Countries
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Total No. Of Countries
11
0
46
👆🏻
National Language
South Africa
Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
Second Language
Lesotho, South Africa
Not spoken in any of the countries
Speaking Continents
Africa
Africa
Minority Language
Botswana, Lesotho
Not spoken in any of the countries
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.
- 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
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele
Kalanga and Nambya Language
Derived From
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages
-
Alphabets in
Alphabets
5337
18
247
👆🏻
Phonology
How Many Vowels
105
0
32
👆🏻
How Many Consonants
4346
9
60
👆🏻
Scripts
Latin
Latin
Writing Direction
-
-
Hard to Learn
Language Levels
34
2
12
👆🏻
Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks30 weeks
3
88
👆🏻
Hello
Molo
Mhoro
Thank You
Ndiyabulela
Waita zvako
How Are You?
Unjani
Wakadini zvako?
Good Night
Ulale kakuhle
Urare zvakanaka
Good Evening
Ubusuku obuhle
Manheru
Good Afternoon
Uben' emva kwemini entle
Masikati
Good Morning
Molo
Mangwanani
Please
Ndicela
Ndinokumbirawo
Sorry
Ndicela uxolo
Ndineurombo
Bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle
bye
I Love You
Ndiyakuthanda
Ndinokuda
Excuse Me
Uxolo
Pamusoro
Dialect 1
Gcaleka
Hwesa
Where They Speak
South Africa
Zimbabwe
How Many People Speak
19,000,000.0011,000,000.00
1.5
960000000
👆🏻
Dialect 2
Thembu
Karanga
Where They Speak
South Africa
southern Zimbabwe
How Many People Speak
19,000,000.001,100,000.00
700
274000000
👆🏻
Dialect 3
Hlubi
Zezuru
Where They Speak
South Africa
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland
How Many People Speak
19.0016.00
2
230000000
👆🏻
Total No. Of Dialects
94
0
188
👆🏻
How Many People Speak?
20.00 million25.00 million
0
1200
👆🏻
Speaking Population
0.11 %0.13 %
0
89
👆🏻
Native Speakers
8.20 million8.30 million
0
873
👆🏻
Second Language Speakers
11.00 million16.00 million
0.01
400
👆🏻
Native Name
isiXhosa
chiShona
Alternative Names
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa
Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru
French Name
xhosa
shona
German Name
Xhosa-Sprache
Schona-Sprache
Pronunciation
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]
[ʃoːna]
Ethnicity
amaXhosa, amaBhaca
Shona people
Origin
16th 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
isiXhosa
Standard Shona
Language Position
21107
1
120
👆🏻
Signed Forms
Signed Xhosa
Signed Shona
Scope
Individual
Individual
ISO 639 1
xh
sn
ISO 639 2
ISO 639 2/T
xho
sna
ISO 639 2/B
xho
sna
ISO 639 3
xho
sna
ISO 639 6
xho
sna
Glottocode
xhos1239
core1255
Linguasphere
99-AUT-fa
99-AUT-a
Types of Language
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object
-
Language Morphological Typology
-
-