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Sinhalese vs Shona


Shona vs Sinhalese


Countries

Countries
Sri Lanka   
Zimbabwe   

Total No. Of Countries
1   
14
1   
14

National Language
Sri Lanka   
Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe   

Second Language
Sri Lanka   
Not spoken in any of the countries   

Speaking Continents
Asia   
Africa   

Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries   
Not spoken in any of the countries   

Regulated By
Hela Havula (හෙළ හවුල)   
Not Available   

Interesting Facts
  • In Sinhalese language, there are many loanwords from Dravidian languages mainly Tamil, Portuguese, Dutch and English.
  • Sinhalese language has it own script/ writing system.
  
  • Shona language is tonal language.
  • The African people in Zimbabwe is made of 10 ethnic groups, each speaking a different languages, shona is spoken by 60 percent of population.
  

Similar To
Maldivian Language   
Kalanga and Nambya Language   

Derived From
Sanskrit Language   
Not Available   

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Sinhalese-Alphabets.jpg#200   
Shona-Alphabets.jpg#200   

Alphabets
54   
33
Not Available   

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
18   
15
5   
2

How Many Consonants
36   
26
46   
34

Scripts
Sinhala alphabet   
Latin   

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal   
Not Available   

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
2   
1
4   
3

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks   
11
Not Available   

Greetings

Hello
හලෝ (halō)   
Mhoro   

Thank You
ඔබට ස්තුතියි (obaṭa stutiyi)   
Waita zvako   

How Are You?
ඔබ කොහොමද (oba kohomada)   
Wakadini zvako?   

Good Night
සුභ රාත්රියක් (subha rātriyak)   
Urare zvakanaka   

Good Evening
සුබ සැන්දෑවක් (suba sændǣvak)   
Manheru   

Good Afternoon
සුභ සන්ධ්යාවක් (subha sandhyāvak)   
Masikati   

Good Morning
සුභ උදෑසනක් (subha udǣsanak)   
Mangwanani   

Please
කරුණාකර (karuṇākara)   
Ndinokumbirawo   

Sorry
සමාවන්න (samāvanna)   
Ndineurombo   

Bye
බායි (bāyi)   
bye   

I Love You
මම ඔයාට ආදරෙයි (mama oyāṭa ādareyi)   
Ndinokuda   

Excuse Me
මට සමාවෙන්න (maṭa samāvenna)   
Pamusoro   

Dialects

Dialect 1
Vedda   
Hwesa   

Where They Speak
Sri Lanka   
Zimbabwe   

Dialect 2
Not Available   
Karanga   

Where They Speak
Not Available   
southern Zimbabwe   

Dialect 3
Not Available   
Zezuru   

Where They Speak
Not Available   
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland   

Total No. Of Dialects
1   
1
4   
4

How Many People Speak

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

Speaking Population
0.25 %   
99+
0.13 %   
99+

Native Speakers
16.00 million   
39
8.30 million   
99+

Second Language Speakers
2.00 million   
34
Not Available   

Native Name
සිංහල (sĩhala)   
Not Available   

Alternative Names
Cingalese, Singhala, Singhalese, Sinhala   
Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru   

French Name
singhalais   
shona   

German Name
Singhalesisch   
Schona-Sprache   

Pronunciation
Not Available   
Not Available   

Ethnicity
Sinhalese people   
Not Available   

History

Origin
3   
20th century   

Language Family
Indo-European Family   
Niger-Congo Family   

Subgroup
Indo-Iranian   
Benue-Congo   

Branch
Indic   
Bantu   

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
Sinhalese Prakrit   
Not Available   

Standard Forms
Modern Sinhalese   
Not Available   

Language Position
70   
99+
107   
99+

Signed Forms
Not Available   
Not Available   

Scope
Individual   
Individual   

Code

ISO 639 1
si   
sn   

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
sin   
sna   

ISO 639 2/B
sin   
sna   

ISO 639 3
sin   
sna   

ISO 639 6
Not Available   
Not Available   

Glottocode
sinh1246   
core1255   

Linguasphere
No data available   
99-AUT-a   

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living   
Living   

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Object-Verb   
Not Available   

Language Morphological Typology
Fusional   
Not Available   

Countries >>
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Sinhalese and Shona Language History

Comparison of Sinhalese vs Shona language history gives us differences between origin of Sinhalese and Shona language. History of Sinhalese language states that this language originated in 3 whereas history of Shona language states that this language originated in 20th 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 Sinhalese and Shona Language History.

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Sinhalese and Shona 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 Sinhalese and Shona greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Sinhalese and Shona language. Sinhalese word for "Hello" is හලෝ (halō) or Shona word for "Thank You" is Waita zvako. Find more of such common Sinhalese Greetings and Shona Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Sinhalese vs Shona Difficulty

The Sinhalese vs Shona difficulty level basically depends on the number of Sinhalese Alphabets and Shona 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 Sinhalese and Shona are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Sinhalese and Shona, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Sinhalese is 44 weeks while to learn Shona time required is Not Available.

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