How does somali sound like to foreigners?

[𐒔𐒙𐒇𐒕𐒛𐒐200]

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

Somali and Arabic don't sound nothing alike as both are dfferent language branches but falls under the same family tree.

 

[NidarNidar]

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

I spoke both languages briefly when I was younger, you're right about the cadence but Amharic is more similar to other Semitic languages, some Oromo words are similar to Somali due to being in the same family group.

 

[Riftvalley]

Somali and Arabic don't sound nothing alike as both are dfferent language branches but falls under the same family tree.

Languages sound different to foreigners. How many Somalis can tell apart the difference between Slavic languages?

If a cadaan hears magaca wa ficanahay wa kheyr it can sound like Arabic.

I was recently at an airport and heard a family speaking a language. At first, I thought it was Somali or some strange dialect due to the tone and hearing Somali sounding words every few seconds. Then I realised it was most likely Saho or some kind of Afar. Imagine a Scottish man hearing trying to differeniate between Arabic,Somali and Tigrinaya.

 

[Riftvalley]

I spoke both languages briefly when I was younger, you're right about the cadence but Amharic is more similar to other Semitic languages, some Oromo words are similar to Somali due to being in the same family group.

Saho, Afar and Maxaa Tiri can seem to have harsh C and S which can make it more Arabic sounding to people. Af Maay sounds slightly more Oromo to due to the tonal sounds and the absence of the throat sounds.

 

[Periplus]

One of my Arab friends said “the Somali language annoys me because it sounds like Arabic but I can’t understand it.

He went on to explain that whenever he heard Somali, he thought it was Arabic but got confused as to why he can only pick up certain words and not whole sentences.

 

[𐒔𐒙𐒇𐒕𐒛𐒐200]

Languages sound different to foreigners. How many Somalis can tell apart the difference between Slavic languages?

If a cadaan hears magaca wa ficanahay wa kheyr it can sound like Arabic.

I was recently at an airport and heard a family speaking a language. At first, I thought it was Somali or some strange dialect due to the tone and hearing Somali sounding words every few seconds. Then I realised it was most likely Saho or some kind of Afar. Imagine a Scottish man hearing trying to differeniate between Arabic,Somali and Tigrinaya.

I understand what you are saying but you cannot mistake Somali for Arabic as every language has a paticular sound. For example can you mistake Persian for Arabic even though they share a border with an arab country.

 

[Riftvalley]

I understand what you are saying but you cannot mistake Somali for Arabic as every language has a paticular sound. For example can you mistake Persian for Arabic even though they share a border with an arab country.

Every language has a particular sound but it’s not always discernible to outsiders. It’s possible for an outsider to think Somali is Arabic if you played them an audio. Persian isn’t in the same language family and doesn’t have the throat sounds Arabic/Somali share.

These people thought she was speaking a South Asian language.

 

[Som]

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.

Op asked how Somali sounds to foreigners, it's obvious that an average European will assume it's Arabic when they hear sounds they associate with Arabic . I agree that Somali is less gluttonal than Arabic , we have X , C etc but maybe at a slightly less frequency

 

[NidarNidar]

Saho, Afar and Maxaa Tiri can seem to have harsh C and S which can make it more Arabic sounding to people. Af Maay sounds slightly more Oromo to due to the tonal sounds and the absence of the throat sounds.

Iraqw sounds very Amharic though lol

 

[Rayaale]

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

Afar doesn’t sound anything as Somali I would say Oromo is more closer

 

[abdi_]

More and more, of all the languages out there, it sounds closest to Japanese to me.
Both in its sounds and the overly dramatic nature of its speakers and their tendency to repeat a word several times.

I have only recently started to make this connection though.

 

[Rayaale]

Iraqw sounds very Amharic though lol

It’s impressive how they managed to preserve their language despite being surrounded by different tribes

 

[queasyian]

More and more, of all the languages out there, it sounds closest to Japanese to me.
Both in its sounds and the overly dramatic nature of its speakers and their tendency to repeat a word several times.

I have only recently started to make this connection though.

If I recall Japanese words end in vowels a lot pretty similar to Somali

 

[CABDULWALI XASAN.]

I spoke both languages briefly when I was younger, you're right about the cadence but Amharic is more similar to other Semitic languages, some Oromo words are similar to Somali due to being in the same family group.

That maay maay video is hilarious. Amharic sounds nothing like somali, but Iraqw sounds similar to somali, the entire structure of the language. The start and stops. all the same.

 

[CABDULWALI XASAN.]

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.

thats ridiculous, I think its because of the amount of loan words we have. No ones looking at a somali and associating with arabs. Maybe if you were Persian

 

[NidarNidar]

That maay maay video is hilarious. Amharic sounds nothing like somali, but Iraqw sounds similar to somali, the entire structure of the language. The start and stops. all the same.

Yeah the flow sounds very Somali, I only listened for the first few seconds.

 

[Som]

I spoke both languages briefly when I was younger, you're right about the cadence but Amharic is more similar to other Semitic languages, some Oromo words are similar to Somali due to being in the same family group.

Yes but it's my understanding that Amhara is very cushitic influenced in vocabulary and structure while still being semitic. I'd say it's kinda like English being a Germanic language with huge romance language influence that makes it very distant from fellow Germanic languages like Swedish or German. Tigrinya on the other had has very Arabic like vibes

 

[NidarNidar]

Yes but it's my understanding that Amhara is very cushitic influenced in vocabulary and structure while still being semitic. I'd say it's kinda like English being a Germanic language with huge romance language influence that makes it very distant from fellow Germanic languages like Swedish or German. Tigrinya on the other had has very Arabic like vibes

True, the closet language to English is Dutch, It feels like listening to an inverted version of English.

 

[Idilinaa]

It mostly sounds like Arabic middle eastern and to a lesser degree Asian to foreigners

I saw another clip with a Somali girl participating but cant find it but they said the same about it sounding like Arabic and Asian.
Shoutout to that Cadaan guy who guessed Somali correctly , ''Somali hip hop group'' lool.


Edit: found it , they are saying Asian lool