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Igbo
Igbo

Shona
Shona



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Igbo
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Shona

Igbo vs Shona

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Countries

Countries

Nigeria
Zimbabwe

Total No. Of Countries

11
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Nigeria
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

Equatorial Guinea
Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

Society for Promoting Igbo Language and Culture
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Interesting Facts

  • In Igbo, there is complicated system of high and low tones indicating differences in meaning and grammatical relationships.
  • Igbo has inexhaustible and rich linguistic features like idioms, proverbs, aphorisms, anecdotes etc.
  • 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

Yoruba and Hausa Languages
Kalanga and Nambya Language

Derived From

-
-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

3637
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

85
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2846
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

34
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

52 weeks30 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

kedụ
Mhoro

Thank You

dalụ
Waita zvako

How Are You?

kedụ ka ịmere
Wakadini zvako?

Good Night

ka chi fo
Urare zvakanaka

Good Evening

mgbede ọma
Manheru

Good Afternoon

ehihie ọma
Masikati

Good Morning

ụtụtụ ọma
Mangwanani

Please

Biko
Ndinokumbirawo

Sorry

Ndo
Ndineurombo

Bye

Kachifo
bye

I Love You

a hụrụ m gị n'anya
Ndinokuda

Excuse Me

ngọpụ
Pamusoro

Dialects

Dialect 1

Enuani
Hwesa

Where They Speak

Nigeria
Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

28,000,000.0011,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Ngwa
Karanga

Where They Speak

Nigeria
southern Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

1,500,000.001,100,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Not present
Zezuru

Where They Speak

-
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland

How Many People Speak

24.0016.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

204
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

25.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.09 %0.13 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

25.00 million8.30 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

24.00 million16.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

igbo
chiShona

Alternative Names

Ibo
Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru

French Name

igbo
shona

German Name

Ibo-Sprache
Schona-Sprache

Pronunciation

[iɡ͡boː]
[ʃoːna]

Ethnicity

Igbo people
Shona people

History

Origin

30th Century BC
20th century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Kwa
Benue-Congo

Branch

-
Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
Old Shona and Middle Shona

Standard Forms

Standard Igbo
Standard Shona

Language Position

57107
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Igbo Sign Language
Signed Shona

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

ig
sn

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

ibo
sna

ISO 639 2/B

ibo
sna

ISO 639 3

ibo
sna

ISO 639 6

ibo
sna

Glottocode

nucl1417
core1255

Linguasphere

No data available
99-AUT-a

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
-

Language Morphological Typology

Agglutinative
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Igbo vs Shona Speaking Countries

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

  • Igbo is spoken as a national language in: Nigeria.
  • Shona is spoken as a national language in: Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe.

You will also get to know the continents where Igbo and Shona speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Igbo language is 57 and position of Shona language is 107. Find all the information about these languages on Igbo and Shona.

Igbo and Shona Language History

Comparison of Igbo vs Shona language history gives us differences between origin of Igbo and Shona language. History of Igbo language states that this language originated in 30th Century BC 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 Igbo and Shona Language History.

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

Igbo vs Shona Difficulty

The Igbo vs Shona difficulty level basically depends on the number of Igbo 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 Igbo and Shona are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Igbo and Shona, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Igbo is 52 weeks while to learn Shona time required is 30 weeks.