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Xhosa vs Swahili


Swahili vs Xhosa


Countries

Countries
South Africa  
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
4  
11

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

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

Alphabets
53  
32
24  
6

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
10  
7
5  
2

How Many Consonants
43  
32
21  
11

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
Not Available  
Not Available  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks  
11
36 weeks  
10

Greetings

Hello
Molo  
Habari  

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  

Please
Ndicela  
tafadhali  

Sorry
Ndicela uxolo  
pole  

Bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle  
bye  

I Love You
Ndiyakuthanda  
nakupenda  

Excuse Me
Uxolo  
Samahani  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Gcaleka  
Kiunguja  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Zanzibar island  

Dialect 2
Thembu  
Kimrima  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Dar es Salaam  

Dialect 3
Hlubi  
Kimgao  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Kilwa  

Total No. Of Dialects
9  
9
12  
12

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
20.00 million  
99+
150.00 million  
13

Speaking Population
0.11 %  
99+
Not Available  

Native Speakers
8.20 million  
99+
15.00 million  
40

Second Language Speakers
11.00 million  
21
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  

History

Origin
16th Century  
6th century  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Benue-Congo  
Benue-Congo  

Branch
Bantu  
Bantu  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
isiXhosa  
Swahili  

Signed Forms
Signed Xhosa  
Not Available  

Scope
Individual  
Individual, Macrolanguage  

Code

ISO 639 1
xh  
sw  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
xho  
swa  

ISO 639 2/B
xho  
swa  

ISO 639 3
xho  
swa  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
xhos1239  
swah1254  

Linguasphere
99-AUT-fa  
99-AUS-m  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object  
Not Available  

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Not Available  

Countries >>
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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.

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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.

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