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Shona vs Yoruba


Yoruba vs Shona


Countries

Countries
Zimbabwe  
Benin, Nigeria  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
2  
13

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  
Africa, Brazil, Togo, United Kingdom, United States of America  

Regulated By
-  
Yoruba 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.
  
  • One of the largest African ethnic groups is Yoruba in south of Sahara Desert.
  • In Yoruba language, same combination of vowels and consonants have different meanings depending on the pitch of the vowels, so it is tonal language.
  

Similar To
Kalanga and Nambya Language  
Owo and Itsekiri languages  

Derived From
-  
-  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Shona-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Yoruba-Alphabet.jpg#200  

Alphabets
37  
19
29  
11

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5  
2
12  
9

How Many Consonants
46  
34
17  
7

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
-  
-  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
4  
3
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
30 weeks  
10
30 weeks  
10

Greetings

Hello
Mhoro  
Ẹ n lẹ  

Thank You
Waita zvako  
e dupe  

How Are You?
Wakadini zvako?  
Bawo ni o se wa  

Good Night
Urare zvakanaka  
Kasun layọ o  

Good Evening
Manheru  
ka a ale  

Good Afternoon
Masikati  
e kaasan  

Good Morning
Mangwanani  
e kaaro  

Please
Ndinokumbirawo  
Jowo  

Sorry
Ndineurombo  
binu  

Bye
bye  
bye  

I Love You
Ndinokuda  
mo nifẹ rẹ  

Excuse Me
Pamusoro  
mo tọrọ gafara  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Hwesa  
Itsekiri  

Where They Speak
Zimbabwe  
Nigeria  

How Many People Speak
11,000,000.00  
36
500,000.00  
99+

Dialect 2
Karanga  
Ede  

Where They Speak
southern Zimbabwe  
Benin, Togo  

How Many People Speak
1,100,000.00  
99+
800,000.00  
99+

Dialect 3
Zezuru  
Ulukwumi  

Where They Speak
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland  
Nigeria  

How Many People Speak
16.00  
99+
10,000.00  
99+

Total No. Of Dialects
4  
4
20  
18

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
25.00 million  
40
30.00 million  
36

Speaking Population
0.13 %  
99+
0.42 %  
34

Native Speakers
8.30 million  
99+
28.00 million  
29

Second Language Speakers
16.00 million  
33
30.00 million  
26

Native Name
chiShona  
Yorùbá  

Alternative Names
Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru  
Yariba, Yooba  

French Name
shona  
yoruba  

German Name
Schona-Sprache  
Yoruba-Sprache  

Pronunciation
[ʃoːna]  
[jòɾùbá]  

Ethnicity
Shona people  
Yoruba people  

History

Origin
20th century  
4 BC  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Benue-Congo  
Western Sudanic  

Branch
Bantu  
Kwa  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
Old Shona and Middle Shona  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Standard Shona  
Yorùbá  

Language Position
107  
99+
49  
99+

Signed Forms
Signed Shona  
Yoruba Sign Language  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
sn  
yo  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
sna  
yor  

ISO 639 2/B
sna  
yor  

ISO 639 3
sna  
yor  

ISO 639 6
sna  
yor  

Glottocode
core1255  
yoru1245  

Linguasphere
99-AUT-a  
No data available  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
-  
Subject-Verb-Object  

Language Morphological Typology
-  
Analytic, Isolating  

Countries >>
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Shona and Yoruba Language History

Comparison of Shona vs Yoruba language history gives us differences between origin of Shona and Yoruba language. History of Shona language states that this language originated in 20th century whereas history of Yoruba language states that this language originated in 4 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 Yoruba Language History.

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

Shona vs Yoruba Difficulty

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

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