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Igbo vs Xhosa


Xhosa vs Igbo


Countries

Countries
Nigeria   
South Africa   

Total No. Of Countries
1   
14
1   
14

National Language
Nigeria   
South Africa   

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries   
Lesotho, South Africa   

Speaking Continents
Africa   
Africa   

Minority Language
Equatorial Guinea   
Botswana, Lesotho   

Regulated By
Society for Promoting Igbo Language and Culture   
Not Available   

Interesting Facts
  • In Igbo, there is complicated system of high and low tones indicating differences in meaning and grammatical relationships.
  • Igbo has inexhaustible and rich linguistic features like idioms, proverbs, aphorisms, anecdotes etc.
  
  • Xhosa has 15 click sounds, borrowed from the khoi-khoi and san languages of the South Africa.
  • The same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meaning when said with different tones, so Xhosa is tonal.
  

Similar To
Not Available   
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele   

Derived From
Not Available   
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages   

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Igbo-Alphabets.jpg#200   
Xhosa-Alphabets.jpg#200   

Alphabets
36   
18
53   
32

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
8   
5
10   
7

How Many Consonants
28   
18
43   
32

Scripts
Latin   
Latin   

Writing Direction
Not Available   
Not Available   

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3   
2
3   
2

Time Taken to Learn
52 weeks   
12
44 weeks   
11

Greetings

Hello
kedụ   
Molo   

Thank You
dalụ   
Ndiyabulela   

How Are You?
kedụ ka ịmere   
Unjani   

Good Night
ka chi fo   
Ulale kakuhle   

Good Evening
mgbede ọma   
Ubusuku obuhle   

Good Afternoon
ehihie ọma   
Uben' emva kwemini entle   

Good Morning
ụtụtụ ọma   
Molo   

Please
Biko   
Ndicela   

Sorry
Ndo   
Ndicela uxolo   

Bye
Not Available   
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle   

I Love You
a hụrụ m gị n'anya   
Ndiyakuthanda   

Excuse Me
ngọpụ   
Uxolo   

Dialects

Dialect 1
Enuani   
Gcaleka   

Where They Speak
Nigeria   
South Africa   

Dialect 2
Ngwa   
Thembu   

Where They Speak
Nigeria   
South Africa   

How Many People Speak
1,500,000.00   
22
Not Available   

Dialect 3
Not present   
Hlubi   

Where They Speak
Not Available   
South Africa   

Total No. Of Dialects
20   
18
9   
9

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
25.00 million   
40
20.00 million   
99+

Speaking Population
Not Available   
0.11 %   
99+

Native Speakers
25.00 million   
32
8.20 million   
99+

Second Language Speakers
Not Available   
11.00 million   
21

Native Name
igbo   
isiXhosa   

Alternative Names
Ibo   
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa   

French Name
igbo   
xhosa   

German Name
Ibo-Sprache   
Xhosa-Sprache   

Pronunciation
[iɡ͡boː]   
Not Available   

Ethnicity
Igbo people   
amaXhosa, amaBhaca   

History

Origin
30th Century BC   
16th Century   

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family   
Niger-Congo Family   

Subgroup
Kwa   
Benue-Congo   

Branch
Not Available   
Bantu   

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms   
No early forms   

Standard Forms
Standard Igbo   
isiXhosa   

Language Position
57   
99+
Not Available   

Signed Forms
Not Available   
Signed Xhosa   

Scope
Individual   
Individual   

Code

ISO 639 1
ig   
xh   

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
ibo   
xho   

ISO 639 2/B
ibo   
xho   

ISO 639 3
ibo   
xho   

ISO 639 6
Not Available   
Not Available   

Glottocode
nucl1417   
xhos1239   

Linguasphere
No data available   
99-AUT-fa   

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living   
Living   

Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available   
Subject-Verb-Object   

Language Morphological Typology
Agglutinative   
Not Available   

Countries >>
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Igbo and Xhosa Language History

Comparison of Igbo vs Xhosa language history gives us differences between origin of Igbo and Xhosa language. History of Igbo language states that this language originated in 30th Century BC whereas history of Xhosa language states that this language originated in 16th Century. Family of the language also forms a part of history of that language. More on language families of these languages can be found out on Igbo and Xhosa Language History.

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Igbo and Xhosa Greetings

People around the world use different languages to interact with each other. Even if we cannot communicate fluently in any language, it will always be beneficial to know about some of the common greetings or phrases from that language. This is where Igbo and Xhosa greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Igbo and Xhosa language. Igbo word for "Hello" is kedụ or Xhosa word for "Thank You" is Ndiyabulela. Find more of such common Igbo Greetings and Xhosa Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Igbo vs Xhosa Difficulty

The Igbo vs Xhosa difficulty level basically depends on the number of Igbo Alphabets and Xhosa Alphabets. Also the number of vowels and consonants in the language plays an important role in deciding the difficulty level of that language. The important points to be considered when we compare Igbo and Xhosa are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Igbo and Xhosa, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Igbo is 52 weeks while to learn Xhosa time required is 44 weeks.

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