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Shona
Shona

Igbo
Igbo



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Shona
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Igbo

Shona vs Igbo

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Countries

Countries

Zimbabwe
Nigeria

Total No. Of Countries

11
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
Nigeria

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
Equatorial Guinea

Regulated By

-
Society for Promoting Igbo Language and Culture

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.
  • 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.

Similar To

Kalanga and Nambya Language
Yoruba and Hausa Languages

Derived From

-
-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

3736
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

58
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

4628
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

43
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

30 weeks52 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Mhoro
kedụ

Thank You

Waita zvako
dalụ

How Are You?

Wakadini zvako?
kedụ ka ịmere

Good Night

Urare zvakanaka
ka chi fo

Good Evening

Manheru
mgbede ọma

Good Afternoon

Masikati
ehihie ọma

Good Morning

Mangwanani
ụtụtụ ọma

Please

Ndinokumbirawo
Biko

Sorry

Ndineurombo
Ndo

Bye

bye
Kachifo

I Love You

Ndinokuda
a hụrụ m gị n'anya

Excuse Me

Pamusoro
ngọpụ

Dialects

Dialect 1

Hwesa
Enuani

Where They Speak

Zimbabwe
Nigeria

How Many People Speak

11,000,000.0028,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Karanga
Ngwa

Where They Speak

southern Zimbabwe
Nigeria

How Many People Speak

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

Dialect 3

Zezuru
Not present

Where They Speak

central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland
-

How Many People Speak

16.0024.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

420
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

25.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.13 %0.09 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

8.30 million25.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

16.00 million24.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

chiShona
igbo

Alternative Names

Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru
Ibo

French Name

shona
igbo

German Name

Schona-Sprache
Ibo-Sprache

Pronunciation

[ʃoːna]
[iɡ͡boː]

Ethnicity

Shona people
Igbo people

History

Origin

20th century
30th Century BC

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Kwa

Branch

Bantu
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

Old Shona and Middle Shona
No early forms

Standard Forms

Standard Shona
Standard Igbo

Language Position

10757
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Signed Shona
Igbo Sign Language

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

sn
ig

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

sna
ibo

ISO 639 2/B

sna
ibo

ISO 639 3

sna
ibo

ISO 639 6

sna
ibo

Glottocode

core1255
nucl1417

Linguasphere

99-AUT-a
No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
-

Language Morphological Typology

-
Agglutinative

Shona vs Igbo Speaking Countries

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

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

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

Shona and Igbo Language History

Comparison of Shona vs Igbo language history gives us differences between origin of Shona and Igbo language. History of Shona language states that this language originated in 20th century whereas history of Igbo language states that this language originated in 30th Century BC. 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 Igbo Language History.

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

Shona vs Igbo Difficulty

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