Somali Translator

About Somali

Somali is a Cushitic language spoken by approximately 16 million people across the Horn of Africa, primarily in Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, eastern Ethiopia, and northeastern Kenya. It has ancient roots in the region and has served as a vehicle for one of Africa's richest oral literary traditions for centuries.

Somali adopted the Latin alphabet as its official script in 1972, ending a long debate over which writing system to use. Before this, the language was primarily oral, with some use of Arabic script and an indigenous script called Osmanya. An interesting fact about Somali is that it has one of the most celebrated traditions of oral poetry in the world, with poets historically serving as important political and cultural figures, earning Somalia the nickname "a nation of poets."