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Somali vs Arabic


Arabic vs Somali


Countries

Countries
Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia   
Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen   

Total No. Of Countries
3   
12
23   
4

National Language
Somalia   
Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen   

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries   
Not spoken in any of the countries   

Speaking Continents
Africa, Middle East   
Africa, Asia   

Minority Language
Yemen   
Not spoken in any of the countries   

Regulated By
National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy   
Academy of the Arabic Language, Arabic Language International Council   

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.
  
  • Arabic is 5th common language in world.
  • Classical Arabic is the language of Quran and also it is official language. Classical Arabic is the only way to learn Arabic language in academic way and it does not change.
  

Similar To
Afar and Oromo Language   
Amharic and Hebrew   

Derived From
Arabic Language   
Not Available   

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Somali-Alphabets.jpg#200   
Arabic.jpg#200   

Alphabets
26   
8
28   
10

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5   
2
8   
5

How Many Consonants
21   
11
28   
18

Scripts
Arabic, Latin, Osmanya   
Arabic   

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal   
Right-To-Left, Horizontal   

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
5   
4
4   
3

Time Taken to Learn
52 weeks   
12
88 weeks   
13

Greetings

Hello
Hello   
مرحبا   

Thank You
Waad ku mahadsan tahay   
شكرا   

How Are You?
Sidee tahay ?   
كيف حالك؟   

Good Night
Habeenka Good   
تصبح على خير   

Good Evening
Evening Good   
مساء الخير   

Good Afternoon
galab wanaagsan   
مساء الخير   

Good Morning
Subax wanaagsan   
صباح الخير   

Please
Fadlan   
من فضلك   

Sorry
sorry   
آسف   

Bye
caraysiiyo   
وداعا   

I Love You
Waan ku jeclahay   
أحبك   

Excuse Me
iga raali ahow   
اعذرني   

Dialects

Dialect 1
Northern Somali   
Maghrebi   

Where They Speak
Gabon, Standard Somali   
Algeria, Libya, Maghreb, Morocco, Tunisia   

Dialect 2
Benaadir   
Sudanese   

Where They Speak
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu   
Sudan   

How Many People Speak
Not Available   
17,000,000.00   
6

Dialect 3
Af-Ashraaf   
Levantine   

Where They Speak
Standard Somali   
Cyprus, Levant   

How Many People Speak
Not Available   
21,000,000.00   
3

Total No. Of Dialects
3   
3
26   
22

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
13.00 million   
99+
452.00 million   
4

Speaking Population
Not Available   
4.43 %   
6

Native Speakers
8.00 million   
99+
206.00 million   
6

Second Language Speakers
Not Available   
246.00 million   
2

Native Name
af Soomaali   
(al arabiya) العربية   

Alternative Names
Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga   
Al-’Arabiyya, Al-Fusha, Literary Arabic   

French Name
somali   
arabe   

German Name
Somali   
Arabisch   

Pronunciation
Not Available   
/al ʕarabijja/, /ʕarabi/   

Ethnicity
Somalis   
Arabs   

History

Origin
19th century   
512 CE   

Language Family
Afro-Asiatic Family   
Afro-Asiatic Family, Semitic Family   

Subgroup
Cushitic   
Semitic   

Branch
Not Available   
North Arabic   

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms   
No early forms   

Standard Forms
Somali   
Modern Standard Arabic   

Language Position
83   
99+
25   
21

Signed Forms
Somali Sign Language   
Signed Arabic   

Scope
Individual   
Macrolanguage   

Code

ISO 639 1
so   
ar   

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
som   
ara   

ISO 639 2/B
som   
ara   

ISO 639 3
som   
ara   

ISO 639 6
Not Available   
Not Available   

Glottocode
soma1255   
arab1395   

Linguasphere
No data available   
12-AAC   

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living   
Living   

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Object-Verb   
Subject-Verb-Object   

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available   
Fusional, Synthetic   

Countries >>
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Somali and Arabic Language History

Comparison of Somali vs Arabic language history gives us differences between origin of Somali and Arabic language. History of Somali language states that this language originated in 19th century whereas history of Arabic language states that this language originated in 512 CE. 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 Arabic Language History.

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

Somali vs Arabic Difficulty

The Somali vs Arabic difficulty level basically depends on the number of Somali Alphabets and Arabic 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 Arabic are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Somali and Arabic, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Somali is 52 weeks while to learn Arabic time required is 88 weeks.

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