Countries
South Africa
South Africa
Total No. Of Countries
11
0
46
👆🏻
National Language
South Africa
South Africa
Second Language
Lesotho, South Africa
Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe
Speaking Continents
Africa
Africa
Minority Language
Botswana, Lesotho
Not spoken in any of the countries
Regulated By
-
Pan South African Language Board
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.
- 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
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele
Xhosa Language
Derived From
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages
-
Alphabets in
Alphabets
5357
18
247
👆🏻
Phonology
How Many Vowels
107
0
32
👆🏻
How Many Consonants
4350
9
60
👆🏻
Scripts
Latin
Latin
Writing Direction
-
-
Hard to Learn
Language Levels
33
2
12
👆🏻
Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks44 weeks
3
88
👆🏻
Hello
Molo
Sawubona
Thank You
Ndiyabulela
Ngiyabonga
How Are You?
Unjani
unjani
Good Night
Ulale kakuhle
okuhle ebusuku
Good Evening
Ubusuku obuhle
okuhle kusihlwa
Good Afternoon
Uben' emva kwemini entle
okuhle ntambama
Good Morning
Molo
okuhle ekuseni
Please
Ndicela
Ngiyacela
Sorry
Ndicela uxolo
Ngiyaxolisa
Bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle
bye
I Love You
Ndiyakuthanda
Ngiyakuthanda wena
Excuse Me
Uxolo
Uxolo
Dialect 1
Gcaleka
Qwabe
Where They Speak
South Africa
Gabon, South Africa
How Many People Speak
19,000,000.0028,000,000.00
1.5
960000000
👆🏻
Dialect 2
Thembu
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu
Where They Speak
South Africa
Georgia, South Africa
How Many People Speak
19,000,000.0028,000,000.00
700
274000000
👆🏻
Dialect 3
Hlubi
Ndebele
Where They Speak
South Africa
Zimbabwe
How Many People Speak
19.0028,000,000.00
2
230000000
👆🏻
Total No. Of Dialects
94
0
188
👆🏻
How Many People Speak?
20.00 million30.00 million
0
1200
👆🏻
Speaking Population
0.11 %0.16 %
0
89
👆🏻
Native Speakers
8.20 million12.00 million
0
873
👆🏻
Second Language Speakers
11.00 million16.00 million
0.01
400
👆🏻
Native Name
isiXhosa
isiZulu
Alternative Names
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa
Isizulu, Zunda
French Name
xhosa
zoulou
German Name
Xhosa-Sprache
Zulu-Sprache
Pronunciation
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]
[zuːlu]
Ethnicity
amaXhosa, amaBhaca
Zulu people
Origin
16th 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
isiXhosa
Deep Zulu
Language Position
2187
1
120
👆🏻
Signed Forms
Signed Xhosa
Zulu Sign Language
Scope
Individual
Individual
ISO 639 1
xh
zu
ISO 639 2
ISO 639 2/T
xho
zul
ISO 639 2/B
xho
zul
ISO 639 3
xho
zul
ISO 639 6
xho
zul
Glottocode
xhos1239
zulu1248
Linguasphere
99-AUT-fa
99-AUT-fg
Types of Language
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object
Subject-Verb-Object
Language Morphological Typology
-
-