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Xhosa
Xhosa

Zulu
Zulu



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X
Xhosa
X
Zulu

Xhosa vs Zulu

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Countries

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

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
👆🏻

Greetings

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

Dialects

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

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

History

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

Code

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

-
-

Xhosa vs Zulu Speaking Countries

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

  • Xhosa is spoken as a national language in: South Africa.
  • Zulu is spoken as a national language in: South Africa.

You will also get to know the continents where Xhosa and Zulu speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Xhosa language is 21 and position of Zulu language is 87. Find all the information about these languages on Xhosa and Zulu.

Xhosa and Zulu Language History

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

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

Xhosa vs Zulu Difficulty

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