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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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