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Zulu vs Xhosa


Xhosa 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  
Lesotho, South Africa  

Speaking Continents
Africa  
Africa  

Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Botswana, Lesotho  

Regulated By
Pan South African Language Board  
Not Available  

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.
  
  • Xhosa has 15 click sounds, borrowed from the khoi-khoi and san languages of the South Africa.
  • The same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meaning when said with different tones, so Xhosa is tonal.
  

Similar To
Xhosa Language  
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele  

Derived From
Not Available  
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages  

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
57  
34
53  
32

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
7  
4
10  
7

How Many Consonants
50  
35
43  
32

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
44 weeks  
11

Greetings

Hello
Sawubona  
Molo  

Thank You
Ngiyabonga  
Ndiyabulela  

How Are You?
unjani  
Unjani  

Good Night
okuhle ebusuku  
Ulale kakuhle  

Good Evening
okuhle kusihlwa  
Ubusuku obuhle  

Good Afternoon
okuhle ntambama  
Uben' emva kwemini entle  

Good Morning
okuhle ekuseni  
Molo  

Please
Ngiyacela  
Ndicela  

Sorry
Ngiyaxolisa  
Ndicela uxolo  

Bye
bye  
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle  

I Love You
Ngiyakuthanda wena  
Ndiyakuthanda  

Excuse Me
Uxolo  
Uxolo  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Qwabe  
Gcaleka  

Where They Speak
Gabon, South Africa  
South Africa  

Dialect 2
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu  
Thembu  

Where They Speak
Georgia, South Africa  
South Africa  

Dialect 3
Ndebele  
Hlubi  

Where They Speak
Zimbabwe  
South Africa  

Total No. Of Dialects
4  
4
9  
9

How Many People Speak

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

Speaking Population
0.16 %  
99+
0.11 %  
99+

Native Speakers
12.00 million  
99+
8.20 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
16.00 million  
17
11.00 million  
21

Native Name
isiZulu  
isiXhosa  

Alternative Names
Isizulu, Zunda  
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa  

French Name
zoulou  
xhosa  

German Name
Zulu-Sprache  
Xhosa-Sprache  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
Not Available  

Ethnicity
Zulu people  
amaXhosa, amaBhaca  

History

Origin
19  
16th 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  
isiXhosa  

Language Position
87  
99+
Not Available  

Signed Forms
Not Available  
Signed Xhosa  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
zu  
xh  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
zul  
xho  

ISO 639 2/B
zul  
xho  

ISO 639 3
zul  
xho  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
zulu1248  
xhos1239  

Linguasphere
99-AUT-fg  
99-AUT-fa  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

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

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Not Available  

Countries >>
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Zulu and Xhosa Language History

Comparison of Zulu vs Xhosa language history gives us differences between origin of Zulu and Xhosa language. History of Zulu language states that this language originated in 19 whereas history of Xhosa language states that this language originated in 16th 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 Xhosa Language History.

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

Zulu vs Xhosa Difficulty

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

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