Xhosa vs Swahili
Countries
South Africa
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
National Language
South Africa
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania
Second Language
Lesotho, South Africa
Not spoken in any of the countries
Speaking Continents
Africa
Africa
Minority Language
Botswana, Lesotho
Not spoken in any of the countries
Regulated By
Not Available
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)
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.
- Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
- The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
Similar To
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Derived From
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages
Arabic Language
Alphabets in
Xhosa-Alphabets.jpg#200
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200
Writing Direction
Not Available
Not Available
Thank You
Ndiyabulela
Asante
How Are You?
Unjani
Habari gani?
Good Night
Ulale kakuhle
Usiku mwema
Good Evening
Ubusuku obuhle
Habari za jioni
Good Afternoon
Uben' emva kwemini entle
nzuri Alasiri
Good Morning
Molo
Habari za asubuhi
Bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle
bye
I Love You
Ndiyakuthanda
nakupenda
Dialect 1
Gcaleka
Kiunguja
Where They Speak
South Africa
Zanzibar island
Where They Speak
South Africa
Dar es Salaam
Where They Speak
South Africa
Kilwa
Speaking Population
Not Available
Second Language Speakers
Not Available
Native Name
isiXhosa
Not Available
Alternative Names
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
French Name
xhosa
swahili
German Name
Xhosa-Sprache
Swahili
Pronunciation
Not Available
Not Available
Ethnicity
amaXhosa, amaBhaca
Swahili people or Waswahili
Origin
16th Century
6th century
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo
Early Forms
No early forms
No early forms
Standard Forms
isiXhosa
Swahili
Signed Forms
Signed Xhosa
Not Available
Scope
Individual
Individual, Macrolanguage
ISO 639 6
Not Available
Not Available
Glottocode
xhos1239
swah1254
Linguasphere
99-AUT-fa
99-AUS-m
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object
Not Available
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
Not Available
Xhosa and Swahili Language History
Comparison of Xhosa vs Swahili language history gives us differences between origin of Xhosa and Swahili language. History of Xhosa language states that this language originated in 16th Century whereas history of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th 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 Swahili Language History.
Xhosa and Swahili 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 Swahili greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Xhosa and Swahili language. Xhosa word for "Hello" is Molo or Swahili word for "Thank You" is Asante. Find more of such common Xhosa Greetings and Swahili Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.
Xhosa vs Swahili Difficulty
The Xhosa vs Swahili difficulty level basically depends on the number of Xhosa Alphabets and Swahili 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 Swahili are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Xhosa and Swahili, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Xhosa is 44 weeks while to learn Swahili time required is 36 weeks.