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Swahili
Swahili

Shona
Shona



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Swahili
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Shona

Swahili vs 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 vs Shona Speaking Countries

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

  • Swahili is spoken as a national language in: Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania.
  • Shona is spoken as a national language in: Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe.

You will also get to know the continents where Swahili and Shona speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Swahili language is 21 and position of Shona language is 107. Find all the information about these languages on Swahili and Shona.

Swahili and Shona Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs Shona language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Shona language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th 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 Swahili and Shona Language History.

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

Swahili vs Shona Difficulty

The Swahili vs Shona difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili 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 Swahili and Shona are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Shona, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Shona time required is 30 weeks.