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Swahili
Swahili

Igbo
Igbo



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Swahili
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Igbo

Swahili vs Igbo

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Countries

Countries

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

Total No. Of Countries

41
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

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

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
Equatorial Guinea

Regulated By

Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)
Society for Promoting Igbo Language and Culture

Interesting Facts

  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
  • In Igbo, there is complicated system of high and low tones indicating differences in meaning and grammatical relationships.
  • Igbo has inexhaustible and rich linguistic features like idioms, proverbs, aphorisms, anecdotes etc.

Similar To

Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Yoruba and Hausa Languages

Derived From

Arabic Language
-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2436
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

58
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2128
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

33
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

36 weeks52 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Habari
kedụ

Thank You

Asante
dalụ

How Are You?

Habari gani?
kedụ ka ịmere

Good Night

Usiku mwema
ka chi fo

Good Evening

Habari za jioni
mgbede ọma

Good Afternoon

nzuri Alasiri
ehihie ọma

Good Morning

Habari za asubuhi
ụtụtụ ọma

Please

tafadhali
Biko

Sorry

pole
Ndo

Bye

bye
Kachifo

I Love You

nakupenda
a hụrụ m gị n'anya

Excuse Me

Samahani
ngọpụ

Dialects

Dialect 1

Kiunguja
Enuani

Where They Speak

Zanzibar island
Nigeria

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0028,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Kimrima
Ngwa

Where They Speak

Dar es Salaam
Nigeria

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.001,500,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Kimgao
Not present

Where They Speak

Kilwa
-

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0024.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

1220
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

150.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.42 %0.09 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

15.00 million25.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

75.00 million24.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Kiswahili
igbo

Alternative Names

Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
Ibo

French Name

swahili
igbo

German Name

Swahili
Ibo-Sprache

Pronunciation

[swaˈhili]
[iɡ͡boː]

Ethnicity

Swahili people or Waswahili
Igbo people

History

Origin

6th century
30th Century BC

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Kwa

Branch

Bantu
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
No early forms

Standard Forms

Swahili
Standard Igbo

Language Position

2157
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Swahili Sign Language
Igbo Sign Language

Scope

Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

sw
ig

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

swa
ibo

ISO 639 2/B

swa
ibo

ISO 639 3

swa
ibo

ISO 639 6

swa
ibo

Glottocode

swah1254
nucl1417

Linguasphere

99-AUS-m
No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
-

Language Morphological Typology

-
Agglutinative

Swahili vs Igbo Speaking Countries

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

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

You will also get to know the continents where Swahili and Igbo speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Swahili language is 21 and position of Igbo language is 57. Find all the information about these languages on Swahili and Igbo.

Swahili and Igbo Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs Igbo language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Igbo language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of Igbo language states that this language originated in 30th Century BC. 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 Igbo Language History.

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

Swahili vs Igbo Difficulty

The Swahili vs Igbo difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili Alphabets and Igbo 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 Igbo are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Igbo, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Igbo time required is 52 weeks.