How does somali sound like to foreigners?

[CABDULWALI XASAN.]

I always wondered this, I mean it dosent sound like any other languages does it. If you forget comprehending it for a second and just listen, It kinda sounds like arabic without the elongation a little bit. Im not sure how to describe it. I mean somali was the first language I was exposed to, Ive grown around it.

Ive had the same thought with english too but they now have made simulations to see how it would sound like if you were a foreigner

 

[Internet Nomad]

Like hell

 

[Wonyluvr]

Qaraami and gabay sound better than conversational Somali

 

[Som]

Non somalis have told me it sounds like Arabic probably because of the X and C sounds. Arabs themselves heard me speak Somali and they said it sounded like distant Arabic dialect that they couldn't understand.

 

[Keep it a boqol]

i saw a tweet that someone said it sounds like vietnamese arabic lol

 

[Journey.]

Non somalis have told me it sounds like Arabic probably because of the X and C sounds. Arabs themselves heard me speak Somali and they said it sounded like distant Arabic dialect that they couldn't understand.

While I was in high school my mum came in once for a talk with the headteacher (he was Indian). She spoke to me in Somali for a bit and he said, "I don't understand Arabic but I have a good idea of what she said". Neither I nor my mother bothered to correct him lol.

 

[Farah717]

Probably how we hear oromo/afar since that's the closest language to us. Both cushitic.

 

[Som]

Probably how we hear oromo/afar since that's the closest language to us. Both cushitic.

Oromo sounds generically "Ethiopian" to me. Obviously I know that they are different but the cadence of oromo and Amharic sound similar to me , maybe it's also because of the oromo substratum in amharic. The Afar language on the other hand sounds super Somali to me despite not understanding anything

 

[The alchemist]

I have a friend who thought I had spoken Arabic for years, lol. He thought Somali was some type of Arabic dialect. He was in disbelief when I told him that it was not Arabic. The other thing could be that we did partly speak Arabic at home so maybe that did confuse. But that could not have been it since I spoke way more Somali and he was familiar with it.

 

[The Oponian Guild]

Somali sounds a bit similar to afar, doesn’t sound anything like oromo (that could be due to the languages diverging thousands of years ago) but generally it occupies its own unique place on the spectrum, that and the fact that it is the most spoken cushitic language

 

[CABDULWALI XASAN.]

Ive listened to oromo it sounds similar to somali. I havent heard afar before, maybe I have but its a long time ago and I mustve forgotten. Both are cushetic. We are cushetic. Cushetic is a completely different branch. Kinda like Chinese languages. How come us cushetics havent maintained a script though

 

[Dalac Bilaash]

It sounds like weird Arabic to most of foreigners but it's because of we share the same language family with semitic people

 

[attash]

Off brand Arabic

 

[Yami]

Pseudo arabic. The loan words don't help things either

 

[Three Moons]

The Japanese of the Afro-Asiatic family. We say Ha they say Ha, we have Abshiros and Ashkiros, they have Kenshiros and Akihiros.

I have seen enough!

 

[Yami]

The Japanese of the Afro-Asiatic family. We say Ha they say Ha, we have Abshiros and Ashkiros, they have Kenshiros and Akihiros.

I have seen enough!

They also say waa & it has the same meaning in Japanese

 

[JustSomeGuy]

It sounds like weird Arabic to most of foreigners but it's because of we share the same language family with semitic people View attachment 338853

I doubt that’s the reason, it’s because Somalia is Muslim so people will automatically associate Somalia with arabs and assume Somalis speak an Arabic dialect.

 

[queasyian]

All these people saying Arabic tripping. It sounds like a completely separate language. Spend 1 evening in the maqayaad with the abtiyaal and don’t speak. It’s no way near as gluttonal as Arabic.

 

[Killamenace78]

Some people said it sounds like Hebrew and Arabic mixed together

 

[Homerlilian]

All these people saying Arabic tripping. It sounds like a completely separate language. Spend 1 evening in the maqayaad with the abtiyaal and don’t speak. It’s no way near as gluttonal as Arabic.

I’m not even an Ana Arab I’m being straight up honest with all I hear is people try confusing it with Arabic . Only when one looks into details do they say it isn’t