Swahili vs Zulu
Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
South Africa
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 in
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200
Zulu-Alphabets.jpg#200
Writing Direction
Not Available
Not Available
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
I Love You
nakupenda
Ngiyakuthanda wena
Where They Speak
Zanzibar island
Gabon, South Africa
Dialect 2
Kimrima
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu
Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam
Georgia, South Africa
Where They Speak
Kilwa
Zimbabwe
Speaking Population
Not Available
Second Language Speakers
Not Available
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
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo
Early Forms
No early forms
urban Zulu
Standard Forms
Swahili
Deep Zulu
Language Position
Not Available
Signed Forms
Not Available
Not Available
Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual
ISO 639 6
Not Available
Not Available
Glottocode
swah1254
zulu1248
Linguasphere
99-AUS-m
99-AUT-fg
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available
Subject-Verb-Object
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
Not Available
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.
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.