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Swahili
Swahili

Shona
Shona



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Swahili
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Shona

Swahili and Shona

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Countries

Countries

African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
Zimbabwe

Total No. Of Countries

41
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania
Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe

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
Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)
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Interesting Facts

  • Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
  • The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
  • 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

Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Kalanga and Nambya Language

Derived From

Arabic Language
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Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2437
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

55
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2146
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

34
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

36 weeks30 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Habari
Mhoro

Thank You

Asante
Waita zvako

How Are You?

Habari gani?
Wakadini zvako?

Good Night

Usiku mwema
Urare zvakanaka

Good Evening

Habari za jioni
Manheru

Good Afternoon

nzuri Alasiri
Masikati

Good Morning

Habari za asubuhi
Mangwanani

Please

tafadhali
Ndinokumbirawo

Sorry

pole
Ndineurombo

Bye

bye
bye

I Love You

nakupenda
Ndinokuda

Excuse Me

Samahani
Pamusoro

Dialects

Dialect 1

Kiunguja
Hwesa

Where They Speak

Zanzibar island
Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0011,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Kimrima
Karanga

Where They Speak

Dar es Salaam
southern Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.001,100,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Kimgao
Zezuru

Where They Speak

Kilwa
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0016.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

124
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

150.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.42 %0.13 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

15.00 million8.30 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

75.00 million16.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Kiswahili
chiShona

Alternative Names

Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru

French Name

swahili
shona

German Name

Swahili
Schona-Sprache

Pronunciation

[swaˈhili]
[ʃoːna]

Ethnicity

Swahili people or Waswahili
Shona people

History

Origin

6th century
20th century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo

Branch

Bantu
Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
Old Shona and Middle Shona

Standard Forms

Swahili
Standard Shona

Language Position

21107
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Swahili Sign Language
Signed Shona

Scope

Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

sw
sn

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

swa
sna

ISO 639 2/B

swa
sna

ISO 639 3

swa
sna

ISO 639 6

swa
sna

Glottocode

swah1254
core1255

Linguasphere

99-AUS-m
99-AUT-a

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
-

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Swahili and Shona Alphabets

Swahili and Shona Alphabets provides you with alphabets, vowels and consonants in Swahili and Shona. In Swahili Alphabets there are 24 letters while in Shona Alphabets there are 37 letters. To learn Swahili and Shona languages the very first thing is to understand and learn alphabets of Swahili and Shona languages. The Swahili phonology consist Swahili vowels and Swahili consonants. After alphabets, words are to be learned and after words, phrases in that language. Take a look at Swahili greetings vs Shona greetings, where you will find numerous useful phrases. Find whether Swahili and Shona are Most Spoken Languages.

All Swahili and Shona Dialects

Most languages have dialects where each dialect differ from other dialect with respect to grammar and vocabulary. Here you will get to know all Swahili and Shona dialects. Various dialects of Swahili and Shona language differ in their pronunciations and words. Dialects of Swahili are spoken in different Swahili Speaking Countries whereas Shona Dialects are spoken in different Shona speaking countries. Also the number of people speaking Swahili vs Shona Dialects varies from few thousands to many millions. Some of the Swahili dialects include: Kiunguja, Kimrima. Shona dialects include: Hwesa , Karanga. Also learn about dialects in South American Languages and North American Languages.

Swahili and Shona Speaking population

Swahili and Shona speaking population is one of the factors based on which Swahili and Shona languages can be compared. The total count of Swahili and Shona Speaking population in percentage is also given. The percentage of people speaking Swahili language is 0.42 % whereas the percentage of people speaking Shona language is 0.13 %. When we compare the speaking population of any two languages we get to know which of two languages is more popular. Find more details about how many people speak Swahili and Shona on Swahili vs Shona where you will get native speakers, speaking population in percentage and native names.

Swahili and Shona Language Codes

Swahili and Shona language codes are used in those applications where using language names are tedious. Swahili and Shona Language Codes include all the international language codes, glottocodes and linguasphere.