Home
Languagevs


Somali vs Chewa


Chewa vs Somali


Countries

Countries
Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia  
Malawi, Zimbabwe  

Total No. Of Countries
3  
12
2  
13

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  
-  

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  
-  

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
26  
8
31  
13

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5  
2
5  
2

How Many Consonants
21  
11
18  
8

Scripts
Arabic, Latin, Osmanya  
Latin  

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  
-  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
5  
4
5  
4

Time Taken to Learn
52 weeks  
18
32 weeks  
11

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
16,000,000.00  
32
12,000,000.00  
35

Dialect 2
Benaadir  
Kikamtunda  

Where They Speak
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu  
Malawi, Zambia  

How Many People Speak
16,000,000.00  
30
10,000,000.00  
37

Dialect 3
Af-Ashraaf  
Kimaravi  

Where They Speak
Standard Somali  
Malawi, Zambia  

How Many People Speak
21.00  
99+
1,200,000.00  
99+

Total No. Of Dialects
3  
3
5  
5

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
13.00 million  
99+
12.00 million  
99+

Speaking Population
0.07 %  
99+
0.17 %  
99+

Native Speakers
8.00 million  
99+
12.00 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
21.00 million  
29
1.50 million  
99+

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
83  
99+
27  
25

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  
-  

Language Morphological Typology
-  
-  

Countries >>
<< All

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.

Compare Most Difficult Languages

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.

Most Difficult Languages

Most Difficult Languages

» More Most Difficult Languages

Compare Most Difficult Languages

» More Compare Most Difficult Languages