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Yoruba vs Zulu


Zulu vs Yoruba


Countries

Countries
Benin, Nigeria   
South Africa   

Total No. Of Countries
2   
13
1   
14

National Language
Nigeria   
South Africa   

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries   
Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe   

Speaking Continents
Africa   
Africa   

Minority Language
Africa, Brazil, Togo, United Kingdom, United States of America   
Not spoken in any of the countries   

Regulated By
Yoruba Academy   
Pan South African Language Board   

Interesting Facts
  • One of the largest African ethnic groups is Yoruba in south of Sahara Desert.
  • In Yoruba language, same combination of vowels and consonants have different meanings depending on the pitch of the vowels, so it is tonal language.
  
  • 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
Owo and Itsekiri languages   
Xhosa Language   

Derived From
Not Available   
Not Available   

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Yoruba-Alphabet.jpg#200   
Zulu-Alphabets.jpg#200   

Alphabets
29   
11
57   
34

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
12   
9
7   
4

How Many Consonants
17   
7
50   
35

Scripts
Latin   
Latin   

Writing Direction
Not Available   
Not Available   

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3   
2
3   
2

Time Taken to Learn
30 weeks   
9
44 weeks   
11

Greetings

Hello
Ẹ n lẹ   
Sawubona   

Thank You
e dupe   
Ngiyabonga   

How Are You?
Bawo ni o se wa   
unjani   

Good Night
Kasun layọ o   
okuhle ebusuku   

Good Evening
ka a ale   
okuhle kusihlwa   

Good Afternoon
e kaasan   
okuhle ntambama   

Good Morning
e kaaro   
okuhle ekuseni   

Please
Jowo   
Ngiyacela   

Sorry
binu   
Ngiyaxolisa   

Bye
bye   
bye   

I Love You
mo nifẹ rẹ   
Ngiyakuthanda wena   

Excuse Me
mo tọrọ gafara   
Uxolo   

Dialects

Dialect 1
Itsekiri   
Qwabe   

Where They Speak
Nigeria   
Gabon, South Africa   

How Many People Speak
500,000.00   
34
Not Available   

Dialect 2
Ede   
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu   

Where They Speak
Benin, Togo   
Georgia, South Africa   

How Many People Speak
800,000.00   
27
Not Available   

Dialect 3
Ulukwumi   
Ndebele   

Where They Speak
Nigeria   
Zimbabwe   

How Many People Speak
10,000.00   
34
Not Available   

Total No. Of Dialects
20   
18
4   
4

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
30.00 million   
36
30.00 million   
36

Speaking Population
0.42 %   
32
0.16 %   
99+

Native Speakers
28.00 million   
29
12.00 million   
99+

Second Language Speakers
Not Available   
16.00 million   
17

Native Name
Yorùbá   
isiZulu   

Alternative Names
Yariba, Yooba   
Isizulu, Zunda   

French Name
yoruba   
zoulou   

German Name
Yoruba-Sprache   
Zulu-Sprache   

Pronunciation
Not Available   
Not Available   

Ethnicity
Yoruba people   
Zulu people   

History

Origin
4 BC   
19   

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family   
Niger-Congo Family   

Subgroup
Western Sudanic   
Benue-Congo   

Branch
Kwa   
Beatu   

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms   
urban Zulu   

Standard Forms
Yorùbá   
Deep Zulu   

Language Position
49   
36
87   
99+

Signed Forms
Yoruba Sign Language   
Not Available   

Scope
Individual   
Individual   

Code

ISO 639 1
yo   
zu   

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
yor   
zul   

ISO 639 2/B
yor   
zul   

ISO 639 3
yor   
zul   

ISO 639 6
Not Available   
Not Available   

Glottocode
yoru1245   
zulu1248   

Linguasphere
No data available   
99-AUT-fg   

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living   
Living   

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

Language Morphological Typology
Analytic, Isolating   
Not Available   

Countries >>
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Yoruba and Zulu Language History

Comparison of Yoruba vs Zulu language history gives us differences between origin of Yoruba and Zulu language. History of Yoruba language states that this language originated in 4 BC 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 Yoruba and Zulu Language History.

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

Yoruba vs Zulu Difficulty

The Yoruba vs Zulu difficulty level basically depends on the number of Yoruba 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 Yoruba and Zulu are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Yoruba and Zulu, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Yoruba is 30 weeks while to learn Zulu time required is 44 weeks.

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