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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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