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Xhosa vs Amharic


Amharic vs Xhosa


Countries

Countries
South Africa  
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
1  
14

National Language
South Africa  
Ethiopia  

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.
  
  • Amharic ranks as second most spoken Semitic language in the world.
  • Amharic has its own writing system named “fidel” and it uses Amharic alphabets to write.
  

Similar To
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele  
Tigrinya and Oromo Languages  

Derived From
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages  
-  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Xhosa-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Amharic-1.jpg#200  

Alphabets
53  
32
33  
15

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
10  
7
7  
4

How Many Consonants
43  
32
31  
21

Scripts
Latin  
Ethiopic  

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  
Selam  

Thank You
Ndiyabulela  
amesege'nallo'  

How Are You?
Unjani  
Dehina newot?  

Good Night
Ulale kakuhle  
Dehna dur  

Good Evening
Ubusuku obuhle  
melkam meshe't  

Good Afternoon
Uben' emva kwemini entle  
i'ndemin walu  

Good Morning
Molo  
i'ndemin adäru  

Please
Ndicela  
i'bakwon  

Sorry
Ndicela uxolo  
aznallehu  

Bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle  
tschao  

I Love You
Ndiyakuthanda  
afekirishalehu  

Excuse Me
Uxolo  
yiqirta  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Gcaleka  
Gondar  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Gondar  

How Many People Speak
19,000,000.00  
30
22,000,000.00  
27

Dialect 2
Thembu  
Gojjami  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Ethiopia  

How Many People Speak
19,000,000.00  
27
22,000,000.00  
24

Dialect 3
Hlubi  
Showa  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Ethiopia  

How Many People Speak
19.00  
99+
22,000,000.00  
22

Total No. Of Dialects
9  
9
5  
5

How Many People Speak

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

Speaking Population
0.11 %  
99+
0.37 %  
37

Native Speakers
8.20 million  
99+
25.00 million  
32

Second Language Speakers
11.00 million  
39
10.00 million  
99+

Native Name
isiXhosa  
አማርኛ  

Alternative Names
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa  
Abyssinian, Amarigna, Amarinya, Amhara, Ethiopian  

French Name
xhosa  
amharique  

German Name
Xhosa-Sprache  
Amharisch  

Pronunciation
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]  
[amarɨɲɲa]  

Ethnicity
amaXhosa, amaBhaca  
Amharas  

History

Origin
16th Century  
13th century  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Afro-Asiatic Family  

Subgroup
Benue-Congo  
Semitic  

Branch
Bantu  
Ethiopic  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
Ge'ez  

Standard Forms
isiXhosa  
Amharic  

Language Position
21  
19
55  
99+

Signed Forms
Signed Xhosa  
Signed Amharic  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
xh  
am  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
xho  
amh  

ISO 639 2/B
xho  
amh  

ISO 639 3
xho  
amh  

ISO 639 6
xho  
amh  

Glottocode
xhos1239  
amha1245  

Linguasphere
99-AUT-fa  
12-ACB-a  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object  
-  

Language Morphological Typology
-  
Fusional  

Countries >>
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Xhosa and Amharic Language History

Comparison of Xhosa vs Amharic language history gives us differences between origin of Xhosa and Amharic language. History of Xhosa language states that this language originated in 16th Century whereas history of Amharic language states that this language originated in 13th 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 Xhosa and Amharic Language History.

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

Xhosa vs Amharic Difficulty

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

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