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Swahili
Swahili

Zulu
Zulu



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Swahili
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Zulu

Swahili and Zulu

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Countries

Countries

African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
South Africa

Total No. Of Countries

41
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

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

Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)
Pan South African Language Board

Interesting Facts

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

Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Xhosa Language

Derived From

Arabic Language
-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2457
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

57
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2150
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

33
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

36 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Habari
Sawubona

Thank You

Asante
Ngiyabonga

How Are You?

Habari gani?
unjani

Good Night

Usiku mwema
okuhle ebusuku

Good Evening

Habari za jioni
okuhle kusihlwa

Good Afternoon

nzuri Alasiri
okuhle ntambama

Good Morning

Habari za asubuhi
okuhle ekuseni

Please

tafadhali
Ngiyacela

Sorry

pole
Ngiyaxolisa

Bye

bye
bye

I Love You

nakupenda
Ngiyakuthanda wena

Excuse Me

Samahani
Uxolo

Dialects

Dialect 1

Kiunguja
Qwabe

Where They Speak

Zanzibar island
Gabon, South Africa

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0028,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Kimrima
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu

Where They Speak

Dar es Salaam
Georgia, South Africa

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0028,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Kimgao
Ndebele

Where They Speak

Kilwa
Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

75,000,000.0028,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

124
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

150.00 million30.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.42 %0.16 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

15.00 million12.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

75.00 million16.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Kiswahili
isiZulu

Alternative Names

Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
Isizulu, Zunda

French Name

swahili
zoulou

German Name

Swahili
Zulu-Sprache

Pronunciation

[swaˈhili]
[zuːlu]

Ethnicity

Swahili people or Waswahili
Zulu people

History

Origin

6th century
19

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo

Branch

Bantu
Beatu

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
urban Zulu

Standard Forms

Swahili
Deep Zulu

Language Position

2187
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Swahili Sign Language
Zulu Sign Language

Scope

Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

sw
zu

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

swa
zul

ISO 639 2/B

swa
zul

ISO 639 3

swa
zul

ISO 639 6

swa
zul

Glottocode

swah1254
zulu1248

Linguasphere

99-AUS-m
99-AUT-fg

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Swahili and Zulu Alphabets

Swahili and Zulu Alphabets provides you with alphabets, vowels and consonants in Swahili and Zulu. In Swahili Alphabets there are 24 letters while in Zulu Alphabets there are 57 letters. To learn Swahili and Zulu languages the very first thing is to understand and learn alphabets of Swahili and Zulu 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 Zulu greetings, where you will find numerous useful phrases. Find whether Swahili and Zulu are Most Spoken Languages.

All Swahili and Zulu 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 Zulu dialects. Various dialects of Swahili and Zulu language differ in their pronunciations and words. Dialects of Swahili are spoken in different Swahili Speaking Countries whereas Zulu Dialects are spoken in different Zulu speaking countries. Also the number of people speaking Swahili vs Zulu Dialects varies from few thousands to many millions. Some of the Swahili dialects include: Kiunguja, Kimrima. Zulu dialects include: Qwabe , central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu. Also learn about dialects in South American Languages and North American Languages.

Swahili and Zulu Speaking population

Swahili and Zulu speaking population is one of the factors based on which Swahili and Zulu languages can be compared. The total count of Swahili and Zulu Speaking population in percentage is also given. The percentage of people speaking Swahili language is 0.42 % whereas the percentage of people speaking Zulu language is 0.16 %. 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 Zulu on Swahili vs Zulu where you will get native speakers, speaking population in percentage and native names.

Swahili and Zulu Language Codes

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