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Shona
Shona

Somali
Somali



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Shona
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Somali

Shona vs Somali

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Countries

Countries

Zimbabwe
Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia

Total No. Of Countries

13
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
Somalia

Second Language

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

Speaking Continents

Africa
Africa, Middle East

Minority Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Yemen

Regulated By

-
National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy

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.
  • Somali language is one of the best documented Afro-Asiatic languages.
  • One of the most widely spoken of the Cushitic languages is the Somali Language.

Similar To

Kalanga and Nambya Language
Afar and Oromo Language

Derived From

-
Arabic Language

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

3726
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

55
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

4621
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Arabic, Latin, Osmanya

Writing Direction

-
Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

45
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

30 weeks52 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Mhoro
Hello

Thank You

Waita zvako
Waad ku mahadsan tahay

How Are You?

Wakadini zvako?
Sidee tahay ?

Good Night

Urare zvakanaka
Habeenka Good

Good Evening

Manheru
Evening Good

Good Afternoon

Masikati
galab wanaagsan

Good Morning

Mangwanani
Subax wanaagsan

Please

Ndinokumbirawo
Fadlan

Sorry

Ndineurombo
sorry

Bye

bye
caraysiiyo

I Love You

Ndinokuda
Waan ku jeclahay

Excuse Me

Pamusoro
iga raali ahow

Dialects

Dialect 1

Hwesa
Northern Somali

Where They Speak

Zimbabwe
Gabon, Standard Somali

How Many People Speak

11,000,000.0016,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Karanga
Benaadir

Where They Speak

southern Zimbabwe
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu

How Many People Speak

1,100,000.0016,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Zezuru
Af-Ashraaf

Where They Speak

central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland
Standard Somali

How Many People Speak

16.0021.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

43
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

25.00 million13.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.13 %0.07 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

8.30 million8.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

16.00 million21.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

chiShona
af Soomaali

Alternative Names

Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru
Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga

French Name

shona
somali

German Name

Schona-Sprache
Somali

Pronunciation

[ʃoːna]
[afsoomaali]

Ethnicity

Shona people
Somalis

History

Origin

20th century
19th century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Afro-Asiatic Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Cushitic

Branch

Bantu
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

Old Shona and Middle Shona
No early forms

Standard Forms

Standard Shona
Somali

Language Position

10783
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Signed Shona
Somali Sign Language

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

sn
so

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

sna
som

ISO 639 2/B

sna
som

ISO 639 3

sna
som

ISO 639 6

sna
som

Glottocode

core1255
soma1255

Linguasphere

99-AUT-a
No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
Subject-Object-Verb

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Shona vs Somali Speaking Countries

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

  • Shona is spoken as a national language in: Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe.
  • Somali is spoken as a national language in: Somalia.

You will also get to know the continents where Shona and Somali speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Shona language is 107 and position of Somali language is 83. Find all the information about these languages on Shona and Somali.

Shona and Somali Language History

Comparison of Shona vs Somali language history gives us differences between origin of Shona and Somali language. History of Shona language states that this language originated in 20th century whereas history of Somali language states that this language originated in 19th 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 Somali Language History.

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

Shona vs Somali Difficulty

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