Countries
South Africa
Malawi, Zimbabwe
Total No. Of Countries
12
0
46
👆🏻
National Language
South Africa
Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Second Language
Lesotho, South Africa
Not spoken in any of the countries
Speaking Continents
Africa
Africa
Minority Language
Botswana, Lesotho
Zambia
Regulated By
-
-
Interesting Facts
- 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.
- Chewa is one of the 55 languages featured on the Voyager spacecraft.
- Most widely known language of Malawi is Chewa.
Similar To
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele
Zulu language
Derived From
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages
-
Alphabets in
Alphabets
5331
18
247
👆🏻
Phonology
How Many Vowels
105
0
32
👆🏻
How Many Consonants
4318
9
60
👆🏻
Scripts
Latin
Latin
Writing Direction
-
-
Hard to Learn
Language Levels
35
2
12
👆🏻
Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks32 weeks
3
88
👆🏻
Hello
Molo
Moni
Thank You
Ndiyabulela
Zikomo
How Are You?
Unjani
Muli bwanji?
Good Night
Ulale kakuhle
Usiku wabwino
Good Evening
Ubusuku obuhle
Madzulo abwino
Good Afternoon
Uben' emva kwemini entle
Masana abwino
Good Morning
Molo
M'mawa wabwino
Please
Ndicela
Chonde
Sorry
Ndicela uxolo
pepani
Bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle
anatsanzikana
I Love You
Ndiyakuthanda
Ndimakukondani
Excuse Me
Uxolo
Pepani
Dialect 1
Gcaleka
Kasungu
Where They Speak
South Africa
Malawi, Zambia
How Many People Speak
19,000,000.0012,000,000.00
1.5
960000000
👆🏻
Dialect 2
Thembu
Kikamtunda
Where They Speak
South Africa
Malawi, Zambia
How Many People Speak
19,000,000.0010,000,000.00
700
274000000
👆🏻
Dialect 3
Hlubi
Kimaravi
Where They Speak
South Africa
Malawi, Zambia
How Many People Speak
19.001,200,000.00
2
230000000
👆🏻
Total No. Of Dialects
95
0
188
👆🏻
How Many People Speak?
20.00 million12.00 million
0
1200
👆🏻
Speaking Population
0.11 %0.17 %
0
89
👆🏻
Native Speakers
8.20 million12.00 million
0
873
👆🏻
Second Language Speakers
11.00 million1.50 million
0.01
400
👆🏻
Native Name
isiXhosa
Nyanja
Alternative Names
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa
Chichewa, Chinyanja, Nyanja, Nyanja-Chewa
French Name
xhosa
chichewa; chewa; nyanja
German Name
Xhosa-Sprache
Nyanja-Sprache
Pronunciation
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]
[ˈtʃewa]
Ethnicity
amaXhosa, amaBhaca
Chewa people
Origin
16th Century
15th Century
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo
Branch
Bantu
Bantu
Language Forms
Early Forms
No early forms
No early forms
Standard Forms
isiXhosa
Chewa
Language Position
2127
1
120
👆🏻
Signed Forms
Signed Xhosa
Chewa Sign Language
Scope
Individual
Individual
ISO 639 1
xh
ny
ISO 639 2
ISO 639 2/T
xho
nya
ISO 639 2/B
xho
nya
ISO 639 3
xho
nya
ISO 639 6
xho
nya
Glottocode
xhos1239
nyan1308
Linguasphere
99-AUT-fa
99-AUS-xaa – xag
Types of Language
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object
-
Language Morphological Typology
-
-