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Shona
Shona

Swahili
Swahili



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Shona
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Swahili

Shona vs Swahili

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Countries

Countries

Zimbabwe
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya

Total No. Of Countries

14
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania

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
Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

-
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)

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.
  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.

Similar To

Kalanga and Nambya Language
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages

Derived From

-
Arabic Language

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

3724
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

55
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

4621
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

43
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

30 weeks36 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Mhoro
Habari

Thank You

Waita zvako
Asante

How Are You?

Wakadini zvako?
Habari gani?

Good Night

Urare zvakanaka
Usiku mwema

Good Evening

Manheru
Habari za jioni

Good Afternoon

Masikati
nzuri Alasiri

Good Morning

Mangwanani
Habari za asubuhi

Please

Ndinokumbirawo
tafadhali

Sorry

Ndineurombo
pole

Bye

bye
bye

I Love You

Ndinokuda
nakupenda

Excuse Me

Pamusoro
Samahani

Dialects

Dialect 1

Hwesa
Kiunguja

Where They Speak

Zimbabwe
Zanzibar island

How Many People Speak

11,000,000.0075,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Karanga
Kimrima

Where They Speak

southern Zimbabwe
Dar es Salaam

How Many People Speak

1,100,000.0075,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Zezuru
Kimgao

Where They Speak

central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland
Kilwa

How Many People Speak

16.0075,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

412
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

25.00 million150.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.13 %0.42 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

8.30 million15.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

16.00 million75.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

chiShona
Kiswahili

Alternative Names

Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili

French Name

shona
swahili

German Name

Schona-Sprache
Swahili

Pronunciation

[ʃoːna]
[swaˈhili]

Ethnicity

Shona people
Swahili people or Waswahili

History

Origin

20th century
6th 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
Swahili

Language Position

10721
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Signed Shona
Swahili Sign Language

Scope

Individual
Individual, Macrolanguage

Code

ISO 639 1

sn
sw

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

sna
swa

ISO 639 2/B

sna
swa

ISO 639 3

sna
swa

ISO 639 6

sna
swa

Glottocode

core1255
swah1254

Linguasphere

99-AUT-a
99-AUS-m

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
-

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Shona vs Swahili Speaking Countries

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

  • Shona is spoken as a national language in: Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe.
  • Swahili is spoken as a national language in: Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania.

You will also get to know the continents where Shona and Swahili speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Shona language is 107 and position of Swahili language is 21. Find all the information about these languages on Shona and Swahili.

Shona and Swahili Language History

Comparison of Shona vs Swahili language history gives us differences between origin of Shona and Swahili language. History of Shona language states that this language originated in 20th century whereas history of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th 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 Swahili Language History.

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

Shona vs Swahili Difficulty

The Shona vs Swahili difficulty level basically depends on the number of Shona Alphabets and Swahili 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 Swahili are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Shona and Swahili, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Shona is 30 weeks while to learn Swahili time required is 36 weeks.