Zulu vs Swahili
Countries
South Africa
African Union, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East African Community, Kenya
National Language
South Africa
Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania
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
Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (Kenya)
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.
- Swahili language has borrowed many words from Arabic language.
- The oldest written scripts in swahili language were found in 18th century.
Similar To
Xhosa Language
Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi Languages
Derived From
Not Available
Arabic Language
Alphabets in
Zulu-Alphabets.jpg#200
Swahili-Alphabets.jpg#200
Writing Direction
Not Available
Not Available
Thank You
Ngiyabonga
Asante
How Are You?
unjani
Habari gani?
Good Night
okuhle ebusuku
Usiku mwema
Good Evening
okuhle kusihlwa
Habari za jioni
Good Afternoon
okuhle ntambama
nzuri Alasiri
Good Morning
okuhle ekuseni
Habari za asubuhi
Please
Ngiyacela
tafadhali
I Love You
Ngiyakuthanda wena
nakupenda
Where They Speak
Gabon, South Africa
Zanzibar island
Dialect 2
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu
Kimrima
Where They Speak
Georgia, South Africa
Dar es Salaam
Where They Speak
Zimbabwe
Kilwa
Speaking Population
Not Available
Second Language Speakers
Not Available
Native Name
isiZulu
Not Available
Alternative Names
Isizulu, Zunda
Kisuaheli, Kiswahili
French Name
zoulou
swahili
German Name
Zulu-Sprache
Swahili
Pronunciation
Not Available
Not Available
Ethnicity
Zulu people
Swahili people or Waswahili
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo
Early Forms
urban Zulu
No early forms
Standard Forms
Deep Zulu
Swahili
Language Position
Not Available
Signed Forms
Not Available
Not Available
Scope
Individual
Individual, Macrolanguage
ISO 639 6
Not Available
Not Available
Glottocode
zulu1248
swah1254
Linguasphere
99-AUT-fg
99-AUS-m
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object
Not Available
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
Not Available
Zulu and Swahili Language History
Comparison of Zulu vs Swahili language history gives us differences between origin of Zulu and Swahili language. History of Zulu language states that this language originated in 19 whereas history of Swahili language states that this language originated in 6th 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 Swahili Language History.
Zulu and Swahili 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 Swahili greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Zulu and Swahili language. Zulu word for "Hello" is Sawubona or Swahili word for "Thank You" is Asante. Find more of such common Zulu Greetings and Swahili Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.
Zulu vs Swahili Difficulty
The Zulu vs Swahili difficulty level basically depends on the number of Zulu Alphabets and Swahili 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 Swahili are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Zulu and Swahili, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Zulu is 44 weeks while to learn Swahili time required is 36 weeks.