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Xhosa
Xhosa

Shona
Shona



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X
Xhosa
X
Shona

Xhosa vs Shona

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Countries

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

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
👆🏻

Greetings

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

Dialects

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

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

History

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

Code

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

-
-

Xhosa vs Shona Speaking Countries

There are plenty of languages spoken around the world. Every country has its own official language. Compare Xhosa vs Shona speaking countries, so that you will have total count of countries that speak Xhosa or Shona language.

  • Xhosa is spoken as a national language in: South Africa.
  • Shona is spoken as a national language in: Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe.

You will also get to know the continents where Xhosa and Shona speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Xhosa language is 21 and position of Shona language is 107. Find all the information about these languages on Xhosa and Shona.

Xhosa and Shona Language History

Comparison of Xhosa vs Shona language history gives us differences between origin of Xhosa and Shona language. History of Xhosa language states that this language originated in 16th Century whereas history of Shona language states that this language originated in 20th 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 Shona Language History.

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

Xhosa vs Shona Difficulty

The Xhosa vs Shona difficulty level basically depends on the number of Xhosa Alphabets and Shona 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 Shona are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Xhosa and Shona, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Xhosa is 44 weeks while to learn Shona time required is 30 weeks.