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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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