Countries
South Africa
South Africa
Total No. Of Countries
11
0
46
👆🏻
National Language
South Africa
South Africa
Second Language
Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe
Lesotho, South Africa
Speaking Continents
Africa
Africa
Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries
Botswana, Lesotho
Regulated By
Pan South African Language Board
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Interesting Facts
- 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.
- 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
Xhosa Language
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele
Derived From
-
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages
Alphabets in
Alphabets
5753
18
247
👆🏻
Phonology
How Many Vowels
710
0
32
👆🏻
How Many Consonants
5043
9
60
👆🏻
Scripts
Latin
Latin
Writing Direction
-
-
Hard to Learn
Language Levels
33
2
12
👆🏻
Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks44 weeks
3
88
👆🏻
Hello
Sawubona
Molo
Thank You
Ngiyabonga
Ndiyabulela
How Are You?
unjani
Unjani
Good Night
okuhle ebusuku
Ulale kakuhle
Good Evening
okuhle kusihlwa
Ubusuku obuhle
Good Afternoon
okuhle ntambama
Uben' emva kwemini entle
Good Morning
okuhle ekuseni
Molo
Please
Ngiyacela
Ndicela
Sorry
Ngiyaxolisa
Ndicela uxolo
Bye
bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle
I Love You
Ngiyakuthanda wena
Ndiyakuthanda
Excuse Me
Uxolo
Uxolo
Dialect 1
Qwabe
Gcaleka
Where They Speak
Gabon, South Africa
South Africa
How Many People Speak
28,000,000.0019,000,000.00
1.5
960000000
👆🏻
Dialect 2
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu
Thembu
Where They Speak
Georgia, South Africa
South Africa
How Many People Speak
28,000,000.0019,000,000.00
700
274000000
👆🏻
Dialect 3
Ndebele
Hlubi
Where They Speak
Zimbabwe
South Africa
How Many People Speak
28,000,000.0019.00
2
230000000
👆🏻
Total No. Of Dialects
49
0
188
👆🏻
How Many People Speak?
30.00 million20.00 million
0
1200
👆🏻
Speaking Population
0.16 %0.11 %
0
89
👆🏻
Native Speakers
12.00 million8.20 million
0
873
👆🏻
Second Language Speakers
16.00 million11.00 million
0.01
400
👆🏻
Native Name
isiZulu
isiXhosa
Alternative Names
Isizulu, Zunda
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa
French Name
zoulou
xhosa
German Name
Zulu-Sprache
Xhosa-Sprache
Pronunciation
[zuːlu]
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]
Ethnicity
Zulu people
amaXhosa, amaBhaca
Origin
19
16th Century
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo
Branch
Beatu
Bantu
Language Forms
Early Forms
urban Zulu
No early forms
Standard Forms
Deep Zulu
isiXhosa
Language Position
8721
1
120
👆🏻
Signed Forms
Zulu Sign Language
Signed Xhosa
Scope
Individual
Individual
ISO 639 1
zu
xh
ISO 639 2
ISO 639 2/T
zul
xho
ISO 639 2/B
zul
xho
ISO 639 3
zul
xho
ISO 639 6
zul
xho
Glottocode
zulu1248
xhos1239
Linguasphere
99-AUT-fg
99-AUT-fa
Types of Language
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object
Subject-Verb-Object
Language Morphological Typology
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-