About Marathi Language
According to Wikipedia.org, Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language. It is spoken predominantly by Marathi people. It is the official language of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Marathi is the official language of Maharashtra state. It is also the co-official language in Goa state. The language is also spoken in the union territory of Damaon in western India. Marathi is one of the 22 scheduled languages that are spoken in India. Marathi has 83 million speakers and it ranks 10th in the list of languages. It is spoken by most native speakers in the world. Marathi has millions of native speakers after Hindi-Urdu and Bengali. Marathi has the oldest literature and is inspired by many modern Indian languages. The dialect of Marathi is Standard Marathi and the Varhadi dialect. Marathi has exclusive forms of 'we' and uses a three-way gender system.
About Shona Language
According to Wikipedia.org, Shona is a Bantu language and is spoken by the Shona people of Zimbabwe. The language was codified by the colonial government and became popular during the 1950s. According to Ethnologue, the language was spoken in the Zezuru, Korekore, and Karanga dialects. It is spoken by 7.5 million people. Shona has Manyika and Ndau dialects and is spoken by 1,025,000 and 2,380,000 people. It is called Shona and is similar to the Ndau (Eastern Shona) and Karanga (Western Shona). Shona is a written standard language and became popular in the early 20th century. In the 1920s, the Rhodesian administration offered schoolbooks and other materials in Shona. The first novel in Shona was published in 1957. It is taught in the schools and has literature in the monolingual and bilingual dictionaries. The Standard Shona has a specific dialect and is spoken by the Karanga people of Masvingo Province. Shona dialects are taught in local schools.
