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Somali
Somali

Shona
Shona



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Somali
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Shona

Somali vs Shona

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Countries

Countries

Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia
Zimbabwe

Total No. Of Countries

31
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Somalia
Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe

Second Language

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

Speaking Continents

Africa, Middle East
Africa

Minority Language

Yemen
Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy
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Interesting Facts

  • 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.
  • 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.

Similar To

Afar and Oromo Language
Kalanga and Nambya Language

Derived From

Arabic Language
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Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2637
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

55
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2146
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Arabic, Latin, Osmanya
Latin

Writing Direction

Left-To-Right, Horizontal
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Hard to Learn

Language Levels

54
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

52 weeks30 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Hello
Mhoro

Thank You

Waad ku mahadsan tahay
Waita zvako

How Are You?

Sidee tahay ?
Wakadini zvako?

Good Night

Habeenka Good
Urare zvakanaka

Good Evening

Evening Good
Manheru

Good Afternoon

galab wanaagsan
Masikati

Good Morning

Subax wanaagsan
Mangwanani

Please

Fadlan
Ndinokumbirawo

Sorry

sorry
Ndineurombo

Bye

caraysiiyo
bye

I Love You

Waan ku jeclahay
Ndinokuda

Excuse Me

iga raali ahow
Pamusoro

Dialects

Dialect 1

Northern Somali
Hwesa

Where They Speak

Gabon, Standard Somali
Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.0011,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Benaadir
Karanga

Where They Speak

Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu
southern Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.001,100,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Af-Ashraaf
Zezuru

Where They Speak

Standard Somali
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland

How Many People Speak

21.0016.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

34
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

13.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.07 %0.13 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

8.00 million8.30 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

21.00 million16.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

af Soomaali
chiShona

Alternative Names

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

French Name

somali
shona

German Name

Somali
Schona-Sprache

Pronunciation

[afsoomaali]
[ʃoːna]

Ethnicity

Somalis
Shona people

History

Origin

19th century
20th century

Language Family

Afro-Asiatic Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Cushitic
Benue-Congo

Branch

-
Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
Old Shona and Middle Shona

Standard Forms

Somali
Standard Shona

Language Position

83107
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Somali Sign Language
Signed Shona

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

so
sn

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

som
sna

ISO 639 2/B

som
sna

ISO 639 3

som
sna

ISO 639 6

som
sna

Glottocode

soma1255
core1255

Linguasphere

No data available
99-AUT-a

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Object-Verb
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Language Morphological Typology

-
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Somali vs Shona Speaking Countries

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

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

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

Somali and Shona Language History

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

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

Somali vs Shona Difficulty

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