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Xhosa vs Akan


Akan vs Xhosa


Countries

Countries
South Africa  
Ghana, Ivory coast  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
2  
13

National Language
South Africa  
Ghana  

Second Language
Lesotho, South Africa  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Speaking Continents
Africa  
Africa  

Minority Language
Botswana, Lesotho  
Benin, United States of America  

Regulated By
-  
Akan Orthography Committee  

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.
  
  • Ghana has over 100 ethnic groups living, and Akan is one of the largest tribe.
  • Akan language came in South America, notably Suriname and Jamaica through slave trade.
  

Similar To
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele  
Ewe and Ga-Dangme Languages  

Derived From
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages  
-  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Xhosa-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Akan-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
53  
32
21  
3

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
10  
7
10  
7

How Many Consonants
43  
32
16  
6

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
-  
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
3  
2

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks  
17
44 weeks  
17

Greetings

Hello
Molo  
ete-sen  

Thank You
Ndiyabulela  
meda ase  

How Are You?
Unjani  
wo ho te sɛn?  

Good Night
Ulale kakuhle  
maadwo  

Good Evening
Ubusuku obuhle  
maadwo  

Good Afternoon
Uben' emva kwemini entle  
maaha  

Good Morning
Molo  
maakye  

Please
Ndicela  
wae  

Sorry
Ndicela uxolo  
Kafra  

Bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle  
bye  

I Love You
Ndiyakuthanda  
Me doכ wo  

Excuse Me
Uxolo  
mepa wo kyɛw  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Gcaleka  
Asante  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Ghana  

How Many People Speak
19,000,000.00  
30
9,000,000.00  
39

Dialect 2
Thembu  
Akuapem  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Ghana  

How Many People Speak
19,000,000.00  
27
9,000,000.00  
38

Dialect 3
Hlubi  
Fante  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Ghana  

How Many People Speak
19.00  
99+
1,900,000.00  
99+

Total No. Of Dialects
9  
9
3  
3

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
20.00 million  
99+
11.00 million  
99+

Speaking Population
0.11 %  
99+
0.17 %  
99+

Native Speakers
8.20 million  
99+
11.00 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
11.00 million  
39
21.00 million  
29

Native Name
isiXhosa  
Akan  

Alternative Names
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa  
Twi, Fante  

French Name
xhosa  
akan  

German Name
Xhosa-Sprache  
Akan-Sprache  

Pronunciation
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]  
[ˈaːkã]  

Ethnicity
amaXhosa, amaBhaca  
Akan people  

History

Origin
16th Century  
15  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Niger-Congo Family  

Subgroup
Benue-Congo  
-  

Branch
Bantu  
-  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
isiXhosa  
Akan  

Language Position
21  
19
104  
99+

Signed Forms
Signed Xhosa  
Akan Sign Language  

Scope
Individual  
Macrolanguage  

Code

ISO 639 1
xh  
ak  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
xho  
aka  

ISO 639 2/B
xho  
aka  

ISO 639 3
xho  
aka  

ISO 639 6
xho  
aka  

Glottocode
xhos1239  
akan1251  

Linguasphere
99-AUT-fa  
No data available  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object  
-  

Language Morphological Typology
-  
-  

Countries >>
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Xhosa and Akan Language History

Comparison of Xhosa vs Akan language history gives us differences between origin of Xhosa and Akan language. History of Xhosa language states that this language originated in 16th Century whereas history of Akan language states that this language originated in 15. 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 Xhosa and Akan Language History.

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

Xhosa vs Akan Difficulty

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

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