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Xhosa vs Somali


Somali vs Xhosa


Countries

Countries
South Africa  
Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia  

Total No. Of Countries
1  
14
3  
12

National Language
South Africa  
Somalia  

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

Speaking Continents
Africa  
Africa, Middle East  

Minority Language
Botswana, Lesotho  
Yemen  

Regulated By
-  
National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy  

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.
  
  • Somali language is one of the best documented Afro-Asiatic languages.
  • One of the most widely spoken of the Cushitic languages is the Somali Language.
  

Similar To
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele  
Afar and Oromo Language  

Derived From
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages  
Arabic Language  

Alphabets

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

Alphabets
53  
32
26  
8

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
10  
7
5  
2

How Many Consonants
43  
32
21  
11

Scripts
Latin  
Arabic, Latin, Osmanya  

Writing Direction
-  
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
5  
4

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks  
17
52 weeks  
18

Greetings

Hello
Molo  
Hello  

Thank You
Ndiyabulela  
Waad ku mahadsan tahay  

How Are You?
Unjani  
Sidee tahay ?  

Good Night
Ulale kakuhle  
Habeenka Good  

Good Evening
Ubusuku obuhle  
Evening Good  

Good Afternoon
Uben' emva kwemini entle  
galab wanaagsan  

Good Morning
Molo  
Subax wanaagsan  

Please
Ndicela  
Fadlan  

Sorry
Ndicela uxolo  
sorry  

Bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle  
caraysiiyo  

I Love You
Ndiyakuthanda  
Waan ku jeclahay  

Excuse Me
Uxolo  
iga raali ahow  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Gcaleka  
Northern Somali  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Gabon, Standard Somali  

How Many People Speak
19,000,000.00  
30
16,000,000.00  
32

Dialect 2
Thembu  
Benaadir  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu  

How Many People Speak
19,000,000.00  
27
16,000,000.00  
30

Dialect 3
Hlubi  
Af-Ashraaf  

Where They Speak
South Africa  
Standard Somali  

How Many People Speak
19.00  
99+
21.00  
99+

Total No. Of Dialects
9  
9
3  
3

How Many People Speak

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

Speaking Population
0.11 %  
99+
0.07 %  
99+

Native Speakers
8.20 million  
99+
8.00 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
11.00 million  
39
21.00 million  
29

Native Name
isiXhosa  
af Soomaali  

Alternative Names
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa  
Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga  

French Name
xhosa  
somali  

German Name
Xhosa-Sprache  
Somali  

Pronunciation
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]  
[afsoomaali]  

Ethnicity
amaXhosa, amaBhaca  
Somalis  

History

Origin
16th Century  
19th century  

Language Family
Niger-Congo Family  
Afro-Asiatic Family  

Subgroup
Benue-Congo  
Cushitic  

Branch
Bantu  
-  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
isiXhosa  
Somali  

Language Position
21  
19
83  
99+

Signed Forms
Signed Xhosa  
Somali Sign Language  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
xh  
so  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
xho  
som  

ISO 639 2/B
xho  
som  

ISO 639 3
xho  
som  

ISO 639 6
xho  
som  

Glottocode
xhos1239  
soma1255  

Linguasphere
99-AUT-fa  
No data available  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object  
Subject-Object-Verb  

Language Morphological Typology
-  
-  

Countries >>
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Xhosa and Somali Language History

Comparison of Xhosa vs Somali language history gives us differences between origin of Xhosa and Somali language. History of Xhosa language states that this language originated in 16th Century whereas history of Somali language states that this language originated in 19th 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 Somali Language History.

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

Xhosa vs Somali Difficulty

The Xhosa vs Somali difficulty level basically depends on the number of Xhosa Alphabets and Somali 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 Somali are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Xhosa and Somali, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Xhosa is 44 weeks while to learn Somali time required is 52 weeks.

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