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Yoruba
Yoruba

Xhosa
Xhosa



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Yoruba
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Xhosa

Yoruba vs Xhosa

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Countries

Countries

Benin, Nigeria
South Africa

Total No. Of Countries

21
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Nigeria
South Africa

Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Lesotho, South Africa

Speaking Continents

Africa
Africa

Minority Language

Africa, Brazil, Togo, United Kingdom, United States of America
Botswana, Lesotho

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.
  • 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.

Similar To

Owo and Itsekiri languages
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele

Derived From

-
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2953
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

1210
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

1743
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

33
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

30 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Ẹ n lẹ
Molo

Thank You

e dupe
Ndiyabulela

How Are You?

Bawo ni o se wa
Unjani

Good Night

Kasun layọ o
Ulale kakuhle

Good Evening

ka a ale
Ubusuku obuhle

Good Afternoon

e kaasan
Uben' emva kwemini entle

Good Morning

e kaaro
Molo

Please

Jowo
Ndicela

Sorry

binu
Ndicela uxolo

Bye

bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle

I Love You

mo nifẹ rẹ
Ndiyakuthanda

Excuse Me

mo tọrọ gafara
Uxolo

Dialects

Dialect 1

Itsekiri
Gcaleka

Where They Speak

Nigeria
South Africa

How Many People Speak

500,000.0019,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Ede
Thembu

Where They Speak

Benin, Togo
South Africa

How Many People Speak

800,000.0019,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Ulukwumi
Hlubi

Where They Speak

Nigeria
South Africa

How Many People Speak

10,000.0019.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

209
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

30.00 million20.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.42 %0.11 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

28.00 million8.20 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

30.00 million11.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

Yorùbá
isiXhosa

Alternative Names

Yariba, Yooba
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa

French Name

yoruba
xhosa

German Name

Yoruba-Sprache
Xhosa-Sprache

Pronunciation

[jòɾùbá]
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]

Ethnicity

Yoruba people
amaXhosa, amaBhaca

History

Origin

4 BC
16th Century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Western Sudanic
Benue-Congo

Branch

Kwa
Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
No early forms

Standard Forms

Yorùbá
isiXhosa

Language Position

4921
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Yoruba Sign Language
Signed Xhosa

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

yo
xh

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

yor
xho

ISO 639 2/B

yor
xho

ISO 639 3

yor
xho

ISO 639 6

yor
xho

Glottocode

yoru1245
xhos1239

Linguasphere

No data available
99-AUT-fa

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Verb-Object
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

Analytic, Isolating
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Yoruba vs Xhosa Speaking Countries

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

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

You will also get to know the continents where Yoruba and Xhosa speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Yoruba language is 49 and position of Xhosa language is 21. Find all the information about these languages on Yoruba and Xhosa.

Yoruba and Xhosa Language History

Comparison of Yoruba vs Xhosa language history gives us differences between origin of Yoruba and Xhosa language. History of Yoruba language states that this language originated in 4 BC whereas history of Xhosa language states that this language originated in 16th 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 Xhosa Language History.

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

Yoruba vs Xhosa Difficulty

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