Zulu vs Xhosa
Countries
South Africa
South Africa
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 in
Zulu-Alphabets.jpg#200
Xhosa-Alphabets.jpg#200
Writing Direction
Not Available
Not Available
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
Sorry
Ngiyaxolisa
Ndicela uxolo
Bye
bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle
I Love You
Ngiyakuthanda wena
Ndiyakuthanda
Where They Speak
Gabon, South Africa
South Africa
Dialect 2
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu
Thembu
Where They Speak
Georgia, South Africa
South Africa
Where They Speak
Zimbabwe
South Africa
Native Name
isiZulu
isiXhosa
Alternative Names
Isizulu, Zunda
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa
German Name
Zulu-Sprache
Xhosa-Sprache
Pronunciation
Not Available
Not Available
Ethnicity
Zulu people
amaXhosa, amaBhaca
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo
Early Forms
urban Zulu
No early forms
Standard Forms
Deep Zulu
isiXhosa
Language Position
Not Available
Signed Forms
Not Available
Signed Xhosa
Scope
Individual
Individual
ISO 639 6
Not Available
Not Available
Glottocode
zulu1248
xhos1239
Linguasphere
99-AUT-fg
99-AUT-fa
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object
Subject-Verb-Object
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
Not Available
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.
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.