Swahili — Pronunciation for English Speakers
This guide is based on a phoneme-by-phoneme comparison of Swahili and English. Swahili and English share 20 sounds — about 54% of Swahili's inventory. The remaining sounds are where English speakers will need to focus their practice.
Sounds to learn from scratch (17)
These phonemes exist in Swahili but not in English. English speakers will need to learn to produce and perceive them as new categories — not just a variation of an existing English sound.
Familiar sounds (20)
These phonemes exist in both Swahili and English. You already produce and perceive them — though they may appear in different positions or syllable structures.
English sounds not used in Swahili (25)
These English phonemes don't exist in Swahili. Native Swahili speakers learning English will face the reverse challenge with these sounds.