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Chewa
Chewa

Shona
Shona



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X
Chewa
X
Shona

Chewa vs Shona

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Countries

Countries

Malawi, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe

Total No. Of Countries

21
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe

Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Not spoken in any of the countries

Speaking Continents

Africa
Africa

Minority Language

Zambia
Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

-
-

Interesting Facts

  • Chewa is one of the 55 languages featured on the Voyager spacecraft.
  • Most widely known language of Malawi is Chewa.
  • 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.

Similar To

Zulu language
Kalanga and Nambya Language

Derived From

-
-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

3137
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

55
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

1846
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

54
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

32 weeks30 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Moni
Mhoro

Thank You

Zikomo
Waita zvako

How Are You?

Muli bwanji?
Wakadini zvako?

Good Night

Usiku wabwino
Urare zvakanaka

Good Evening

Madzulo abwino
Manheru

Good Afternoon

Masana abwino
Masikati

Good Morning

M'mawa wabwino
Mangwanani

Please

Chonde
Ndinokumbirawo

Sorry

pepani
Ndineurombo

Bye

anatsanzikana
bye

I Love You

Ndimakukondani
Ndinokuda

Excuse Me

Pepani
Pamusoro

Dialects

Dialect 1

Kasungu
Hwesa

Where They Speak

Malawi, Zambia
Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

12,000,000.0011,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Kikamtunda
Karanga

Where They Speak

Malawi, Zambia
southern Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

10,000,000.001,100,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Kimaravi
Zezuru

Where They Speak

Malawi, Zambia
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland

How Many People Speak

1,200,000.0016.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

54
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

12.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.17 %0.13 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

12.00 million8.30 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

1.50 million16.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Nyanja
chiShona

Alternative Names

Chichewa, Chinyanja, Nyanja, Nyanja-Chewa
Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru

French Name

chichewa; chewa; nyanja
shona

German Name

Nyanja-Sprache
Schona-Sprache

Pronunciation

[ˈtʃewa]
[ʃoːna]

Ethnicity

Chewa people
Shona people

History

Origin

15th Century
20th century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo

Branch

Bantu
Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
Old Shona and Middle Shona

Standard Forms

Chewa
Standard Shona

Language Position

27107
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Chewa Sign Language
Signed Shona

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

ny
sn

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

nya
sna

ISO 639 2/B

nya
sna

ISO 639 3

nya
sna

ISO 639 6

nya
sna

Glottocode

nyan1308
core1255

Linguasphere

99-AUS-xaa – xag
99-AUT-a

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
-

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Chewa vs Shona Speaking Countries

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

  • Chewa is spoken as a national language in: Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
  • Shona is spoken as a national language in: Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe.

You will also get to know the continents where Chewa and Shona speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Chewa language is 27 and position of Shona language is 107. Find all the information about these languages on Chewa and Shona.

Chewa and Shona Language History

Comparison of Chewa vs Shona language history gives us differences between origin of Chewa and Shona language. History of Chewa language states that this language originated in 15th 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 Chewa and Shona Language History.

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

Chewa vs Shona Difficulty

The Chewa vs Shona difficulty level basically depends on the number of Chewa 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 Chewa and Shona are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Chewa and Shona, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Chewa is 32 weeks while to learn Shona time required is 30 weeks.