Home
Languagevs


Igbo vs Swahili


Swahili vs Igbo


Countries

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

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
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
Equatorial Guinea  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Regulated By
Society for Promoting Igbo Language and Culture  
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)  

Interesting Facts
  • In Igbo, there is complicated system of high and low tones indicating differences in meaning and grammatical relationships.
  • Igbo has inexhaustible and rich linguistic features like idioms, proverbs, aphorisms, anecdotes etc.
  
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
    •   

Similar To
Yoruba and Hausa Languages  
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages  

Derived From
-  
Arabic Language  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Igbo-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
36  
18
24  
6

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
8  
5
5  
2

How Many Consonants
28  
18
21  
11

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
-  
-  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
52 weeks  
18
36 weeks  
13

Greetings

Hello
kedụ  
Habari  

Thank You
dalụ  
Asante  

How Are You?
kedụ ka ịmere  
Habari gani?  

Good Night
ka chi fo  
Usiku mwema  

Good Evening
mgbede ọma  
Habari za jioni  

Good Afternoon
ehihie ọma  
nzuri Alasiri  

Good Morning
ụtụtụ ọma  
Habari za asubuhi  

Please
Biko  
tafadhali  

Sorry
Ndo  
pole  

Bye
Kachifo  
bye  

I Love You
a hụrụ m gị n'anya  
nakupenda  

Excuse Me
ngọpụ  
Samahani  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Enuani  
Kiunguja  

Where They Speak
Nigeria  
Zanzibar island  

How Many People Speak
28,000,000.00  
24
75,000,000.00  
12

Dialect 2
Ngwa  
Kimrima  

Where They Speak
Nigeria  
Dar es Salaam  

How Many People Speak
1,500,000.00  
99+
75,000,000.00  
10

Dialect 3
Not present  
Kimgao  

Where They Speak
-  
Kilwa  

How Many People Speak
24.00  
99+
75,000,000.00  
9

Total No. Of Dialects
20  
18
12  
12

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
25.00 million  
40
150.00 million  
13

Speaking Population
0.09 %  
99+
0.42 %  
34

Native Speakers
25.00 million  
32
15.00 million  
40

Second Language Speakers
24.00 million  
28
75.00 million  
14

Native Name
igbo  
Kiswahili  

Alternative Names
Ibo  
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili  

French Name
igbo  
swahili  

German Name
Ibo-Sprache  
Swahili  

Pronunciation
[iɡ͡boː]  
[swaˈhili]  

Ethnicity
Igbo people  
Swahili people or Waswahili  

History

Origin
30th Century BC  
6th century  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Kwa  
Benue-Congo  

Branch
-  
Bantu  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Standard Igbo  
Swahili  

Language Position
57  
99+
21  
19

Signed Forms
Igbo Sign Language  
Swahili Sign Language  

Scope
Individual  
Individual, Macrolanguage  

Code

ISO 639 1
ig  
sw  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
ibo  
swa  

ISO 639 2/B
ibo  
swa  

ISO 639 3
ibo  
swa  

ISO 639 6
ibo  
swa  

Glottocode
nucl1417  
swah1254  

Linguasphere
No data available  
99-AUS-m  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
-  
-  

Language Morphological Typology
Agglutinative  
-  

Countries >>
<< All

Igbo and Swahili Language History

Comparison of Igbo vs Swahili language history gives us differences between origin of Igbo and Swahili language. History of Igbo language states that this language originated in 30th Century 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 Igbo and Swahili Language History.

Compare Easiest Languages to Learn

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

Igbo vs Swahili Difficulty

The Igbo vs Swahili difficulty level basically depends on the number of Igbo 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 Igbo and Swahili are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Igbo and Swahili, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Igbo is 52 weeks while to learn Swahili time required is 36 weeks.

Easiest Languages to Learn

Easiest Languages to Learn

» More Easiest Languages to Learn

Compare Easiest Languages to Learn

» More Compare Easiest Languages to Learn