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Somali vs Zulu


Zulu vs Somali


Countries

Countries
Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia  
South Africa  

Total No. Of Countries
3  
12
1  
14

National Language
Somalia  
South Africa  

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe  

Speaking Continents
Africa, Middle East  
Africa  

Minority Language
Yemen  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Regulated By
National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy  
Pan South African Language Board  

Interesting Facts
  • Somali language is one of the best documented Afro-Asiatic languages.
  • One of the most widely spoken of the Cushitic languages is the Somali Language.
  
  • The meaning of word "Zulu" means "Sky"and Zulu was the name of the ancestor who founded the Zulu royal line in about 1670.
  • Zulu language has many loanwords borrowed from Afrikaans and English Languages.
  

Similar To
Afar and Oromo Language  
Xhosa Language  

Derived From
Arabic Language  
Not Available  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Somali-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Zulu-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
26  
8
57  
34

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5  
2
7  
4

How Many Consonants
21  
11
50  
35

Scripts
Arabic, Latin, Osmanya  
Latin  

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  
Not Available  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
5  
4
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
52 weeks  
12
44 weeks  
11

Greetings

Hello
Hello  
Sawubona  

Thank You
Waad ku mahadsan tahay  
Ngiyabonga  

How Are You?
Sidee tahay ?  
unjani  

Good Night
Habeenka Good  
okuhle ebusuku  

Good Evening
Evening Good  
okuhle kusihlwa  

Good Afternoon
galab wanaagsan  
okuhle ntambama  

Good Morning
Subax wanaagsan  
okuhle ekuseni  

Please
Fadlan  
Ngiyacela  

Sorry
sorry  
Ngiyaxolisa  

Bye
caraysiiyo  
bye  

I Love You
Waan ku jeclahay  
Ngiyakuthanda wena  

Excuse Me
iga raali ahow  
Uxolo  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Northern Somali  
Qwabe  

Where They Speak
Gabon, Standard Somali  
Gabon, South Africa  

Dialect 2
Benaadir  
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu  

Where They Speak
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu  
Georgia, South Africa  

Dialect 3
Af-Ashraaf  
Ndebele  

Where They Speak
Standard Somali  
Zimbabwe  

Total No. Of Dialects
3  
3
4  
4

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
13.00 million  
99+
30.00 million  
36

Speaking Population
Not Available  
0.16 %  
99+

Native Speakers
8.00 million  
99+
12.00 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
Not Available  
16.00 million  
17

Native Name
af Soomaali  
isiZulu  

Alternative Names
Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga  
Isizulu, Zunda  

French Name
somali  
zoulou  

German Name
Somali  
Zulu-Sprache  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
Not Available  

Ethnicity
Somalis  
Zulu people  

History

Origin
19th century  
19  

Language Family
Afro-Asiatic Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Cushitic  
Benue-Congo  

Branch
Not Available  
Beatu  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
urban Zulu  

Standard Forms
Somali  
Deep Zulu  

Language Position
83  
99+
87  
99+

Signed Forms
Somali Sign Language  
Not Available  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
so  
zu  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
som  
zul  

ISO 639 2/B
som  
zul  

ISO 639 3
som  
zul  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
soma1255  
zulu1248  

Linguasphere
No data available  
99-AUT-fg  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Object-Verb  
Subject-Verb-Object  

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Not Available  

Countries >>
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Somali and Zulu Language History

Comparison of Somali vs Zulu language history gives us differences between origin of Somali and Zulu language. History of Somali language states that this language originated in 19th century whereas history of Zulu language states that this language originated in 19. 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 Somali and Zulu Language History.

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Somali and Zulu 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 Somali and Zulu greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Somali and Zulu language. Somali word for "Hello" is Hello or Zulu word for "Thank You" is Ngiyabonga. Find more of such common Somali Greetings and Zulu Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Somali vs Zulu Difficulty

The Somali vs Zulu difficulty level basically depends on the number of Somali Alphabets and Zulu 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 Somali and Zulu are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Somali and Zulu, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Somali is 52 weeks while to learn Zulu time required is 44 weeks.

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