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Swahili
Swahili

Malagasy
Malagasy



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Swahili
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Malagasy

Swahili vs Malagasy

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Countries

Countries

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

Total No. Of Countries

41
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania
Comoros, Madagascar, Mayotte

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.
  • Malagasy language was originated in southeast Asia, since it shares several common words and meanings with Indonesian Languages.
  • About 93% of the basic vocabulary is of Malayo-Polynesian origin in Malagasy language.

Similar To

Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Swahili and Comorian Languages

Derived From

Arabic Language
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Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2421
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

55
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2120
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

33
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

36 weeks30 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Habari
Salama!

Thank You

Asante
Misaotra

How Are You?

Habari gani?
Manao ahoana!

Good Night

Usiku mwema
Alina tsara

Good Evening

Habari za jioni
Manao ahoana e

Good Afternoon

nzuri Alasiri
Manao ahoana e

Good Morning

Habari za asubuhi
Maraina tsara

Please

tafadhali
azafady

Sorry

pole
Miala tsiny

Bye

bye
Veloma!

I Love You

nakupenda
Tiako ianao.

Excuse Me

Samahani
Azafady

Dialects

Dialect 1

Kiunguja
Eastern Malagasy

Where They Speak

Zanzibar island
Merina

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.005,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Kimrima
Western Malagasy

Where They Speak

Dar es Salaam
Sakalava

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.001,200,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Kimgao
Plateau Malagasy

Where They Speak

Kilwa
-

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0020,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

122
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

150.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.42 %0.28 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

15.00 million18.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

75.00 million18.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Kiswahili
Fiteny Malagasy

Alternative Names

Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
Malagasy Sign Language

French Name

swahili
malgache

German Name

Swahili
Malagassi-Sprache

Pronunciation

[swaˈhili]
[ˌmæləˈɡæsi]

Ethnicity

Swahili people or Waswahili
Malagasy people

History

Origin

6th century
1000 AD

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Austronesian Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Austronesian

Branch

Bantu
Indonesian

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
No early forms

Standard Forms

Swahili
standard Malagasy

Language Position

2184
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Swahili Sign Language
Malagasy Sign Language

Scope

Individual, Macrolanguage
Macrolanguage

Code

ISO 639 1

sw
mg

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

swa
mlg

ISO 639 2/B

swa
mlg

ISO 639 3

swa
mlg

ISO 639 6

swa
mlg

Glottocode

swah1254
mala1537

Linguasphere

99-AUS-m
No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
Verb-Object-Subject

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Swahili vs Malagasy Speaking Countries

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

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

You will also get to know the continents where Swahili and Malagasy speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Swahili language is 21 and position of Malagasy language is 84. Find all the information about these languages on Swahili and Malagasy.

Swahili and Malagasy Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs Malagasy language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Malagasy language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of Malagasy language states that this language originated in 1000 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 Malagasy Language History.

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

Swahili vs Malagasy Difficulty

The Swahili vs Malagasy difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili Alphabets and Malagasy 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 Malagasy are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Malagasy, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Malagasy time required is 30 weeks.