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Swahili
Swahili




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Swahili Language

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Countries

Countries

African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya

Total No. Of Countries

4
Rank: 11 (Overall)
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania

Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries

Speaking Continents

Africa

Minority Language

Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)

Interesting Facts

  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.

Similar To

Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages

Derived From

Arabic Language

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

24
Rank: 6 (Overall)
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

5
Rank: 2 (Overall)
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

21
Rank: 11 (Overall)
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin

Writing Direction

-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

3
Rank: 2 (Overall)
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

36 weeks
Rank: 13 (Overall)
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Habari

Thank You

Asante

How Are You?

Habari gani?

Good Night

Usiku mwema

Good Evening

Habari za jioni

Good Afternoon

nzuri Alasiri

Good Morning

Habari za asubuhi

Please

tafadhali

Sorry

pole

Bye

bye

I Love You

nakupenda

Excuse Me

Samahani

Dialects

Dialect 1

Kiunguja

Where They Speak

Zanzibar island

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.00
Rank: 12 (Overall)
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Kimrima

Where They Speak

Dar es Salaam

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.00
Rank: 10 (Overall)
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Kimgao

Where They Speak

Kilwa

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.00
Rank: 9 (Overall)
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

12
Rank: 12 (Overall)
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

150.00 million
Rank: 13 (Overall)
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.42 %
Rank: 34 (Overall)
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

15.00 million
Rank: 40 (Overall)
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

75.00 million
Rank: 14 (Overall)
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Kiswahili

Alternative Names

Kisuaheli, Kiswahili

French Name

swahili

German Name

Swahili

Pronunciation

[swaˈhili]

Ethnicity

Swahili people or Waswahili

History

Origin

6th century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo

Branch

Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms

Standard Forms

Swahili

Language Position

21
Rank: 19 (Overall)
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Swahili Sign Language

Scope

Individual, Macrolanguage

Code

ISO 639 1

sw

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

swa

ISO 639 2/B

swa

ISO 639 3

swa

ISO 639 6

swa

Glottocode

swah1254

Linguasphere

99-AUS-m

Types of Language

Language Type

Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-

Language Morphological Typology

-

Origin of Swahili language

In order to communicate with each other, the origin of language was the essential part. Various languages are spoken all over the world. Swahili language is one of the Easiest Languages to Learn. The origin of Swahili language states that it was put to use in 6th century. The history of Swahili language reveals that the language is old and used since many years. Check out in brief about Swahili Language History. Swahili has no early forms. Swahili is the standard form of Swahili language and it is used in government centers. Know all About Swahili Language.

Swahili population

Swahili population gives us the total count of number of people speaking Swahili language. Swahili language is spoken by 150.00 million people in the world. Most of the Swahili population lies in the Swahili Speaking Countries. Swahili language is spoken as first language by 15.00 million people and as second language by about 75.00 million people. Get to know Swahili speaking population in detail.

Swahili writing system

There are numerous writing systems but most widely used scripts are Latin, Cyrillic and Arabic. Swahili writing system decides the alphabets, vowels and consonants i.e. the written form of Swahili language. Some languages share common writing systems. Latin script is used by Swahili language. Learn more about . 

Information about Swahili language

Check out all the information about Swahili language here. You may find it interesting to learn Swahili Alphabets or the vowels and consonants of this language. Also knowing about Swahili Speaking Countries, Swahili speaking continents and Swahili Dialects will help in improving your knowledge about this language. Also while travelling to Swahili countries knowing common Swahili Greetings will help you in communicating with Swahili people.