Home
Languagevs


Xhosa vs Zulu


Zulu 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  
Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe  

Speaking Continents
Africa  
Africa  

Minority Language
Botswana, Lesotho  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Regulated By
Not Available  
Pan South African Language Board  

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.
  
  • 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
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele  
Xhosa Language  

Derived From
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages  
Not Available  

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
53  
32
57  
34

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
10  
7
7  
4

How Many Consonants
43  
32
50  
35

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
44 weeks  
11

Greetings

Hello
Molo  
Sawubona  

Thank You
Ndiyabulela  
Ngiyabonga  

How Are You?
Unjani  
unjani  

Good Night
Ulale kakuhle  
okuhle ebusuku  

Good Evening
Ubusuku obuhle  
okuhle kusihlwa  

Good Afternoon
Uben' emva kwemini entle  
okuhle ntambama  

Good Morning
Molo  
okuhle ekuseni  

Please
Ndicela  
Ngiyacela  

Sorry
Ndicela uxolo  
Ngiyaxolisa  

Bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle  
bye  

I Love You
Ndiyakuthanda  
Ngiyakuthanda wena  

Excuse Me
Uxolo  
Uxolo  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Gcaleka  
Qwabe  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Gabon, South Africa  

Dialect 2
Thembu  
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Georgia, South Africa  

Dialect 3
Hlubi  
Ndebele  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Zimbabwe  

Total No. Of Dialects
9  
9
4  
4

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
20.00 million  
99+
30.00 million  
36

Speaking Population
0.11 %  
99+
0.16 %  
99+

Native Speakers
8.20 million  
99+
12.00 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
11.00 million  
21
16.00 million  
17

Native Name
isiXhosa  
isiZulu  

Alternative Names
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa  
Isizulu, Zunda  

French Name
xhosa  
zoulou  

German Name
Xhosa-Sprache  
Zulu-Sprache  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
Not Available  

Ethnicity
amaXhosa, amaBhaca  
Zulu people  

History

Origin
16th Century  
19  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Benue-Congo  
Benue-Congo  

Branch
Bantu  
Beatu  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
urban Zulu  

Standard Forms
isiXhosa  
Deep Zulu  

Language Position
Not Available  
87  
99+

Signed Forms
Signed Xhosa  
Not Available  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
xh  
zu  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
xho  
zul  

ISO 639 2/B
xho  
zul  

ISO 639 3
xho  
zul  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
xhos1239  
zulu1248  

Linguasphere
99-AUT-fa  
99-AUT-fg  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

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

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Not Available  

Countries >>
<< All

Xhosa and Zulu Language History

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

Compare Most Difficult Languages

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

Xhosa vs Zulu Difficulty

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

Most Difficult Languages

Most Difficult Languages

» More Most Difficult Languages

Compare Most Difficult Languages

» More Compare Most Difficult Languages