Script guide › Latin
How to recognize Somali
Somali is one of 35 languages in Grafle's Latin group. Here's what it looks like, where you'll see it on signs, and how to tell it apart from its lookalikes.
Spot it fast
- Doubled vowels (aa, oo, ee) plus heavy use of x, q and dh — no accents at all.
What Somali looks like
Aadanaha dhammaantood waxay dhashaan iyagoo xor ah oo sinnaan ku ah.
Iska warran, sidee tahay?
Aqoon la'aani waa iftiin la'aan.
Latin scripts: The alphabet you're reading now. Each language gives itself away by its own special letters and accent marks.
Where you'll see it on signs
- Somalia
- Djibouti
Easy to confuse with
- Swahili — Somali doubles vowels (aa, oo) and leans on x, q and dh; Swahili's m-/wa- prefixes and gentler consonants read smoother.
- Afrikaans — Somali has doubled vowels plus x and dh clusters; Afrikaans reads like simplified Dutch with its standalone 'n.