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Shona
Shona

Xhosa
Xhosa



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Shona
X
Xhosa

Shona vs Xhosa

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Countries

Countries

Zimbabwe
South Africa

Total No. Of Countries

11
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
South Africa

Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Lesotho, South Africa

Speaking Continents

Africa
Africa

Minority Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Botswana, Lesotho

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.
  • Xhosa has 15 click sounds, borrowed from the khoi-khoi and san languages of the South Africa.
  • The same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meaning when said with different tones, so Xhosa is tonal.

Similar To

Kalanga and Nambya Language
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele

Derived From

-
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

3753
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

510
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

4643
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

43
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

30 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Mhoro
Molo

Thank You

Waita zvako
Ndiyabulela

How Are You?

Wakadini zvako?
Unjani

Good Night

Urare zvakanaka
Ulale kakuhle

Good Evening

Manheru
Ubusuku obuhle

Good Afternoon

Masikati
Uben' emva kwemini entle

Good Morning

Mangwanani
Molo

Please

Ndinokumbirawo
Ndicela

Sorry

Ndineurombo
Ndicela uxolo

Bye

bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle

I Love You

Ndinokuda
Ndiyakuthanda

Excuse Me

Pamusoro
Uxolo

Dialects

Dialect 1

Hwesa
Gcaleka

Where They Speak

Zimbabwe
South Africa

How Many People Speak

11,000,000.0019,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Karanga
Thembu

Where They Speak

southern Zimbabwe
South Africa

How Many People Speak

1,100,000.0019,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Zezuru
Hlubi

Where They Speak

central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland
South Africa

How Many People Speak

16.0019.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

49
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

25.00 million20.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.13 %0.11 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

8.30 million8.20 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

16.00 million11.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

chiShona
isiXhosa

Alternative Names

Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa

French Name

shona
xhosa

German Name

Schona-Sprache
Xhosa-Sprache

Pronunciation

[ʃoːna]
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]

Ethnicity

Shona people
amaXhosa, amaBhaca

History

Origin

20th century
16th 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
isiXhosa

Language Position

10721
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Signed Shona
Signed Xhosa

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

sn
xh

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

sna
xho

ISO 639 2/B

sna
xho

ISO 639 3

sna
xho

ISO 639 6

sna
xho

Glottocode

core1255
xhos1239

Linguasphere

99-AUT-a
99-AUT-fa

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Shona vs Xhosa Speaking Countries

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

  • Shona is spoken as a national language in: Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe.
  • Xhosa is spoken as a national language in: South Africa.

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

Shona and Xhosa Language History

Comparison of Shona vs Xhosa language history gives us differences between origin of Shona and Xhosa language. History of Shona language states that this language originated in 20th century whereas history of Xhosa language states that this language originated in 16th 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 Xhosa Language History.

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

Shona vs Xhosa Difficulty

The Shona vs Xhosa difficulty level basically depends on the number of Shona Alphabets and Xhosa 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 Xhosa are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Shona and Xhosa, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Shona is 30 weeks while to learn Xhosa time required is 44 weeks.