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Shona vs Chewa


Chewa vs Shona


Countries

Countries
Zimbabwe  
Malawi, Zimbabwe  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
2  
13

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
Shona-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Chewa-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
37  
19
31  
13

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5  
2
5  
2

How Many Consonants
46  
34
18  
8

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
-  
-  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
4  
3
5  
4

Time Taken to Learn
30 weeks  
10
32 weeks  
11

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
11,000,000.00  
36
12,000,000.00  
35

Dialect 2
Karanga  
Kikamtunda  

Where They Speak
southern Zimbabwe  
Malawi, Zambia  

How Many People Speak
1,100,000.00  
99+
10,000,000.00  
37

Dialect 3
Zezuru  
Kimaravi  

Where They Speak
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland  
Malawi, Zambia  

How Many People Speak
16.00  
99+
1,200,000.00  
99+

Total No. Of Dialects
4  
4
5  
5

How Many People Speak

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

Speaking Population
0.13 %  
99+
0.17 %  
99+

Native Speakers
8.30 million  
99+
12.00 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
16.00 million  
33
1.50 million  
99+

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
107  
99+
27  
25

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
-  
-  

Countries >>
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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.

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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.

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