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Xhosa vs Afrikaans


Afrikaans vs Xhosa


Countries

Countries
South Africa   
South Africa   

Total No. Of Countries
1   
14
1   
14

National Language
South Africa   
South Africa   

Second Language
Lesotho, South Africa   
Namibia, South Africa   

Speaking Continents
Africa   
Africa   

Minority Language
Botswana, Lesotho   
Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe   

Regulated By
Not Available   
Die Taalkommissie, National Languages Committee   

Interesting Facts
  • 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.
  
  • Afrikaans Language is a mixture of English, Dutch, German, French and some South African language like Xhosa.
  • Afrikaans Language lacks case and gender distinctions.
  

Similar To
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele   
Dutch Language   

Derived From
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages   
Dutch Language   

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Xhosa-Alphabets.jpg#200   
Afrikaans-Alphabets.jpg#200   

Alphabets
53   
32
32   
14

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
10   
7
15   
12

How Many Consonants
43   
32
17   
7

Scripts
Latin   
Latin   

Writing Direction
Not Available   
Left-To-Right, Horizontal   

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3   
2
3   
2

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks   
11
24 weeks   
6

Greetings

Hello
Molo   
hallo   

Thank You
Ndiyabulela   
Dankie   

How Are You?
Unjani   
Hoe gaan dit   

Good Night
Ulale kakuhle   
goeie nag   

Good Evening
Ubusuku obuhle   
Goeienaand   

Good Afternoon
Uben' emva kwemini entle   
Goeie middag   

Good Morning
Molo   
goeie more   

Please
Ndicela   
asseblief   

Sorry
Ndicela uxolo   
jammer   

Bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle   
Not Available   

I Love You
Ndiyakuthanda   
Ek het jou lief   

Excuse Me
Uxolo   
Verskoon my   

Dialects

Dialect 1
Gcaleka   
Kaapse Afrikaans   

Where They Speak
South Africa   
Not Available   

Dialect 2
Thembu   
Oranjeriverafrikaans   

Where They Speak
South Africa   
Not Available   

Dialect 3
Hlubi   
Baster Afrikaans   

Where They Speak
South Africa   
Namibia   

Total No. Of Dialects
9   
9
3   
3

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
20.00 million   
99+
19.00 million   
99+

Speaking Population
0.11 %   
99+
Not Available   

Native Speakers
8.20 million   
99+
7.10 million   
99+

Second Language Speakers
11.00 million   
21
10.30 million   
22

Native Name
isiXhosa   
Afrikaans   

Alternative Names
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa   
Cape Dutch   

French Name
xhosa   
afrikaans   

German Name
Xhosa-Sprache   
Afrikaans   

Pronunciation
Not Available   
[ɐfriˈkɑːns]   

Ethnicity
amaXhosa, amaBhaca   
Afrikaners   

History

Origin
16th Century   
17th Century   

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family   
Indo-European Family   

Subgroup
Benue-Congo   
Germanic   

Branch
Bantu   
Western   

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms   
Cape dutch or kitchen dutch   

Standard Forms
isiXhosa   
Standard Afrikaans   

Signed Forms
Signed Xhosa   
Signed Afrikaans (signs of SASL)   

Scope
Individual   
Individual   

Code

ISO 639 1
xh   
af   

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
xho   
afr   

ISO 639 2/B
xho   
afr   

ISO 639 3
xho   
afr   

ISO 639 6
Not Available   
afrs   

Glottocode
xhos1239   
afri1274   

Linguasphere
99-AUT-fa   
52-ACB-ba   

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living   
Living   

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

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available   
Analytic   

Countries >>
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Xhosa and Afrikaans Language History

Comparison of Xhosa vs Afrikaans language history gives us differences between origin of Xhosa and Afrikaans language. History of Xhosa language states that this language originated in 16th Century whereas history of Afrikaans language states that this language originated in 17th 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 Xhosa and Afrikaans Language History.

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

Xhosa vs Afrikaans Difficulty

The Xhosa vs Afrikaans difficulty level basically depends on the number of Xhosa Alphabets and Afrikaans 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 Xhosa and Afrikaans are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Xhosa and Afrikaans, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Xhosa is 44 weeks while to learn Afrikaans time required is 24 weeks.

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