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Shona
Shona

Zulu
Zulu



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Shona
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Zulu

Shona vs Zulu

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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
Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe

Speaking Continents

Africa
Africa

Minority Language

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

Regulated By

-
Pan South African Language Board

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.
  • The meaning of word "Zulu" means "Sky"and Zulu was the name of the ancestor who founded the Zulu royal line in about 1670.
  • Zulu language has many loanwords borrowed from Afrikaans and English Languages.

Similar To

Kalanga and Nambya Language
Xhosa Language

Derived From

-
-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

3757
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

57
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

4650
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
Sawubona

Thank You

Waita zvako
Ngiyabonga

How Are You?

Wakadini zvako?
unjani

Good Night

Urare zvakanaka
okuhle ebusuku

Good Evening

Manheru
okuhle kusihlwa

Good Afternoon

Masikati
okuhle ntambama

Good Morning

Mangwanani
okuhle ekuseni

Please

Ndinokumbirawo
Ngiyacela

Sorry

Ndineurombo
Ngiyaxolisa

Bye

bye
bye

I Love You

Ndinokuda
Ngiyakuthanda wena

Excuse Me

Pamusoro
Uxolo

Dialects

Dialect 1

Hwesa
Qwabe

Where They Speak

Zimbabwe
Gabon, South Africa

How Many People Speak

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

Dialect 2

Karanga
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu

Where They Speak

southern Zimbabwe
Georgia, South Africa

How Many People Speak

1,100,000.0028,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Zezuru
Ndebele

Where They Speak

central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland
Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

16.0028,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

44
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

25.00 million30.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.13 %0.16 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

8.30 million12.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

16.00 million16.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

chiShona
isiZulu

Alternative Names

Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru
Isizulu, Zunda

French Name

shona
zoulou

German Name

Schona-Sprache
Zulu-Sprache

Pronunciation

[ʃoːna]
[zuːlu]

Ethnicity

Shona people
Zulu people

History

Origin

20th century
19

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo

Branch

Bantu
Beatu

Language Forms

Early Forms

Old Shona and Middle Shona
urban Zulu

Standard Forms

Standard Shona
Deep Zulu

Language Position

10787
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Signed Shona
Zulu Sign Language

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

sn
zu

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

sna
zul

ISO 639 2/B

sna
zul

ISO 639 3

sna
zul

ISO 639 6

sna
zul

Glottocode

core1255
zulu1248

Linguasphere

99-AUT-a
99-AUT-fg

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Shona vs Zulu Speaking Countries

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

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

You will also get to know the continents where Shona and Zulu speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Shona language is 107 and position of Zulu language is 87. Find all the information about these languages on Shona and Zulu.

Shona and Zulu Language History

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

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

Shona vs Zulu Difficulty

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