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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  
-  

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  
18
88 weeks  
19

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  

How Many People Speak
16,000,000.00  
32
310,000,000.00  
2

Dialect 2
Benaadir  
Sudanese  

Where They Speak
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu  
Sudan  

How Many People Speak
16,000,000.00  
30
17,000,000.00  
29

Dialect 3
Af-Ashraaf  
Levantine  

Where They Speak
Standard Somali  
Cyprus, Levant  

How Many People Speak
21.00  
99+
21,000,000.00  
23

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
0.07 %  
99+
4.43 %  
6

Native Speakers
8.00 million  
99+
206.00 million  
6

Second Language Speakers
21.00 million  
29
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
[afsoomaali]  
/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
-  
North Arabic  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Somali  
Modern Standard Arabic  

Language Position
83  
99+
25  
23

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
som  
ara  

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
-  
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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