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Swahili
Swahili

English
English



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Swahili
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English

Swahili vs English

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Countries

Countries

African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Canada, Dominica, Fiji, Ghana, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Malta, Mauritius, Micronesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somaliland, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Kingdom, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Total No. Of Countries

433
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guam, Guyana, Jersey, Montserrat, Nauru, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, United States of America

Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore

Speaking Continents

Africa
Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America

Minority Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
South Africa

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.
  • Most of the English words begin with the letter S than any other letter.
  • English is third most commonly spoken language in the world.

Similar To

Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and German Languages

Derived From

Arabic Language
Latin

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2426
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

55
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2121
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

37
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

36 weeks6 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Habari
Hello

Thank You

Asante
Thank you

How Are You?

Habari gani?
How are you?

Good Night

Usiku mwema
Good Night

Good Evening

Habari za jioni
Good Evening

Good Afternoon

nzuri Alasiri
Good Afternoon

Good Morning

Habari za asubuhi
Good Morning

Please

tafadhali
Please

Sorry

pole
Sorry

Bye

bye
Bye

I Love You

nakupenda
I love you

Excuse Me

Samahani
Excuse Me

Dialects

Dialect 1

Kiunguja
American English

Where They Speak

Zanzibar island
United States of America

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.00225,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Kimrima
Hiberno-English

Where They Speak

Dar es Salaam
Republic of Ireland, United Kingdom

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.004,500,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Kimgao
Welsh English

Where They Speak

Kilwa
United Kingdom

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.002,500,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

12188
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

150.00 million1,200.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.42 %5.43 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

15.00 million400.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

75.00 million400.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Kiswahili
English

Alternative Names

Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
English

French Name

swahili
anglais

German Name

Swahili
Englisch

Pronunciation

[swaˈhili]
/ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/

Ethnicity

Swahili people or Waswahili
English people

History

Origin

6th century
5th Century AD

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Indo-European Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
-

Branch

Bantu
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English and English

Standard Forms

Swahili
Standard English

Language Position

213
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Swahili Sign Language
Signed English

Scope

Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

sw
en

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

swa
eng

ISO 639 2/B

swa
eng

ISO 639 3

swa
eng

ISO 639 6

swa
engs

Glottocode

swah1254
stan1293

Linguasphere

99-AUS-m
52-ABA

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

-
Analytic, Fusional, Isolating, Synthetic

Swahili vs English Speaking Countries

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

  • Swahili is spoken as a national language in: Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania.
  • English is spoken as a national language in: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guam, Guyana, Jersey, Montserrat, Nauru, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, United States of America.

You will also get to know the continents where Swahili and English speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Swahili language is 21 and position of English language is 3. Find all the information about these languages on Swahili and English.

Swahili and English Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs English language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and English language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of English language states that this language originated in 5th Century AD. 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 English Language History.

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

Swahili vs English Difficulty

The Swahili vs English difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili Alphabets and English 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 English are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and English, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn English time required is 6 weeks.