Swahili vs Afrikaans
Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
South Africa
National Language
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania
South Africa
Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries
Namibia, South Africa
Speaking Continents
Africa
Africa
Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries
Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Regulated By
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)
Die Taalkommissie, National Languages Committee
Interesting Facts
- Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
- The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
- Afrikaans Language is a mixture of English, Dutch, German, French and some South African language like Xhosa.
- Afrikaans Language lacks case and gender distinctions.
Similar To
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Dutch Language
Derived From
Arabic Language
Dutch Language
Alphabets in
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200
Afrikaans-Alphabets.jpg#200
Writing Direction
Not Available
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
How Are You?
Habari gani?
Hoe gaan dit
Good Night
Usiku mwema
goeie nag
Good Evening
Habari za jioni
Goeienaand
Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri
Goeie middag
Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi
goeie more
Please
tafadhali
asseblief
I Love You
nakupenda
Ek het jou lief
Excuse Me
Samahani
Verskoon my
Dialect 1
Kiunguja
Kaapse Afrikaans
Where They Speak
Zanzibar island
Not Available
Dialect 2
Kimrima
Oranjeriverafrikaans
Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam
Not Available
Dialect 3
Kimgao
Baster Afrikaans
Where They Speak
Kilwa
Namibia
Speaking Population
Not Available
Not Available
Second Language Speakers
Not Available
Native Name
Not Available
Afrikaans
Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
Cape Dutch
French Name
swahili
afrikaans
German Name
Swahili
Afrikaans
Pronunciation
Not Available
[ɐfriˈkɑːns]
Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili
Afrikaners
Origin
6th century
17th Century
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Indo-European Family
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Germanic
Early Forms
No early forms
Cape dutch or kitchen dutch
Standard Forms
Swahili
Standard Afrikaans
Signed Forms
Not Available
Signed Afrikaans (signs of SASL)
Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual
ISO 639 6
Not Available
afrs
Glottocode
swah1254
afri1274
Linguasphere
99-AUS-m
52-ACB-ba
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available
Subject-Object-Verb
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
Analytic
Swahili and Afrikaans Language History
Comparison of Swahili vs Afrikaans language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Afrikaans language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of Afrikaans language states that this language originated in 17th 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 Swahili and Afrikaans Language History.
Swahili and Afrikaans 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 Swahili and Afrikaans greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Swahili and Afrikaans language. Swahili word for "Hello" is Habari or Afrikaans word for "Thank You" is Dankie. Find more of such common Swahili Greetings and Afrikaans Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.
Swahili vs Afrikaans Difficulty
The Swahili vs Afrikaans difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili Alphabets and Afrikaans 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 Swahili and Afrikaans are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Afrikaans, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Afrikaans time required is 24 weeks.