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Igbo vs Shona


Shona vs Igbo


Countries

Countries
Nigeria  
Zimbabwe  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
1  
14

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  
-  

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
Igbo-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Shona-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
36  
18
37  
19

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
8  
5
5  
2

How Many Consonants
28  
18
46  
34

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
-  
-  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
4  
3

Time Taken to Learn
52 weeks  
18
30 weeks  
10

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
28,000,000.00  
24
11,000,000.00  
36

Dialect 2
Ngwa  
Karanga  

Where They Speak
Nigeria  
southern Zimbabwe  

How Many People Speak
1,500,000.00  
99+
1,100,000.00  
99+

Dialect 3
Not present  
Zezuru  

Where They Speak
-  
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland  

How Many People Speak
24.00  
99+
16.00  
99+

Total No. Of Dialects
20  
18
4  
4

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
25.00 million  
40
25.00 million  
40

Speaking Population
0.09 %  
99+
0.13 %  
99+

Native Speakers
25.00 million  
32
8.30 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
24.00 million  
28
16.00 million  
33

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
57  
99+
107  
99+

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  
-  

Countries >>
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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.

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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.

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