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Zulu vs Swahili


Swahili vs Zulu


Countries

Countries
South Africa  
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
4  
11

National Language
South Africa  
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania  

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

Speaking Continents
Africa  
Africa  

Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Regulated By
Pan South African Language Board  
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)  

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.
  
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
    •   

Similar To
Xhosa Language  
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages  

Derived From
Not Available  
Arabic Language  

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
57  
34
24  
6

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
7  
4
5  
2

How Many Consonants
50  
35
21  
11

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
36 weeks  
10

Greetings

Hello
Sawubona  
Habari  

Thank You
Ngiyabonga  
Asante  

How Are You?
unjani  
Habari gani?  

Good Night
okuhle ebusuku  
Usiku mwema  

Good Evening
okuhle kusihlwa  
Habari za jioni  

Good Afternoon
okuhle ntambama  
nzuri Alasiri  

Good Morning
okuhle ekuseni  
Habari za asubuhi  

Please
Ngiyacela  
tafadhali  

Sorry
Ngiyaxolisa  
pole  

Bye
bye  
bye  

I Love You
Ngiyakuthanda wena  
nakupenda  

Excuse Me
Uxolo  
Samahani  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Qwabe  
Kiunguja  

Where They Speak
Gabon, South Africa  
Zanzibar island  

Dialect 2
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu  
Kimrima  

Where They Speak
Georgia, South Africa  
Dar es Salaam  

Dialect 3
Ndebele  
Kimgao  

Where They Speak
Zimbabwe  
Kilwa  

Total No. Of Dialects
4  
4
12  
12

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
30.00 million  
36
150.00 million  
13

Speaking Population
0.16 %  
99+
Not Available  

Native Speakers
12.00 million  
99+
15.00 million  
40

Second Language Speakers
16.00 million  
17
Not Available  

Native Name
isiZulu  
Not Available  

Alternative Names
Isizulu, Zunda  
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili  

French Name
zoulou  
swahili  

German Name
Zulu-Sprache  
Swahili  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
Not Available  

Ethnicity
Zulu people  
Swahili people or Waswahili  

History

Origin
19  
6th century  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Benue-Congo  
Benue-Congo  

Branch
Beatu  
Bantu  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
urban Zulu  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Deep Zulu  
Swahili  

Language Position
87  
99+
Not Available  

Signed Forms
Not Available  
Not Available  

Scope
Individual  
Individual, Macrolanguage  

Code

ISO 639 1
zu  
sw  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
zul  
swa  

ISO 639 2/B
zul  
swa  

ISO 639 3
zul  
swa  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
zulu1248  
swah1254  

Linguasphere
99-AUT-fg  
99-AUS-m  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object  
Not Available  

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Not Available  

Countries >>
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Zulu and Swahili Language History

Comparison of Zulu vs Swahili language history gives us differences between origin of Zulu and Swahili language. History of Zulu language states that this language originated in 19 whereas history of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th 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 Swahili Language History.

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

Zulu vs Swahili Difficulty

The Zulu vs Swahili difficulty level basically depends on the number of Zulu Alphabets and Swahili 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 Swahili are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Zulu and Swahili, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Zulu is 44 weeks while to learn Swahili time required is 36 weeks.

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