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Shona
Shona

Chewa
Chewa



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Shona
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Chewa

Shona vs Chewa

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Countries

Countries

Zimbabwe
Malawi, Zimbabwe

Total No. Of Countries

12
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

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

Second Language

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

Speaking Continents

Africa
Africa

Minority Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Zambia

Regulated By

-
-

Interesting Facts

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

Similar To

Kalanga and Nambya Language
Zulu language

Derived From

-
-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

3731
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

55
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

4618
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

45
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

30 weeks32 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Mhoro
Moni

Thank You

Waita zvako
Zikomo

How Are You?

Wakadini zvako?
Muli bwanji?

Good Night

Urare zvakanaka
Usiku wabwino

Good Evening

Manheru
Madzulo abwino

Good Afternoon

Masikati
Masana abwino

Good Morning

Mangwanani
M'mawa wabwino

Please

Ndinokumbirawo
Chonde

Sorry

Ndineurombo
pepani

Bye

bye
anatsanzikana

I Love You

Ndinokuda
Ndimakukondani

Excuse Me

Pamusoro
Pepani

Dialects

Dialect 1

Hwesa
Kasungu

Where They Speak

Zimbabwe
Malawi, Zambia

How Many People Speak

11,000,000.0012,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Karanga
Kikamtunda

Where They Speak

southern Zimbabwe
Malawi, Zambia

How Many People Speak

1,100,000.0010,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Zezuru
Kimaravi

Where They Speak

central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland
Malawi, Zambia

How Many People Speak

16.001,200,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

45
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

25.00 million12.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.13 %0.17 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

8.30 million12.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

16.00 million1.50 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

chiShona
Nyanja

Alternative Names

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

French Name

shona
chichewa; chewa; nyanja

German Name

Schona-Sprache
Nyanja-Sprache

Pronunciation

[ʃoːna]
[ˈtʃewa]

Ethnicity

Shona people
Chewa people

History

Origin

20th century
15th Century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo

Branch

Bantu
Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

Old Shona and Middle Shona
No early forms

Standard Forms

Standard Shona
Chewa

Language Position

10727
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Signed Shona
Chewa Sign Language

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

sn
ny

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

sna
nya

ISO 639 2/B

sna
nya

ISO 639 3

sna
nya

ISO 639 6

sna
nya

Glottocode

core1255
nyan1308

Linguasphere

99-AUT-a
99-AUS-xaa – xag

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
-

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Shona vs Chewa Speaking Countries

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

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

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

Shona and Chewa Language History

Comparison of Shona vs Chewa language history gives us differences between origin of Shona and Chewa language. History of Shona language states that this language originated in 20th century whereas history of Chewa language states that this language originated in 15th 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 Shona and Chewa Language History.

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

Shona vs Chewa Difficulty

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