With nearly 112 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the largest and most populous country in the Horn of Africa. The landlocked nation is one of the world’s oldest and is bounded by Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan. While Italy occupied the country for a brief period beginning in the 1930s, Ethiopia is the only African nation to never have been colonized.
The country is known for its stunning landscapes, bountiful ancient landmarks, and rich culture (did you know that Ethiopia — not Jamaica — birthed the Rastafarian movement?) It also offers a number of vibrant festivals.
The country is characterized by a mosaic of languages, with Amharic used by the federal government. In all, there are more than 80 languages spoken in Ethiopia — including minority and foreign languages — which vary depending upon the region.
There also are a number of accents and dialects spoken in the country. Here are the top ones to know in Ethiopia.
What Is an Accent?
Many people think of an accent as something other people have — not them. In fact, each of us has an accent. While you may not think so, imagine how you must sound to someone who lives across the country. An accent is simply how a language is spoken. It can tell a lot about you, too: who you hang around, the geographic region in which you live, your ethnic background, and even your socioeconomic status.
Similarly, a dialect is a variation of a language spoken by a certain group of people. It’s characterized by differences in grammar and vocabulary, as well as pronunciation.
Accents in Ethiopia
Amharic
The country’s dominant accent, Amharic, is spoken mainly in Ethiopia’s central highlands. The oldest existing records in Amharic are poems and songs going back to the 14th century. The accent has a distinct pronunciation and rhythm. Some 33 basic characters are used, each one possessing seven forms depending upon the vowel pronounced.
A number of the consonants are pronounced at the back of the throat. It can sound to outsiders like a clicking noise that is challenging for an English speaker to imitate. For example, imagine attempting to say “Chanukah,” then move the “ch” sound as far back in your throat as possible.
Note that proficiency in Amharic can markedly affect academic success in secondary schools and universities, which, in turn, can impact future employment.
Oromo
Oromo belongs to the Afroasiatic language and is spoken largely in the Oromia Region. In addition to first-language speakers, other ethnicities, such as the Nilo-Saharan-speaking Kwame in northwest Oromia, speak Oromo as a second language.
Oromo is marked by a pitch accent system, which means that only a word’s penultimate or final syllable is stressed. When verbalized, the stressed syllable has a high pitch. Note that, on a long vowel, a sequence of high-low is called a falling tone. On the other hand, a sequence of low-highs is considered high-high.
Tigrinya
Spoken mainly in the Tigray region, Tigrinya has unique pronunciation patterns that make the accent unique. It’s characterized by specific word order, glottalized phonemes, and derived verb stems. Generally, word order is subject-object-verb, with subordinate clauses coming before the primary clause. In addition, noun phrases generally have modifiers, including relative clauses, that precede the noun.
In Tigrinya, the doubling of a consonantal sound — called germination — affects words’ meaning. When velar consonants /k/ and /k’/ are right after a vowel and are not germinated, they are pronounced differently. Note that there are also a number of Tigrinya dialects that differ grammatically, lexically, and phonetically, with none accepted as standard.
Afar
There are a number of dialect variations of Afar across regions, with the language spoken by people in Eritrea and Djibouti, as well as Ethiopia. Afar has an abundance of sounds that may be challenging or unfamiliar for outsiders. Further, it remains minimally written, as poetry and oral traditions carry cultural languages.
In speech, voiceless stop consonants that close syllables are released, and sentence vowels of affirmative verbs are stressed and aspirated. The opposite is true for sentence vowels of negative verbs. With regard to interrogative verbs, sentence-final vowels are lengthened and stressed.
Sudanese Arabic
The most commonly heard Arabic accent is a version of Sudanese Arabic, spoken mainly in the western region of Ethiopia that borders Sudan. Historically, there has been some influence from Yemeni Arabic when used in commercial settings, but that prevalence has decreased.
Owing to migration patterns, particularly Ethiopian migrants returning from Arab countries, various Arabic dialects can be heard. The dialect used depends upon the person’s background and language exposure. Due to their religious practices, many Muslim Ethiopians learn Arabic. This contributes to the presence of Arab speakers in Ethiopia.
Accent Bias, Call Centers and Tomato’s Solution
For all the richness of accents in Ethiopia and around the world, people naturally tend to favor their own accent over variations of their native language. They also ascribe to it more positive traits. This is known as accent bias.
A prime example of such prejudice, however subconscious such bias may be, is the plight of many offshore call center agents. Many of them speak English as a second or third language, and as a result, they are commonly subjected to impatience, frustration, and overall rudeness. They sometimes even have their competence called into question.
The fallout, in an industry already burdened by escalating turnover rates, is more agent burnout. Combine that with unhappy customers, and you get underperforming call centers.
The good news is, we have the answer.
The call center industry is swiftly changing, largely due to artificial intelligence, with Tomato.ai helping to lead the way. Our AI-powered accent-neutralization tool changes speech — in real time — into those that sound to customers like a language’s native speaker. Simply put, the accent-softening filter results in more-satisfied agents and callers, and better-performing call centers.