Home
×

Xhosa
Xhosa

Shona
Shona



ADD
Compare
X
Xhosa
X
Shona

Xhosa vs Shona

Add ⊕
1 Countries
1.1 Countries
South Africa
Zimbabwe
1.2 Total No. Of Countries
Spanish
1
Rank: 14 (Overall)
1
Rank: 14 (Overall)
Bhojpuri
ADD ⊕
1.3 National Language
South Africa
Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
1.4 Second Language
Lesotho, South Africa
Not spoken in any of the countries
1.5 Speaking Continents
Africa
Africa
1.6 Minority Language
Botswana, Lesotho
Not spoken in any of the countries
1.7 Regulated By
Not Available
Not Available
1.8 Interesting Facts
  • 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.
  • Shona language is tonal language.
  • The African people in Zimbabwe is made of 10 ethnic groups, each speaking a different languages, shona is spoken by 60 percent of population.
1.9 Similar To
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele
Kalanga and Nambya Language
1.10 Derived From
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages
Not Available
2 Alphabets
2.1 Alphabets in
2.2 Alphabets
Tamil
53
Rank: 32 (Overall)
Not Available
Rank: N/A (Overall)
Irish
ADD ⊕
2.3 Phonology
2.3.1 How Many Vowels
Thai
10
Rank: 7 (Overall)
5
Rank: 2 (Overall)
Hebrew
ADD ⊕
2.3.2 How Many Consonants
Hmong
43
Rank: 32 (Overall)
46
Rank: 34 (Overall)
German
ADD ⊕
2.4 Scripts
Latin
Latin
2.5 Writing Direction
Not Available
Not Available
2.6 Hard to Learn
2.6.1 Language Levels
Armenian
3
Rank: 2 (Overall)
4
Rank: 3 (Overall)
Bengali
ADD ⊕
2.6.2 Time Taken to Learn
Chinese
44 weeks
Rank: 11 (Overall)
Not Available
Rank: N/A (Overall)
Cebuano
ADD ⊕
3 Greetings
3.1 Hello
Molo
Mhoro
3.2 Thank You
Ndiyabulela
Waita zvako
3.3 How Are You?
Unjani
Wakadini zvako?
3.4 Good Night
Ulale kakuhle
Urare zvakanaka
3.5 Good Evening
Ubusuku obuhle
Manheru
3.6 Good Afternoon
Uben' emva kwemini entle
Masikati
3.7 Good Morning
Molo
Mangwanani
3.8 Please
Ndicela
Ndinokumbirawo
3.9 Sorry
Ndicela uxolo
Ndineurombo
3.10 Bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle
bye
3.11 I Love You
Ndiyakuthanda
Ndinokuda
3.12 Excuse Me
Uxolo
Pamusoro
4 Dialects
4.1 Dialect 1
Gcaleka
Hwesa
4.1.1 Where They Speak
South Africa
Zimbabwe
4.1.2 How Many People Speak
Chinese
Not Available
Rank: N/A (Overall)
Not Available
Rank: N/A (Overall)
Macedonian
ADD ⊕
4.2 Dialect 2
Thembu
Karanga
4.2.1 Where They Speak
South Africa
southern Zimbabwe
4.2.2 How Many People Speak
Chinese
Not Available
Rank: N/A (Overall)
Not Available
Rank: N/A (Overall)
Dzongkha
ADD ⊕
4.3 Dialect 3
Hlubi
Zezuru
4.3.1 Where They Speak
South Africa
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland
4.3.2 How Many People Speak
Swedish
Not Available
Rank: N/A (Overall)
Not Available
Rank: N/A (Overall)
Romanian
ADD ⊕
4.4 Total No. Of Dialects
English
9
Rank: 9 (Overall)
4
Rank: 4 (Overall)
Sanskrit
ADD ⊕
5 How Many People Speak
5.1 How Many People Speak?
English
20.00 million
Rank: 42 (Overall)
25.00 million
Rank: 40 (Overall)
Abkhaz
ADD ⊕
5.2 Speaking Population
Croatian
0.11 %
Rank: 53 (Overall)
0.13 %
Rank: 51 (Overall)
Xhosa
ADD ⊕
5.3 Native Speakers
Chinese
8.20 million
Rank: 52 (Overall)
8.30 million
Rank: 51 (Overall)
Abkhaz
ADD ⊕
5.3.1 Second Language Speakers
English
11.00 million
Rank: 21 (Overall)
Not Available
Rank: N/A (Overall)
Finnish
ADD ⊕
5.3.2 Native Name
isiXhosa
Not Available
5.3.3 Alternative Names
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa
Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru
5.3.4 French Name
xhosa
shona
5.3.5 German Name
Xhosa-Sprache
Schona-Sprache
5.4 Pronunciation
Not Available
Not Available
5.5 Ethnicity
amaXhosa, amaBhaca
Not Available
6 History
6.1 Origin
16th Century
20th century
6.2 Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family
6.2.1 Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo
6.2.2 Branch
Bantu
Bantu
6.3 Language Forms
6.3.1 Early Forms
No early forms
Not Available
6.3.2 Standard Forms
isiXhosa
Not Available
6.3.3 Language Position
Georgian
Not Available
Rank: N/A (Overall)
107
Rank: 67 (Overall)
Chinese
ADD ⊕
6.3.4 Signed Forms
Signed Xhosa
Not Available
6.4 Scope
Individual
Individual
7 Code
7.1 ISO 639 1
xh
sn
7.2 ISO 639 2
7.2.1 ISO 639 2/T
xho
sna
7.2.2 ISO 639 2/B
xho
sna
7.3 ISO 639 3
xho
sna
7.4 ISO 639 6
Not Available
Not Available
7.5 Glottocode
xhos1239
core1255
7.6 Linguasphere
99-AUT-fa
99-AUT-a
7.7 Types of Language
7.7.1 Language Type
Living
Living
7.7.2 Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object
Not Available
7.7.3 Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
Not Available

Xhosa vs Shona Speaking Countries

There are plenty of languages spoken around the world. Every country has its own official language. Compare Xhosa vs Shona speaking countries, so that you will have total count of countries that speak Xhosa or Shona language.

  • Xhosa is spoken as a national language in: South Africa.
  • Shona is spoken as a national language in: Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe.

You will also get to know the continents where Xhosa and Shona speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Xhosa language is not available and position of Shona language is 107. Find all the information about these languages on Xhosa and Shona.

Xhosa and Shona Language History

Comparison of Xhosa vs Shona language history gives us differences between origin of Xhosa and Shona language. History of Xhosa language states that this language originated in 16th Century whereas history of Shona language states that this language originated in 20th 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 Xhosa and Shona Language History.

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

Xhosa vs Shona Difficulty

The Xhosa vs Shona difficulty level basically depends on the number of Xhosa Alphabets and Shona 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 Xhosa and Shona are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Xhosa and Shona, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Xhosa is 44 weeks while to learn Shona time required is Not Available.

Let Others Know
×