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Zulu vs Yoruba


Yoruba vs Zulu


Countries

Countries
South Africa  
Benin, Nigeria  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
2  
13

National Language
South Africa  
Nigeria  

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  
Africa, Brazil, Togo, United Kingdom, United States of America  

Regulated By
Pan South African Language Board  
Yoruba Academy  

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.
  
  • One of the largest African ethnic groups is Yoruba in south of Sahara Desert.
  • In Yoruba language, same combination of vowels and consonants have different meanings depending on the pitch of the vowels, so it is tonal language.
  

Similar To
Xhosa Language  
Owo and Itsekiri languages  

Derived From
Not Available  
Not Available  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Zulu-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Yoruba-Alphabet.jpg#200  

Alphabets
57  
34
29  
11

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
7  
4
12  
9

How Many Consonants
50  
35
17  
7

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
30 weeks  
9

Greetings

Hello
Sawubona  
Ẹ n lẹ  

Thank You
Ngiyabonga  
e dupe  

How Are You?
unjani  
Bawo ni o se wa  

Good Night
okuhle ebusuku  
Kasun layọ o  

Good Evening
okuhle kusihlwa  
ka a ale  

Good Afternoon
okuhle ntambama  
e kaasan  

Good Morning
okuhle ekuseni  
e kaaro  

Please
Ngiyacela  
Jowo  

Sorry
Ngiyaxolisa  
binu  

Bye
bye  
bye  

I Love You
Ngiyakuthanda wena  
mo nifẹ rẹ  

Excuse Me
Uxolo  
mo tọrọ gafara  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Qwabe  
Itsekiri  

Where They Speak
Gabon, South Africa  
Nigeria  

How Many People Speak
Not Available  
500,000.00  
34

Dialect 2
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu  
Ede  

Where They Speak
Georgia, South Africa  
Benin, Togo  

How Many People Speak
Not Available  
800,000.00  
27

Dialect 3
Ndebele  
Ulukwumi  

Where They Speak
Zimbabwe  
Nigeria  

How Many People Speak
Not Available  
10,000.00  
34

Total No. Of Dialects
4  
4
20  
18

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
30.00 million  
36
30.00 million  
36

Speaking Population
0.16 %  
99+
0.42 %  
32

Native Speakers
12.00 million  
99+
28.00 million  
29

Second Language Speakers
16.00 million  
17
Not Available  

Native Name
isiZulu  
Yorùbá  

Alternative Names
Isizulu, Zunda  
Yariba, Yooba  

French Name
zoulou  
yoruba  

German Name
Zulu-Sprache  
Yoruba-Sprache  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
Not Available  

Ethnicity
Zulu people  
Yoruba people  

History

Origin
19  
4 BC  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Benue-Congo  
Western Sudanic  

Branch
Beatu  
Kwa  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
urban Zulu  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Deep Zulu  
Yorùbá  

Language Position
87  
99+
49  
36

Signed Forms
Not Available  
Yoruba Sign Language  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
zu  
yo  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
zul  
yor  

ISO 639 2/B
zul  
yor  

ISO 639 3
zul  
yor  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
zulu1248  
yoru1245  

Linguasphere
99-AUT-fg  
No data available  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

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

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Analytic, Isolating  

Countries >>
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Zulu and Yoruba Language History

Comparison of Zulu vs Yoruba language history gives us differences between origin of Zulu and Yoruba language. History of Zulu language states that this language originated in 19 whereas history of Yoruba language states that this language originated in 4 BC. 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 Yoruba Language History.

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

Zulu vs Yoruba Difficulty

The Zulu vs Yoruba difficulty level basically depends on the number of Zulu Alphabets and Yoruba 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 Yoruba are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Zulu and Yoruba, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Zulu is 44 weeks while to learn Yoruba time required is 30 weeks.

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