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
  
Phonology
  
  
Scripts
Latin
  
Latin
  
Writing Direction
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Hard to Learn
  
  
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
  
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
  
How Many People Speak?
30.00 million
  
36
20.00 million
  
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
  
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
Not Available
  
Signed Forms
Not Available
  
Signed Xhosa
  
Scope
Individual
  
Individual
  
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
  
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.