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Swahili
Swahili

Zulu
Zulu



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Swahili
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Zulu

Swahili vs 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 vs Zulu Speaking Countries

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

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

You will also get to know the continents where Swahili and Zulu speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Swahili language is 21 and position of Zulu language is 87. Find all the information about these languages on Swahili and Zulu.

Swahili and Zulu Language History

Comparison of Swahili vs Zulu language history gives us differences between origin of Swahili and Zulu language. History of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th century whereas history of Zulu language states that this language originated in 19. 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 Zulu Language History.

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

Swahili vs Zulu Difficulty

The Swahili vs Zulu difficulty level basically depends on the number of Swahili Alphabets and Zulu 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 Zulu are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Swahili and Zulu, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Swahili is 36 weeks while to learn Zulu time required is 44 weeks.