Swahili vs Yoruba
Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
Benin, Nigeria
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
Africa, Brazil, Togo, United Kingdom, United States of America
Regulated By
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)
Yoruba Academy
Interesting Facts
- Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
- The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
- One of the largest African ethnic groups is Yoruba in south of Sahara Desert.
- In Yoruba language, same combination of vowels and consonants have different meanings depending on the pitch of the vowels, so it is tonal language.
Similar To
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Owo and Itsekiri languages
Derived From
Arabic Language
Not Available
Alphabets in
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200
Yoruba-Alphabet.jpg#200
Writing Direction
Not Available
Not Available
How Are You?
Habari gani?
Bawo ni o se wa
Good Night
Usiku mwema
Kasun layọ o
Good Evening
Habari za jioni
ka a ale
Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri
e kaasan
Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi
e kaaro
I Love You
nakupenda
mo nifẹ rẹ
Excuse Me
Samahani
mo tọrọ gafara
Dialect 1
Kiunguja
Itsekiri
Where They Speak
Zanzibar island
Nigeria
How Many People Speak
Not Available
Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam
Benin, Togo
How Many People Speak
Not Available
Dialect 3
Kimgao
Ulukwumi
Where They Speak
Kilwa
Nigeria
How Many People Speak
Not Available
Speaking Population
Not Available
Native Name
Not Available
Yorùbá
Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
Yariba, Yooba
French Name
swahili
yoruba
German Name
Swahili
Yoruba-Sprache
Pronunciation
Not Available
Not Available
Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili
Yoruba people
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Western Sudanic
Early Forms
No early forms
No early forms
Standard Forms
Swahili
Yorùbá
Language Position
Not Available
Signed Forms
Not Available
Yoruba Sign Language
Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual
ISO 639 6
Not Available
Not Available
Glottocode
swah1254
yoru1245
Linguasphere
99-AUS-m
No data available
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available
Subject-Verb-Object
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
Analytic, Isolating
Swahili and Yoruba Language History
Comparison of Swahili vs Yoruba language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Yoruba language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of Yoruba language states that this language originated in 4 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 Yoruba Language History.
Swahili and Yoruba 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 Yoruba greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Swahili and Yoruba language. Swahili word for "Hello" is Habari or Yoruba word for "Thank You" is e dupe. Find more of such common Swahili Greetings and Yoruba Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.
Swahili vs Yoruba Difficulty
The Swahili vs Yoruba difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili Alphabets and Yoruba 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 Yoruba are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Yoruba, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Yoruba time required is 30 weeks.