Home
Languagevs


Igbo vs Xhosa


Xhosa vs Igbo


Countries

Countries
Nigeria  
South Africa  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
1  
14

National Language
Nigeria  
South Africa  

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Lesotho, South Africa  

Speaking Continents
Africa  
Africa  

Minority Language
Equatorial Guinea  
Botswana, Lesotho  

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.
  
  • 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
Yoruba and Hausa Languages  
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele  

Derived From
-  
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Igbo-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Xhosa-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
36  
18
53  
32

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
8  
5
10  
7

How Many Consonants
28  
18
43  
32

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
-  
-  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
52 weeks  
18
44 weeks  
17

Greetings

Hello
kedụ  
Molo  

Thank You
dalụ  
Ndiyabulela  

How Are You?
kedụ ka ịmere  
Unjani  

Good Night
ka chi fo  
Ulale kakuhle  

Good Evening
mgbede ọma  
Ubusuku obuhle  

Good Afternoon
ehihie ọma  
Uben' emva kwemini entle  

Good Morning
ụtụtụ ọma  
Molo  

Please
Biko  
Ndicela  

Sorry
Ndo  
Ndicela uxolo  

Bye
Kachifo  
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle  

I Love You
a hụrụ m gị n'anya  
Ndiyakuthanda  

Excuse Me
ngọpụ  
Uxolo  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Enuani  
Gcaleka  

Where They Speak
Nigeria  
South Africa  

How Many People Speak
28,000,000.00  
24
19,000,000.00  
30

Dialect 2
Ngwa  
Thembu  

Where They Speak
Nigeria  
South Africa  

How Many People Speak
1,500,000.00  
99+
19,000,000.00  
27

Dialect 3
Not present  
Hlubi  

Where They Speak
-  
South Africa  

How Many People Speak
24.00  
99+
19.00  
99+

Total No. Of Dialects
20  
18
9  
9

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
25.00 million  
40
20.00 million  
99+

Speaking Population
0.09 %  
99+
0.11 %  
99+

Native Speakers
25.00 million  
32
8.20 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
24.00 million  
28
11.00 million  
39

Native Name
igbo  
isiXhosa  

Alternative Names
Ibo  
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa  

French Name
igbo  
xhosa  

German Name
Ibo-Sprache  
Xhosa-Sprache  

Pronunciation
[iɡ͡boː]  
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]  

Ethnicity
Igbo people  
amaXhosa, amaBhaca  

History

Origin
30th Century BC  
16th Century  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Kwa  
Benue-Congo  

Branch
-  
Bantu  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Standard Igbo  
isiXhosa  

Language Position
57  
99+
21  
19

Signed Forms
Igbo Sign Language  
Signed Xhosa  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
ig  
xh  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
ibo  
xho  

ISO 639 2/B
ibo  
xho  

ISO 639 3
ibo  
xho  

ISO 639 6
ibo  
xho  

Glottocode
nucl1417  
xhos1239  

Linguasphere
No data available  
99-AUT-fa  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
-  
Subject-Verb-Object  

Language Morphological Typology
Agglutinative  
-  

Countries >>
<< All

Igbo and Xhosa Language History

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

Compare Easiest Languages to Learn

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

Igbo vs Xhosa Difficulty

The Igbo vs Xhosa difficulty level basically depends on the number of Igbo 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 Igbo and Xhosa are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Igbo and Xhosa, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Igbo is 52 weeks while to learn Xhosa time required is 44 weeks.

Easiest Languages to Learn

Easiest Languages to Learn

» More Easiest Languages to Learn

Compare Easiest Languages to Learn

» More Compare Easiest Languages to Learn