Swahili, a Bantu language, is a lingua franca serving an estimated 45 million inhabitants in Africa as "the language of culture, education, and communication." The author, who has spent 35 years in East Africa, notes the regional variations in Swahili, and the standardization which is taking place throughout East Africa. The Institute o f Swahili Research, formerly the Inter-Territorial Swahili Language Committee, is engaged in setting up a Standard Swahili acceptable to the great majority, and in encouraging a high grade of Swahili literature. The contrastive phonological analysis of Swahili-English presented in this paper is based on the Standard Inter-Territorial Swahili of East Africa. It is intended to be a practical study and analysis of help to English-speaking students who are learning and studying Swahili. (AMM)