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Swahili
Swahili

Xhosa
Xhosa



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Swahili
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Xhosa

Swahili vs Xhosa

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1 Countries
1.1 Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
South Africa
1.2 Total No. Of Countries
41
Bhojpuri
0 46
1.3 National Language
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania
South Africa
1.4 Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries
Lesotho, South Africa
1.5 Speaking Continents
Africa
Africa
1.6 Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries
Botswana, Lesotho
1.7 Regulated By
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)
Not Available
1.8 Interesting Facts
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
  • 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.
1.9 Similar To
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele
1.10 Derived From
Arabic Language
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages
2 Alphabets
2.1 Alphabets in
2.2 Alphabets
2453
Irish
18 247
2.3 Phonology
2.3.1 How Many Vowels
510
Hebrew
0 32
2.3.2 How Many Consonants
2143
German
9 60
2.4 Scripts
Latin
Latin
2.5 Writing Direction
Not Available
Not Available
2.6 Hard to Learn
2.6.1 Language Levels
33
Bengali
2 12
2.6.2 Time Taken to Learn
36 weeks44 weeks
Cebuano
3 88
3 Greetings
3.1 Hello
Habari
Molo
3.2 Thank You
Asante
Ndiyabulela
3.3 How Are You?
Habari gani?
Unjani
3.4 Good Night
Usiku mwema
Ulale kakuhle
3.5 Good Evening
Habari za jioni
Ubusuku obuhle
3.6 Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri
Uben' emva kwemini entle
3.7 Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi
Molo
3.8 Please
tafadhali
Ndicela
3.9 Sorry
pole
Ndicela uxolo
3.10 Bye
bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle
3.11 I Love You
nakupenda
Ndiyakuthanda
3.12 Excuse Me
Samahani
Uxolo
4 Dialects
4.1 Dialect 1
Kiunguja
Gcaleka
4.1.1 Where They Speak
Zanzibar island
South Africa
4.1.2 How Many People Speak
NANA
Macedonian
1.5 960000000
4.2 Dialect 2
Kimrima
Thembu
4.2.1 Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam
South Africa
4.2.2 How Many People Speak
NANA
Dzongkha
700 80000000
4.3 Dialect 3
Kimgao
Hlubi
4.3.1 Where They Speak
Kilwa
South Africa
4.3.2 How Many People Speak
NANA
Romanian
1400 96000000
4.4 Total No. Of Dialects
129
Sanskrit
0 188
5 How Many People Speak
5.1 How Many People Speak?
150.00 million20.00 million
Abkhaz
0.13 1200
5.2 Speaking Population
NA0.11 %
Persian
0.11 89
5.3 Native Speakers
15.00 million8.20 million
Abkhaz
0.13 873
5.3.1 Second Language Speakers
NA11.00 million
Finnish
0.01 400
5.3.2 Native Name
Not Available
isiXhosa
5.3.3 Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa
5.3.4 French Name
swahili
xhosa
5.3.5 German Name
Swahili
Xhosa-Sprache
5.4 Pronunciation
Not Available
Not Available
5.5 Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili
amaXhosa, amaBhaca
6 History
6.1 Origin
6th century
16th Century
6.2 Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family
6.2.1 Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo
6.2.2 Branch
Bantu
Bantu
6.3 Language Forms
6.3.1 Early Forms
No early forms
No early forms
6.3.2 Standard Forms
Swahili
isiXhosa
6.3.3 Language Position
NANA
Chinese
1 120
6.3.4 Signed Forms
Not Available
Signed Xhosa
6.4 Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual
7 Code
7.1 ISO 639 1
sw
xh
7.2 ISO 639 2
7.2.1 ISO 639 2/T
swa
xho
7.2.2 ISO 639 2/B
swa
xho
7.3 ISO 639 3
swa
xho
7.4 ISO 639 6
Not Available
Not Available
7.5 Glottocode
swah1254
xhos1239
7.6 Linguasphere
99-AUS-m
99-AUT-fa
7.7 Types of Language
7.7.1 Language Type
Living
Living
7.7.2 Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available
Subject-Verb-Object
7.7.3 Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
Not Available

Swahili vs Xhosa Speaking Countries

There are plenty of languages spoken around the world. Every country has its own official language. Compare Swahili vs Xhosa speaking countries, so that you will have total count of countries that speak Swahili or Xhosa language.

  • Swahili is spoken as a national language in: Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania.
  • Xhosa is spoken as a national language in: South Africa.

You will also get to know the continents where Swahili and Xhosa speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Swahili language is not available and position of Xhosa language is not available. Find all the information about these languages on Swahili and Xhosa.

Swahili and Xhosa Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs Xhosa language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Xhosa language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century 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 Swahili and Xhosa Language History.

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

Swahili vs Xhosa Difficulty

The Swahili vs Xhosa difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili 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 Swahili and Xhosa are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Xhosa, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Xhosa time required is 44 weeks.