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Yoruba vs Shona


Shona vs Yoruba


Countries

Countries
Benin, Nigeria  
Zimbabwe  

Total No. Of Countries
2  
13
1  
14

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  
-  

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
Yoruba-Alphabet.jpg#200  
Shona-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
29  
11
37  
19

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
12  
9
5  
2

How Many Consonants
17  
7
46  
34

Scripts
Latin  
Latin  

Writing Direction
-  
-  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
4  
3

Time Taken to Learn
30 weeks  
10
30 weeks  
10

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
500,000.00  
99+
11,000,000.00  
36

Dialect 2
Ede  
Karanga  

Where They Speak
Benin, Togo  
southern Zimbabwe  

How Many People Speak
800,000.00  
99+
1,100,000.00  
99+

Dialect 3
Ulukwumi  
Zezuru  

Where They Speak
Nigeria  
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland  

How Many People Speak
10,000.00  
99+
16.00  
99+

Total No. Of Dialects
20  
18
4  
4

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
30.00 million  
36
25.00 million  
40

Speaking Population
0.42 %  
34
0.13 %  
99+

Native Speakers
28.00 million  
29
8.30 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
30.00 million  
26
16.00 million  
33

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
49  
99+
107  
99+

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  
-  

Language Morphological Typology
Analytic, Isolating  
-  

Countries >>
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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.

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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.

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