Swahili vs Xhosa
Countries
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
South Africa
National Language
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania
South Africa
Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries
Lesotho, South Africa
Speaking Continents
Africa
Africa
Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries
Botswana, Lesotho
Regulated By
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)
Not Available
Interesting Facts
- Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
- The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
- 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
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele
Derived From
Arabic Language
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages
Alphabets in
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200
Xhosa-Alphabets.jpg#200
Writing Direction
Not Available
Not Available
Thank You
Asante
Ndiyabulela
How Are You?
Habari gani?
Unjani
Good Night
Usiku mwema
Ulale kakuhle
Good Evening
Habari za jioni
Ubusuku obuhle
Good Afternoon
nzuri Alasiri
Uben' emva kwemini entle
Good Morning
Habari za asubuhi
Molo
Bye
bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle
I Love You
nakupenda
Ndiyakuthanda
Dialect 1
Kiunguja
Gcaleka
Where They Speak
Zanzibar island
South Africa
Where They Speak
Dar es Salaam
South Africa
Where They Speak
Kilwa
South Africa
Speaking Population
Not Available
Second Language Speakers
Not Available
Native Name
Not Available
isiXhosa
Alternative Names
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa
French Name
swahili
xhosa
German Name
Swahili
Xhosa-Sprache
Pronunciation
Not Available
Not Available
Ethnicity
Swahili people or Waswahili
amaXhosa, amaBhaca
Origin
6th century
16th Century
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo
Early Forms
No early forms
No early forms
Standard Forms
Swahili
isiXhosa
Signed Forms
Not Available
Signed Xhosa
Scope
Individual, Macrolanguage
Individual
ISO 639 6
Not Available
Not Available
Glottocode
swah1254
xhos1239
Linguasphere
99-AUS-m
99-AUT-fa
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Not Available
Subject-Verb-Object
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
Not Available
Swahili and Xhosa Language History
Comparison of Swahili vs Xhosa language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Xhosa language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th 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 Swahili and Xhosa Language History.
Swahili 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 Swahili and Xhosa greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Swahili and Xhosa language. Swahili word for "Hello" is Habari or Xhosa word for "Thank You" is Ndiyabulela. Find more of such common Swahili Greetings and Xhosa Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.
Swahili vs Xhosa Difficulty
The Swahili vs Xhosa difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili 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 Swahili and Xhosa are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Xhosa, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Xhosa time required is 44 weeks.