27 and position of Somali language is 83. Find all the information about these languages on Chewa and Somali.

Chewa and Somali Language History

Comparison of Chewa vs Somali language history gives us differences between origin of Chewa and Somali language. History of Chewa language states that this language originated in 15th 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 Chewa and Somali Language History.

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

Chewa vs Somali Difficulty

The Chewa vs Somali difficulty level basically depends on the number of Chewa 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 Chewa and Somali are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Chewa and Somali, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Chewa is 32 weeks while to learn Somali time required is 52 weeks.