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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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