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Zulu
Zulu

Shona
Shona



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Zulu
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Zulu vs Shona

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Countries

Countries

South Africa
Zimbabwe

Total No. Of Countries

11
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

South Africa
Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe

Second Language

Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe
Not spoken in any of the countries

Speaking Continents

Africa
Africa

Minority Language

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

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.
  • 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

Xhosa Language
Kalanga and Nambya Language

Derived From

-
-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

5737
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

75
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

5046
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin
Latin

Writing Direction

-
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

34
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

44 weeks30 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Sawubona
Mhoro

Thank You

Ngiyabonga
Waita zvako

How Are You?

unjani
Wakadini zvako?

Good Night

okuhle ebusuku
Urare zvakanaka

Good Evening

okuhle kusihlwa
Manheru

Good Afternoon

okuhle ntambama
Masikati

Good Morning

okuhle ekuseni
Mangwanani

Please

Ngiyacela
Ndinokumbirawo

Sorry

Ngiyaxolisa
Ndineurombo

Bye

bye
bye

I Love You

Ngiyakuthanda wena
Ndinokuda

Excuse Me

Uxolo
Pamusoro

Dialects

Dialect 1

Qwabe
Hwesa

Where They Speak

Gabon, South Africa
Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

28,000,000.0011,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu
Karanga

Where They Speak

Georgia, South Africa
southern Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

28,000,000.001,100,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Ndebele
Zezuru

Where They Speak

Zimbabwe
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland

How Many People Speak

28,000,000.0016.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

44
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

30.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.16 %0.13 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

12.00 million8.30 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

16.00 million16.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

isiZulu
chiShona

Alternative Names

Isizulu, Zunda
Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru

French Name

zoulou
shona

German Name

Zulu-Sprache
Schona-Sprache

Pronunciation

[zuːlu]
[ʃoːna]

Ethnicity

Zulu people
Shona people

History

Origin

19
20th century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo

Branch

Beatu
Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

urban Zulu
Old Shona and Middle Shona

Standard Forms

Deep Zulu
Standard Shona

Language Position

87107
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Zulu Sign Language
Signed Shona

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

zu
sn

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

zul
sna

ISO 639 2/B

zul
sna

ISO 639 3

zul
sna

ISO 639 6

zul
sna

Glottocode

zulu1248
core1255

Linguasphere

99-AUT-fg
99-AUT-a

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Verb-Object
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Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Zulu vs Shona Speaking Countries

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

  • Zulu is spoken as a national language in: South Africa.
  • Shona is spoken as a national language in: Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe.

You will also get to know the continents where Zulu and Shona speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Zulu language is 87 and position of Shona language is 107. Find all the information about these languages on Zulu and Shona.

Zulu and Shona Language History

Comparison of Zulu vs Shona language history gives us differences between origin of Zulu and Shona language. History of Zulu language states that this language originated in 19 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 Zulu and Shona Language History.

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

Zulu vs Shona Difficulty

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