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Somali vs Xhosa


Xhosa vs Somali


Countries

Countries
Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia  
South Africa  

Total No. Of Countries
3  
12
1  
14

National Language
Somalia  
South Africa  

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Lesotho, South Africa  

Speaking Continents
Africa, Middle East  
Africa  

Minority Language
Yemen  
Botswana, Lesotho  

Regulated By
National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy  
-  

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.
  
  • 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
Afar and Oromo Language  
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele  

Derived From
Arabic Language  
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Somali-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Xhosa-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
26  
8
53  
32

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
5  
2
10  
7

How Many Consonants
21  
11
43  
32

Scripts
Arabic, Latin, Osmanya  
Latin  

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  
-  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
5  
4
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
52 weeks  
18
44 weeks  
17

Greetings

Hello
Hello  
Molo  

Thank You
Waad ku mahadsan tahay  
Ndiyabulela  

How Are You?
Sidee tahay ?  
Unjani  

Good Night
Habeenka Good  
Ulale kakuhle  

Good Evening
Evening Good  
Ubusuku obuhle  

Good Afternoon
galab wanaagsan  
Uben' emva kwemini entle  

Good Morning
Subax wanaagsan  
Molo  

Please
Fadlan  
Ndicela  

Sorry
sorry  
Ndicela uxolo  

Bye
caraysiiyo  
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle  

I Love You
Waan ku jeclahay  
Ndiyakuthanda  

Excuse Me
iga raali ahow  
Uxolo  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Northern Somali  
Gcaleka  

Where They Speak
Gabon, Standard Somali  
South Africa  

How Many People Speak
16,000,000.00  
32
19,000,000.00  
30

Dialect 2
Benaadir  
Thembu  

Where They Speak
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu  
South Africa  

How Many People Speak
16,000,000.00  
30
19,000,000.00  
27

Dialect 3
Af-Ashraaf  
Hlubi  

Where They Speak
Standard Somali  
South Africa  

How Many People Speak
21.00  
99+
19.00  
99+

Total No. Of Dialects
3  
3
9  
9

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
13.00 million  
99+
20.00 million  
99+

Speaking Population
0.07 %  
99+
0.11 %  
99+

Native Speakers
8.00 million  
99+
8.20 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
21.00 million  
29
11.00 million  
39

Native Name
af Soomaali  
isiXhosa  

Alternative Names
Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga  
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa  

French Name
somali  
xhosa  

German Name
Somali  
Xhosa-Sprache  

Pronunciation
[afsoomaali]  
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]  

Ethnicity
Somalis  
amaXhosa, amaBhaca  

History

Origin
19th century  
16th Century  

Language Family
Afro-Asiatic Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Cushitic  
Benue-Congo  

Branch
-  
Bantu  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Somali  
isiXhosa  

Language Position
83  
99+
21  
19

Signed Forms
Somali Sign Language  
Signed Xhosa  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
so  
xh  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
som  
xho  

ISO 639 2/B
som  
xho  

ISO 639 3
som  
xho  

ISO 639 6
som  
xho  

Glottocode
soma1255  
xhos1239  

Linguasphere
No data available  
99-AUT-fa  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Object-Verb  
Subject-Verb-Object  

Language Morphological Typology
-  
-  

Countries >>
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Somali and Xhosa Language History

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

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

Somali vs Xhosa Difficulty

The Somali vs Xhosa difficulty level basically depends on the number of Somali 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 Somali and Xhosa are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Somali and Xhosa, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Somali is 52 weeks while to learn Xhosa time required is 44 weeks.

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