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Zulu
Zulu




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Zulu Language

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Countries

Countries

South Africa

Total No. Of Countries

1
Rank: 14 (Overall)
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

South Africa

Second Language

Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe

Speaking Continents

Africa

Minority Language

Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

Pan South African Language Board

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.

Similar To

Xhosa Language

Derived From

-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

57
Rank: 34 (Overall)
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

7
Rank: 4 (Overall)
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

50
Rank: 35 (Overall)
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin

Writing Direction

-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

3
Rank: 2 (Overall)
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

44 weeks
Rank: 17 (Overall)
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Sawubona

Thank You

Ngiyabonga

How Are You?

unjani

Good Night

okuhle ebusuku

Good Evening

okuhle kusihlwa

Good Afternoon

okuhle ntambama

Good Morning

okuhle ekuseni

Please

Ngiyacela

Sorry

Ngiyaxolisa

Bye

bye

I Love You

Ngiyakuthanda wena

Excuse Me

Uxolo

Dialects

Dialect 1

Qwabe

Where They Speak

Gabon, South Africa

How Many People Speak

28,000,000.00
Rank: 24 (Overall)
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu

Where They Speak

Georgia, South Africa

How Many People Speak

28,000,000.00
Rank: 22 (Overall)
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Ndebele

Where They Speak

Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

28,000,000.00
Rank: 20 (Overall)
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

4
Rank: 4 (Overall)
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

30.00 million
Rank: 36 (Overall)
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.16 %
Rank: 51 (Overall)
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

12.00 million
Rank: 44 (Overall)
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

16.00 million
Rank: 33 (Overall)
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

isiZulu

Alternative Names

Isizulu, Zunda

French Name

zoulou

German Name

Zulu-Sprache

Pronunciation

[zuːlu]

Ethnicity

Zulu people

History

Origin

19

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo

Branch

Beatu

Language Forms

Early Forms

urban Zulu

Standard Forms

Deep Zulu

Language Position

87
Rank: 68 (Overall)
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Zulu Sign Language

Scope

Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

zu

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

zul

ISO 639 2/B

zul

ISO 639 3

zul

ISO 639 6

zul

Glottocode

zulu1248

Linguasphere

99-AUT-fg

Types of Language

Language Type

Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

-

Origin of Zulu language

In order to communicate with each other, the origin of language was the essential part. Various languages are spoken all over the world. Zulu language is one of the Most Difficult Languages. The origin of Zulu language states that it was put to use in 19. The history of Zulu language reveals that the language is old and used since many years. Check out in brief about Zulu Language History.The evolution of Zulu language began with early forms such as urban Zulu. Deep Zulu is the standard form of Zulu language and it is used in government centers. Know all About Zulu Language.

Zulu population

Zulu population gives us the total count of number of people speaking Zulu language. Zulu language is spoken by 30.00 million people in the world. Most of the Zulu population lies in the Zulu Speaking Countries. Zulu language is spoken as first language by 12.00 million people and as second language by about 16.00 million people. Get to know Zulu speaking population in detail.

Zulu writing system

There are numerous writing systems but most widely used scripts are Latin, Cyrillic and Arabic. Zulu writing system decides the alphabets, vowels and consonants i.e. the written form of Zulu language. Some languages share common writing systems. Latin script is used by Zulu language. Learn more about . 

Information about Zulu language

Check out all the information about Zulu language here. You may find it interesting to learn Zulu Alphabets or the vowels and consonants of this language. Also knowing about Zulu Speaking Countries, Zulu speaking continents and Zulu Dialects will help in improving your knowledge about this language. Also while travelling to Zulu countries knowing common Zulu Greetings will help you in communicating with Zulu people.