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Swahili vs Zulu


Zulu vs Swahili


Countries

Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya   
South Africa   

Total No. Of Countries
4   
11
1   
14

National Language
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania   
South Africa   

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

Speaking Continents
Africa   
Africa   

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

Regulated By
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)   
Pan South African Language Board   

Interesting Facts
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
    •   
  • 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
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages   
Xhosa Language   

Derived From
Arabic Language   
Not Available   

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
24   
6
57   
34

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5   
2
7   
4

How Many Consonants
21   
11
50   
35

Scripts
Latin   
Latin   

Writing Direction
Not Available   
Not Available   

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3   
2
3   
2

Time Taken to Learn
36 weeks   
10
44 weeks   
11

Greetings

Hello
Habari   
Sawubona   

Thank You
Asante   
Ngiyabonga   

How Are You?
Habari gani?   
unjani   

Good Night
Usiku mwema   
okuhle ebusuku   

Good Evening
Habari za jioni   
okuhle kusihlwa   

Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri   
okuhle ntambama   

Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi   
okuhle ekuseni   

Please
tafadhali   
Ngiyacela   

Sorry
pole   
Ngiyaxolisa   

Bye
bye   
bye   

I Love You
nakupenda   
Ngiyakuthanda wena   

Excuse Me
Samahani   
Uxolo   

Dialects

Dialect 1
Kiunguja   
Qwabe   

Where They Speak
Zanzibar island   
Gabon, South Africa   

Dialect 2
Kimrima   
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu   

Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam   
Georgia, South Africa   

Dialect 3
Kimgao   
Ndebele   

Where They Speak
Kilwa   
Zimbabwe   

Total No. Of Dialects
12   
12
4   
4

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
150.00 million   
13
30.00 million   
36

Speaking Population
Not Available   
0.16 %   
99+

Native Speakers
15.00 million   
40
12.00 million   
99+

Second Language Speakers
Not Available   
16.00 million   
17

Native Name
Not Available   
isiZulu   

Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili   
Isizulu, Zunda   

French Name
swahili   
zoulou   

German Name
Swahili   
Zulu-Sprache   

Pronunciation
Not Available   
Not Available   

Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili   
Zulu people   

History

Origin
6th century   
19   

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family   
Niger-Congo Family   

Subgroup
Benue-Congo   
Benue-Congo   

Branch
Bantu   
Beatu   

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms   
urban Zulu   

Standard Forms
Swahili   
Deep Zulu   

Language Position
Not Available   
87   
99+

Signed Forms
Not Available   
Not Available   

Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage   
Individual   

Code

ISO 639 1
sw   
zu   

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
swa   
zul   

ISO 639 2/B
swa   
zul   

ISO 639 3
swa   
zul   

ISO 639 6
Not Available   
Not Available   

Glottocode
swah1254   
zulu1248   

Linguasphere
99-AUS-m   
99-AUT-fg   

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living   
Living   

Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available   
Subject-Verb-Object   

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available   
Not Available   

Countries >>
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Swahili and Zulu Language History

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

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

Swahili vs Zulu Difficulty

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

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