Zulu vs Afrikaans
Countries
South Africa
South Africa
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 in
Zulu-Alphabets.jpg#200
Afrikaans-Alphabets.jpg#200
Writing Direction
Not Available
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
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
I Love You
Ngiyakuthanda wena
Ek het jou lief
Excuse Me
Uxolo
Verskoon my
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
Speaking Population
Not Available
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
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Indo-European Family
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Germanic
Early Forms
urban Zulu
Cape dutch or kitchen dutch
Standard Forms
Deep Zulu
Standard Afrikaans
Language Position
Not Available
Signed Forms
Not Available
Signed Afrikaans (signs of SASL)
Scope
Individual
Individual
ISO 639 6
Not Available
afrs
Glottocode
zulu1248
afri1274
Linguasphere
99-AUT-fg
52-ACB-ba
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object
Subject-Object-Verb
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
Analytic
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.
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.