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Yoruba
Yoruba

Shona
Shona



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Yoruba
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Shona

Yoruba vs Shona

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Countries

Countries

Benin, Nigeria
Zimbabwe

Total No. Of Countries

21
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Nigeria
Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe

Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Not spoken in any of the countries

Speaking Continents

Africa
Africa

Minority Language

Africa, Brazil, Togo, United Kingdom, United States of America
Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

Yoruba Academy
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Interesting Facts

  • One of the largest African ethnic groups is Yoruba in south of Sahara Desert.
  • In Yoruba language, same combination of vowels and consonants have different meanings depending on the pitch of the vowels, so it is tonal language.
  • 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

Owo and Itsekiri languages
Kalanga and Nambya Language

Derived From

-
-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2937
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

125
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

1746
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

34
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

30 weeks30 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Ẹ n lẹ
Mhoro

Thank You

e dupe
Waita zvako

How Are You?

Bawo ni o se wa
Wakadini zvako?

Good Night

Kasun layọ o
Urare zvakanaka

Good Evening

ka a ale
Manheru

Good Afternoon

e kaasan
Masikati

Good Morning

e kaaro
Mangwanani

Please

Jowo
Ndinokumbirawo

Sorry

binu
Ndineurombo

Bye

bye
bye

I Love You

mo nifẹ rẹ
Ndinokuda

Excuse Me

mo tọrọ gafara
Pamusoro

Dialects

Dialect 1

Itsekiri
Hwesa

Where They Speak

Nigeria
Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

500,000.0011,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Ede
Karanga

Where They Speak

Benin, Togo
southern Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

800,000.001,100,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Ulukwumi
Zezuru

Where They Speak

Nigeria
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland

How Many People Speak

10,000.0016.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

204
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

30.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.42 %0.13 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

28.00 million8.30 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

30.00 million16.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Yorùbá
chiShona

Alternative Names

Yariba, Yooba
Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru

French Name

yoruba
shona

German Name

Yoruba-Sprache
Schona-Sprache

Pronunciation

[jòɾùbá]
[ʃoːna]

Ethnicity

Yoruba people
Shona people

History

Origin

4 BC
20th century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Western Sudanic
Benue-Congo

Branch

Kwa
Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
Old Shona and Middle Shona

Standard Forms

Yorùbá
Standard Shona

Language Position

49107
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Yoruba Sign Language
Signed Shona

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

yo
sn

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

yor
sna

ISO 639 2/B

yor
sna

ISO 639 3

yor
sna

ISO 639 6

yor
sna

Glottocode

yoru1245
core1255

Linguasphere

No data available
99-AUT-a

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Verb-Object
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Language Morphological Typology

Analytic, Isolating
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Yoruba vs Shona Speaking Countries

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

  • Yoruba is spoken as a national language in: Nigeria.
  • Shona is spoken as a national language in: Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe.

You will also get to know the continents where Yoruba and Shona speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Yoruba language is 49 and position of Shona language is 107. Find all the information about these languages on Yoruba and Shona.

Yoruba and Shona Language History

Comparison of Yoruba vs Shona language history gives us differences between origin of Yoruba and Shona language. History of Yoruba language states that this language originated in 4 BC 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 Yoruba and Shona Language History.

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

Yoruba vs Shona Difficulty

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