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Swahili
Swahili

Amharic
Amharic



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Swahili
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Amharic

Swahili vs Amharic

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Countries

Countries

African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Total No. Of Countries

41
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

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

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
Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)
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Interesting Facts

  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
  • Amharic ranks as second most spoken Semitic language in the world.
  • Amharic has its own writing system named “fidel” and it uses Amharic alphabets to write.

Similar To

Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Tigrinya and Oromo Languages

Derived From

Arabic Language
-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2433
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

57
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2131
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Ethiopic

Writing Direction

-
Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

33
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

36 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Habari
Selam

Thank You

Asante
amesege'nallo'

How Are You?

Habari gani?
Dehina newot?

Good Night

Usiku mwema
Dehna dur

Good Evening

Habari za jioni
melkam meshe't

Good Afternoon

nzuri Alasiri
i'ndemin walu

Good Morning

Habari za asubuhi
i'ndemin adäru

Please

tafadhali
i'bakwon

Sorry

pole
aznallehu

Bye

bye
tschao

I Love You

nakupenda
afekirishalehu

Excuse Me

Samahani
yiqirta

Dialects

Dialect 1

Kiunguja
Gondar

Where They Speak

Zanzibar island
Gondar

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0022,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Kimrima
Gojjami

Where They Speak

Dar es Salaam
Ethiopia

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0022,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Kimgao
Showa

Where They Speak

Kilwa
Ethiopia

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0022,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

125
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

150.00 million18.70 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.42 %0.37 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

15.00 million25.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

75.00 million10.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Kiswahili
አማርኛ

Alternative Names

Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
Abyssinian, Amarigna, Amarinya, Amhara, Ethiopian

French Name

swahili
amharique

German Name

Swahili
Amharisch

Pronunciation

[swaˈhili]
[amarɨɲɲa]

Ethnicity

Swahili people or Waswahili
Amharas

History

Origin

6th century
13th century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Afro-Asiatic Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Semitic

Branch

Bantu
Ethiopic

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
Ge'ez

Standard Forms

Swahili
Amharic

Language Position

2155
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Swahili Sign Language
Signed Amharic

Scope

Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

sw
am

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

swa
amh

ISO 639 2/B

swa
amh

ISO 639 3

swa
amh

ISO 639 6

swa
amh

Glottocode

swah1254
amha1245

Linguasphere

99-AUS-m
12-ACB-a

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
-

Language Morphological Typology

-
Fusional

Swahili vs Amharic Speaking Countries

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

  • Swahili is spoken as a national language in: Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania.
  • Amharic is spoken as a national language in: Ethiopia.

You will also get to know the continents where Swahili and Amharic speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Swahili language is 21 and position of Amharic language is 55. Find all the information about these languages on Swahili and Amharic.

Swahili and Amharic Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs Amharic language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Amharic language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of Amharic language states that this language originated in 13th 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 Amharic Language History.

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

Swahili vs Amharic Difficulty

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