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Swahili
Swahili

Somali
Somali



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Swahili
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Somali

Swahili vs Somali

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Countries

Countries

African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia

Total No. Of Countries

43
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

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

Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Not spoken in any of the countries

Speaking Continents

Africa
Africa, Middle East

Minority Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Yemen

Regulated By

Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)
National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy

Interesting Facts

  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
  • Somali language is one of the best documented Afro-Asiatic languages.
  • One of the most widely spoken of the Cushitic languages is the Somali Language.

Similar To

Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Afar and Oromo Language

Derived From

Arabic Language
Arabic Language

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2426
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

55
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2121
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Arabic, Latin, Osmanya

Writing Direction

-
Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

35
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

36 weeks52 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Habari
Hello

Thank You

Asante
Waad ku mahadsan tahay

How Are You?

Habari gani?
Sidee tahay ?

Good Night

Usiku mwema
Habeenka Good

Good Evening

Habari za jioni
Evening Good

Good Afternoon

nzuri Alasiri
galab wanaagsan

Good Morning

Habari za asubuhi
Subax wanaagsan

Please

tafadhali
Fadlan

Sorry

pole
sorry

Bye

bye
caraysiiyo

I Love You

nakupenda
Waan ku jeclahay

Excuse Me

Samahani
iga raali ahow

Dialects

Dialect 1

Kiunguja
Northern Somali

Where They Speak

Zanzibar island
Gabon, Standard Somali

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0016,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Kimrima
Benaadir

Where They Speak

Dar es Salaam
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0016,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Kimgao
Af-Ashraaf

Where They Speak

Kilwa
Standard Somali

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0021.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

123
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

150.00 million13.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.42 %0.07 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

15.00 million8.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

75.00 million21.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Kiswahili
af Soomaali

Alternative Names

Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga

French Name

swahili
somali

German Name

Swahili
Somali

Pronunciation

[swaˈhili]
[afsoomaali]

Ethnicity

Swahili people or Waswahili
Somalis

History

Origin

6th century
19th century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Afro-Asiatic Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Cushitic

Branch

Bantu
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
No early forms

Standard Forms

Swahili
Somali

Language Position

2183
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Swahili Sign Language
Somali Sign Language

Scope

Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

sw
so

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

swa
som

ISO 639 2/B

swa
som

ISO 639 3

swa
som

ISO 639 6

swa
som

Glottocode

swah1254
soma1255

Linguasphere

99-AUS-m
No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
Subject-Object-Verb

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Swahili vs Somali Speaking Countries

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

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

You will also get to know the continents where Swahili and Somali speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Swahili language is 21 and position of Somali language is 83. Find all the information about these languages on Swahili and Somali.

Swahili and Somali Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs Somali language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Somali language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of Somali language states that this language originated in 19th 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 Somali Language History.

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

Swahili vs Somali Difficulty

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