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Chewa
Chewa

Xhosa
Xhosa



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X
Chewa
X
Xhosa

Chewa vs Xhosa

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Countries

Countries

Malawi, Zimbabwe
South Africa

Total No. Of Countries

21
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe
South Africa

Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Lesotho, South Africa

Speaking Continents

Africa
Africa

Minority Language

Zambia
Botswana, Lesotho

Regulated By

-
-

Interesting Facts

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

Zulu language
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele

Derived From

-
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

3153
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

510
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

1843
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

53
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

32 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Moni
Molo

Thank You

Zikomo
Ndiyabulela

How Are You?

Muli bwanji?
Unjani

Good Night

Usiku wabwino
Ulale kakuhle

Good Evening

Madzulo abwino
Ubusuku obuhle

Good Afternoon

Masana abwino
Uben' emva kwemini entle

Good Morning

M'mawa wabwino
Molo

Please

Chonde
Ndicela

Sorry

pepani
Ndicela uxolo

Bye

anatsanzikana
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle

I Love You

Ndimakukondani
Ndiyakuthanda

Excuse Me

Pepani
Uxolo

Dialects

Dialect 1

Kasungu
Gcaleka

Where They Speak

Malawi, Zambia
South Africa

How Many People Speak

12,000,000.0019,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Kikamtunda
Thembu

Where They Speak

Malawi, Zambia
South Africa

How Many People Speak

10,000,000.0019,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Kimaravi
Hlubi

Where They Speak

Malawi, Zambia
South Africa

How Many People Speak

1,200,000.0019.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

59
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

12.00 million20.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.17 %0.11 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

12.00 million8.20 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

1.50 million11.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Nyanja
isiXhosa

Alternative Names

Chichewa, Chinyanja, Nyanja, Nyanja-Chewa
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa

French Name

chichewa; chewa; nyanja
xhosa

German Name

Nyanja-Sprache
Xhosa-Sprache

Pronunciation

[ˈtʃewa]
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]

Ethnicity

Chewa people
amaXhosa, amaBhaca

History

Origin

15th Century
16th Century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo

Branch

Bantu
Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
No early forms

Standard Forms

Chewa
isiXhosa

Language Position

2721
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Chewa Sign Language
Signed Xhosa

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

ny
xh

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

nya
xho

ISO 639 2/B

nya
xho

ISO 639 3

nya
xho

ISO 639 6

nya
xho

Glottocode

nyan1308
xhos1239

Linguasphere

99-AUS-xaa – xag
99-AUT-fa

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Chewa vs Xhosa Speaking Countries

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

  • Chewa is spoken as a national language in: Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
  • Xhosa is spoken as a national language in: South Africa.

You will also get to know the continents where Chewa and Xhosa speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Chewa language is 27 and position of Xhosa language is 21. Find all the information about these languages on Chewa and Xhosa.

Chewa and Xhosa Language History

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

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

Chewa vs Xhosa Difficulty

The Chewa vs Xhosa difficulty level basically depends on the number of Chewa 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 Chewa and Xhosa are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Chewa and Xhosa, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Chewa is 32 weeks while to learn Xhosa time required is 44 weeks.