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Somali
Somali

Amharic
Amharic



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Somali
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Somali vs Amharic

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Countries

Countries

Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Total No. Of Countries

31
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Somalia
Ethiopia

Second Language

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

Speaking Continents

Africa, Middle East
Africa

Minority Language

Yemen
Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy
-

Interesting Facts

  • 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.
  • 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.

Similar To

Afar and Oromo Language
Tigrinya and Oromo Languages

Derived From

Arabic Language
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Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2633
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

57
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2131
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Arabic, Latin, Osmanya
Ethiopic

Writing Direction

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

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

53
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

52 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Hello
Selam

Thank You

Waad ku mahadsan tahay
amesege'nallo'

How Are You?

Sidee tahay ?
Dehina newot?

Good Night

Habeenka Good
Dehna dur

Good Evening

Evening Good
melkam meshe't

Good Afternoon

galab wanaagsan
i'ndemin walu

Good Morning

Subax wanaagsan
i'ndemin adäru

Please

Fadlan
i'bakwon

Sorry

sorry
aznallehu

Bye

caraysiiyo
tschao

I Love You

Waan ku jeclahay
afekirishalehu

Excuse Me

iga raali ahow
yiqirta

Dialects

Dialect 1

Northern Somali
Gondar

Where They Speak

Gabon, Standard Somali
Gondar

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.0022,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Benaadir
Gojjami

Where They Speak

Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu
Ethiopia

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.0022,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Af-Ashraaf
Showa

Where They Speak

Standard Somali
Ethiopia

How Many People Speak

21.0022,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

35
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

13.00 million18.70 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.07 %0.37 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

8.00 million25.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

21.00 million10.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

af Soomaali
አማርኛ

Alternative Names

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

French Name

somali
amharique

German Name

Somali
Amharisch

Pronunciation

[afsoomaali]
[amarɨɲɲa]

Ethnicity

Somalis
Amharas

History

Origin

19th century
13th century

Language Family

Afro-Asiatic Family
Afro-Asiatic Family

Subgroup

Cushitic
Semitic

Branch

-
Ethiopic

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
Ge'ez

Standard Forms

Somali
Amharic

Language Position

8355
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Somali Sign Language
Signed Amharic

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

so
am

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

som
amh

ISO 639 2/B

som
amh

ISO 639 3

som
amh

ISO 639 6

som
amh

Glottocode

soma1255
amha1245

Linguasphere

No data available
12-ACB-a

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Object-Verb
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Language Morphological Typology

-
Fusional

Somali vs Amharic Speaking Countries

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

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

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

Somali and Amharic Language History

Comparison of Somali vs Amharic language history gives us differences between origin of Somali and Amharic language. History of Somali language states that this language originated in 19th century whereas history of Amharic language states that this language originated in 13th 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 Somali and Amharic Language History.

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

Somali vs Amharic Difficulty

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