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Somali
Somali

Chewa
Chewa



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Somali
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Chewa

Somali vs Chewa

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Countries

Countries

Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia
Malawi, Zimbabwe

Total No. Of Countries

32
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Somalia
Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe

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
Zambia

Regulated By

National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy
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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.
  • Chewa is one of the 55 languages featured on the Voyager spacecraft.
  • Most widely known language of Malawi is Chewa.

Similar To

Afar and Oromo Language
Zulu language

Derived From

Arabic Language
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Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2631
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

55
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2118
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Arabic, Latin, Osmanya
Latin

Writing Direction

Left-To-Right, Horizontal
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

55
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

52 weeks32 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Hello
Moni

Thank You

Waad ku mahadsan tahay
Zikomo

How Are You?

Sidee tahay ?
Muli bwanji?

Good Night

Habeenka Good
Usiku wabwino

Good Evening

Evening Good
Madzulo abwino

Good Afternoon

galab wanaagsan
Masana abwino

Good Morning

Subax wanaagsan
M'mawa wabwino

Please

Fadlan
Chonde

Sorry

sorry
pepani

Bye

caraysiiyo
anatsanzikana

I Love You

Waan ku jeclahay
Ndimakukondani

Excuse Me

iga raali ahow
Pepani

Dialects

Dialect 1

Northern Somali
Kasungu

Where They Speak

Gabon, Standard Somali
Malawi, Zambia

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.0012,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Benaadir
Kikamtunda

Where They Speak

Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu
Malawi, Zambia

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.0010,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Af-Ashraaf
Kimaravi

Where They Speak

Standard Somali
Malawi, Zambia

How Many People Speak

21.001,200,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

35
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

13.00 million12.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.07 %0.17 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

8.00 million12.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

21.00 million1.50 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

af Soomaali
Nyanja

Alternative Names

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

French Name

somali
chichewa; chewa; nyanja

German Name

Somali
Nyanja-Sprache

Pronunciation

[afsoomaali]
[ˈtʃewa]

Ethnicity

Somalis
Chewa people

History

Origin

19th century
15th Century

Language Family

Afro-Asiatic Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Cushitic
Benue-Congo

Branch

-
Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
No early forms

Standard Forms

Somali
Chewa

Language Position

8327
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Somali Sign Language
Chewa Sign Language

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

so
ny

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

som
nya

ISO 639 2/B

som
nya

ISO 639 3

som
nya

ISO 639 6

som
nya

Glottocode

soma1255
nyan1308

Linguasphere

No data available
99-AUS-xaa – xag

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Object-Verb
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Language Morphological Typology

-
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Somali vs Chewa Speaking Countries

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

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

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

Somali and Chewa Language History

Comparison of Somali vs Chewa language history gives us differences between origin of Somali and Chewa language. History of Somali language states that this language originated in 19th century whereas history of Chewa language states that this language originated in 15th 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 Chewa Language History.

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

Somali vs Chewa Difficulty

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