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Somali
Somali

Zulu
Zulu



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Somali
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Zulu

Somali vs Zulu

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Countries

Countries

Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia
South Africa

Total No. Of Countries

31
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Somalia
South Africa

Second Language

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

Speaking Continents

Africa, Middle East
Africa

Minority Language

Yemen
Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy
Pan South African Language Board

Interesting Facts

  • Somali language is one of the best documented Afro-Asiatic languages.
  • One of the most widely spoken of the Cushitic languages is the Somali Language.
  • 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

Afar and Oromo Language
Xhosa Language

Derived From

Arabic Language
-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

2657
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

57
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

2150
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Arabic, Latin, Osmanya
Latin

Writing Direction

Left-To-Right, Horizontal
-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

53
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

52 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Hello
Sawubona

Thank You

Waad ku mahadsan tahay
Ngiyabonga

How Are You?

Sidee tahay ?
unjani

Good Night

Habeenka Good
okuhle ebusuku

Good Evening

Evening Good
okuhle kusihlwa

Good Afternoon

galab wanaagsan
okuhle ntambama

Good Morning

Subax wanaagsan
okuhle ekuseni

Please

Fadlan
Ngiyacela

Sorry

sorry
Ngiyaxolisa

Bye

caraysiiyo
bye

I Love You

Waan ku jeclahay
Ngiyakuthanda wena

Excuse Me

iga raali ahow
Uxolo

Dialects

Dialect 1

Northern Somali
Qwabe

Where They Speak

Gabon, Standard Somali
Gabon, South Africa

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.0028,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Benaadir
central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu

Where They Speak

Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu
Georgia, South Africa

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.0028,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Af-Ashraaf
Ndebele

Where They Speak

Standard Somali
Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

21.0028,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

34
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

13.00 million30.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.07 %0.16 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

8.00 million12.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

21.00 million16.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

af Soomaali
isiZulu

Alternative Names

Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga
Isizulu, Zunda

French Name

somali
zoulou

German Name

Somali
Zulu-Sprache

Pronunciation

[afsoomaali]
[zuːlu]

Ethnicity

Somalis
Zulu people

History

Origin

19th century
19

Language Family

Afro-Asiatic Family
Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Cushitic
Benue-Congo

Branch

-
Beatu

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms
urban Zulu

Standard Forms

Somali
Deep Zulu

Language Position

8387
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Somali Sign Language
Zulu Sign Language

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

so
zu

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

som
zul

ISO 639 2/B

som
zul

ISO 639 3

som
zul

ISO 639 6

som
zul

Glottocode

soma1255
zulu1248

Linguasphere

No data available
99-AUT-fg

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Object-Verb
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

-
-

Somali vs Zulu Speaking Countries

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

  • Somali is spoken as a national language in: Somalia.
  • Zulu is spoken as a national language in: South Africa.

You will also get to know the continents where Somali and Zulu speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Somali language is 83 and position of Zulu language is 87. Find all the information about these languages on Somali and Zulu.

Somali and Zulu Language History

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

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

Somali vs Zulu Difficulty

The Somali vs Zulu difficulty level basically depends on the number of Somali Alphabets and Zulu 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 Somali and Zulu are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Somali and Zulu, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Somali is 52 weeks while to learn Zulu time required is 44 weeks.