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Swahili vs Akan


Akan vs Swahili


Countries

Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya  
Ghana, Ivory coast  

Total No. Of Countries
4  
11
2  
13

National Language
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania  
Ghana  

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Speaking Continents
Africa  
Africa  

Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Benin, United States of America  

Regulated By
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)  
Akan Orthography Committee  

Interesting Facts
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
    •   
  • Ghana has over 100 ethnic groups living, and Akan is one of the largest tribe.
  • Akan language came in South America, notably Suriname and Jamaica through slave trade.
  

Similar To
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages  
Ewe and Ga-Dangme Languages  

Derived From
Arabic Language  
-  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Akan-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
24  
6
21  
3

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5  
2
10  
7

How Many Consonants
21  
11
16  
6

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
-  
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
36 weeks  
13
44 weeks  
17

Greetings

Hello
Habari  
ete-sen  

Thank You
Asante  
meda ase  

How Are You?
Habari gani?  
wo ho te sɛn?  

Good Night
Usiku mwema  
maadwo  

Good Evening
Habari za jioni  
maadwo  

Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri  
maaha  

Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi  
maakye  

Please
tafadhali  
wae  

Sorry
pole  
Kafra  

Bye
bye  
bye  

I Love You
nakupenda  
Me doכ wo  

Excuse Me
Samahani  
mepa wo kyɛw  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Kiunguja  
Asante  

Where They Speak
Zanzibar island  
Ghana  

How Many People Speak
75,000,000.00  
12
9,000,000.00  
39

Dialect 2
Kimrima  
Akuapem  

Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam  
Ghana  

How Many People Speak
75,000,000.00  
10
9,000,000.00  
38

Dialect 3
Kimgao  
Fante  

Where They Speak
Kilwa  
Ghana  

How Many People Speak
75,000,000.00  
9
1,900,000.00  
99+

Total No. Of Dialects
12  
12
3  
3

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
150.00 million  
13
11.00 million  
99+

Speaking Population
0.42 %  
34
0.17 %  
99+

Native Speakers
15.00 million  
40
11.00 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
75.00 million  
14
21.00 million  
29

Native Name
Kiswahili  
Akan  

Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili  
Twi, Fante  

French Name
swahili  
akan  

German Name
Swahili  
Akan-Sprache  

Pronunciation
[swaˈhili]  
[ˈaːkã]  

Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili  
Akan people  

History

Origin
6th century  
15  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Benue-Congo  
-  

Branch
Bantu  
-  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Swahili  
Akan  

Language Position
21  
19
104  
99+

Signed Forms
Swahili Sign Language  
Akan Sign Language  

Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage  
Macrolanguage  

Code

ISO 639 1
sw  
ak  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
swa  
aka  

ISO 639 2/B
swa  
aka  

ISO 639 3
swa  
aka  

ISO 639 6
swa  
aka  

Glottocode
swah1254  
akan1251  

Linguasphere
99-AUS-m  
No data available  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
-  
-  

Language Morphological Typology
-  
-  

Countries >>
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Swahili and Akan Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs Akan language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Akan language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of Akan language states that this language originated in 15. 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 Akan Language History.

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

Swahili vs Akan Difficulty

The Swahili vs Akan difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili Alphabets and Akan 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 Akan are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Akan, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Akan time required is 44 weeks.

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