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Tamil
Tamil

Xhosa
Xhosa



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Tamil
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Xhosa

Tamil vs Xhosa

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Countries

Countries

Malaysia, Mauritius, Puducherry, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu
South Africa

Total No. Of Countries

61
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu
South Africa

Second Language

Andaman and Nicobar Islands, kerala, Puducherry
Lesotho, South Africa

Speaking Continents

Asia
Africa

Minority Language

Canada, Malaysia, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles
Botswana, Lesotho

Regulated By

Official language Commission of Government of Tamil Nadu, Thanjavur Tamil University
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Interesting Facts

  • Tamil is the oldest language in the world. Tamil was spoken in South India more than 5000 years ago.
  • The first legally recognized Classical Language of India is Tamil.
  • 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

Malayalam
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele

Derived From

-
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

24753
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

1210
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

1843
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Tamil
Latin

Writing Direction

Left-To-Right, Horizontal
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

33
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

44 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

வணக்கம் (Vanakkam)
Molo

Thank You

நன்றி (Naṉṟi)
Ndiyabulela

How Are You?

நீங்கள் எப்படி இருக்கிறீர்கள்? (Nīṅkaḷ eppaṭi irukkiṟīrkaḷ?)
Unjani

Good Night

நல்ல இரவு (Good night) / irravu vanakkam (Good night)
Ulale kakuhle

Good Evening

நல்ல மாலை (Nalla mālai)/ மாலை (irravu vanakkam)
Ubusuku obuhle

Good Afternoon

பிற்பகல் வணக்கம் (perpagal vanakkam)
Uben' emva kwemini entle

Good Morning

காலை வணக்கம் (Kaalai Vanakkam)
Molo

Please

தயவு (Tayavu)
Ndicela

Sorry

மன்னிக்கவும் (Maṉṉikkavum)
Ndicela uxolo

Bye

சென்று வருகிறேன் (Sendru Varukiren)
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle

I Love You

நான் உன்னை காதலிக்கிறேன் (Naan Unnai Kadalikiren)
Ndiyakuthanda

Excuse Me

என்னை மன்னியுங்கள் (Eṉṉai maṉṉiyuṅkaḷ)
Uxolo

Dialects

Dialect 1

Kongu
Gcaleka

Where They Speak

Kongu
South Africa

How Many People Speak

77,000,000.0019,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Madurai Tamil
Thembu

Where They Speak

Madurai, South Tamil Nadu
South Africa

How Many People Speak

77,000,000.0019,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Tirunelveli Tamil
Hlubi

Where They Speak

South Tamil Nadu, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli
South Africa

How Many People Speak

77,000,000.0019.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

109
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

78.00 million20.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

1.06 %0.11 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

70.00 million8.20 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

8.00 million11.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

தமிழ்
isiXhosa

Alternative Names

Damulian, Tamal, Tamalsan, Tambul, Tamili
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa

French Name

tamoul
xhosa

German Name

Tamil
Xhosa-Sprache

Pronunciation

[t̪ɐmɨɻ]
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]

Ethnicity

Tamil people or Tamilans
amaXhosa, amaBhaca

History

Origin

300 BC
16th Century

Language Family

Dravidian Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

-
Benue-Congo

Branch

-
Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

Old Tamil and Middle Tamil
No early forms

Standard Forms

Modern Tamil
isiXhosa

Language Position

1821
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Signed Tamil
Signed Xhosa

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

ta
xh

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

tam
xho

ISO 639 2/B

tam
xho

ISO 639 3

tam
xho

ISO 639 6

tam
xho

Glottocode

tami1289, oldt1248
xhos1239

Linguasphere

tami1289
99-AUT-fa

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Object-Verb
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Tamil vs Xhosa Speaking Countries

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

  • Tamil is spoken as a national language in: Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu.
  • Xhosa is spoken as a national language in: South Africa.

You will also get to know the continents where Tamil and Xhosa speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Tamil language is 18 and position of Xhosa language is 21. Find all the information about these languages on Tamil and Xhosa.

Tamil and Xhosa Language History

Comparison of Tamil vs Xhosa language history gives us differences between origin of Tamil and Xhosa language. History of Tamil language states that this language originated in 300 BC 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 Tamil and Xhosa Language History.

Tamil 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 Tamil and Xhosa greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Tamil and Xhosa language. Tamil word for "Hello" is வணக்கம் (Vanakkam) or Xhosa word for "Thank You" is Ndiyabulela. Find more of such common Tamil Greetings and Xhosa Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Tamil vs Xhosa Difficulty

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