Home
Languagevs


Zulu vs Afrikaans


Afrikaans vs Zulu


Countries

Countries
South Africa  
South Africa  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
1  
14

National Language
South Africa  
South Africa  

Second Language
Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe  
Namibia, South Africa  

Speaking Continents
Africa  
Africa  

Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe  

Regulated By
Pan South African Language Board  
Die Taalkommissie, National Languages Committee  

Interesting Facts
  • 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.
  
  • Afrikaans Language is a mixture of English, Dutch, German, French and some South African language like Xhosa.
  • Afrikaans Language lacks case and gender distinctions.
  

Similar To
Xhosa Language  
Dutch Language  

Derived From
Not Available  
Dutch Language  

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
57  
34
32  
14

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
7  
4
15  
12

How Many Consonants
50  
35
17  
7

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
Not Available  
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks  
11
24 weeks  
6

Greetings

Hello
Sawubona  
hallo  

Thank You
Ngiyabonga  
Dankie  

How Are You?
unjani  
Hoe gaan dit  

Good Night
okuhle ebusuku  
goeie nag  

Good Evening
okuhle kusihlwa  
Goeienaand  

Good Afternoon
okuhle ntambama  
Goeie middag  

Good Morning
okuhle ekuseni  
goeie more  

Please
Ngiyacela  
asseblief  

Sorry
Ngiyaxolisa  
jammer  

Bye
bye  
Not Available  

I Love You
Ngiyakuthanda wena  
Ek het jou lief  

Excuse Me
Uxolo  
Verskoon my  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Qwabe  
Kaapse Afrikaans  

Where They Speak
Gabon, South Africa  
Not Available  

Dialect 2
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu  
Oranjeriverafrikaans  

Where They Speak
Georgia, South Africa  
Not Available  

Dialect 3
Ndebele  
Baster Afrikaans  

Where They Speak
Zimbabwe  
Namibia  

Total No. Of Dialects
4  
4
3  
3

How Many People Speak

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

Speaking Population
0.16 %  
99+
Not Available  

Native Speakers
12.00 million  
99+
7.10 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
16.00 million  
17
10.30 million  
22

Native Name
isiZulu  
Afrikaans  

Alternative Names
Isizulu, Zunda  
Cape Dutch  

French Name
zoulou  
afrikaans  

German Name
Zulu-Sprache  
Afrikaans  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
[ɐfriˈkɑːns]  

Ethnicity
Zulu people  
Afrikaners  

History

Origin
19  
17th Century  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Indo-European Family  

Subgroup
Benue-Congo  
Germanic  

Branch
Beatu  
Western  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
urban Zulu  
Cape dutch or kitchen dutch  

Standard Forms
Deep Zulu  
Standard Afrikaans  

Language Position
87  
99+
Not Available  

Signed Forms
Not Available  
Signed Afrikaans (signs of SASL)  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
zu  
af  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
zul  
afr  

ISO 639 2/B
zul  
afr  

ISO 639 3
zul  
afr  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
afrs  

Glottocode
zulu1248  
afri1274  

Linguasphere
99-AUT-fg  
52-ACB-ba  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

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

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Analytic  

Countries >>
<< All

Zulu and Afrikaans Language History

Comparison of Zulu vs Afrikaans language history gives us differences between origin of Zulu and Afrikaans language. History of Zulu language states that this language originated in 19 whereas history of Afrikaans language states that this language originated in 17th 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 Zulu and Afrikaans Language History.

Compare Most Difficult Languages

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

Zulu vs Afrikaans Difficulty

The Zulu vs Afrikaans difficulty level basically depends on the number of Zulu Alphabets and Afrikaans 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 Zulu and Afrikaans are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Zulu and Afrikaans, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Zulu is 44 weeks while to learn Afrikaans time required is 24 weeks.

Most Difficult Languages

Most Difficult Languages

» More Most Difficult Languages

Compare Most Difficult Languages

» More Compare Most Difficult Languages