Swahili (Kiswahili)
Swahili (sw, swa) is a world language. Wikidata records about 15.4M speakers. It is written in Latin script and Swahili Ajami. It is an official language in 4 countries, including Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
Swahili is a Bantu language with noun classes that drive agreement; widely used as a lingua franca in East Africa.
Expect text translated from English into Swahili to grow by roughly 15–30%, which matters for layouts, subtitles and page counts.
In the United States, 343,853 people aged 5+ speak Swahili at home (Census ACS), and 110,995 of them (32%) speak English less than "very well" — a key indicator of demand for Swahili translators and interpreters.
Translation guides
Where Swahili is official
- Kenya
- Rwanda
- Tanzania
- Uganda
Rates for Swahili translation
Swahili falls in our african languages band: roughly $0.08–$0.20 per word for general commercial work. These are indicative ranges, not quotes — specialised, certified and rush work costs more, and literary translation is usually priced per 1,000 words.
For context, the median salaried translator or interpreter in the US earned $60,170 in May 2025 (BLS). See salaries by state →
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