SO YOU WANT TO LEARN LINGALA, UH?

 Learning a new language can be an exciting experience. But, without the proper resources and guidance, it can be quite frustrating. Now, Lingala language can be a little frustrating to try to learn. Because, despite the widespread use of the language and the huge interest people have in it, there isn't much in way of resources available online for those who want to learn it. The available youtube videos sadly do not go any further than introducing you to some greetings, courtesies and leave taking. And sadly, they all seem the same; it's like someone once wrote a script that everyone else has since been using.

 If you aren't a Swahili speaker or a speaker of any Bantu langauge, the task becomes much harder coz even the little resources available online won't help you much. Because translating Lingala, a Bantu language, into any of the European languages can be a daunting task. Allow me to explain. Sentence structures in Lingala are so different from say English, making it almost impossible to translate Lingala sentences into English, especially if you want to do so in a way that someone can infer the meanings of the individual words. For example "Mwasi na ngai akende Poto" may be translated "my wife has gone to Europe". But this alters the ordering of the words. But if translated into Swahili, "mke wangu ameenda Ulaya" the word ordering remains the same as it is in Lingala, and you can easily infer the meaning of each individual word. Got that?

Song lyrics available online with English translations don't help you learn the language because more often than not, they're interpreted rather than translated. "Maboko nayo etondi makili" will be translated, "you're a murder" instead of, "your hands are full of blood" which is what it actually says. You see, the latter is a translation, the former an interpretation. That line, by the way, is taken from Madilu System's song "Eau Benite" written by one Simaro Mesiya Lutumba. Don't get me wrong, translated music lyrics videos are a wonderful resource when rightly used.  But they can be misleading. They help you understand the message in the songs but are of little to no use in learning the language.

You remember the movie "Avatar"? There is a memorable scene where Jake Sully is captured and led to face the Omatikaya clan (or whatever the name of the clan was). Neytiri's father mumbles some words (a lot of them) and Jake Sully asks Neytiri impatiently, "what is he saying?". Neytiri responds, "My father is deciding whether to kill you." Now, we can safely assume that those were not the exact words the old man had said. Unfortunately there are many Neytiri's out there, who instead of translating phrases, interpret them and present them the way they themselves understand them rather than what the speaker(s) themselves meant to say. That's what I'm talking about.

Unfortunately there are many Neytiri's out there, who instead of translating phrases, interpret them and present them the way they themselves understand them.

So, you want to learn Lingala? If you have made it this far into the article, chances are that you really are interested in learning the language. Now, I'm not an expert in language learning but I can share with you what I used in my personal experience. As I may have alluded already, the biggest problem that you'll face in learning this language is the dearth of resources. I faced this challenge too, and I continue to face it, but things have improved a little bit compared to the year 2011 when I started out.

The best resource that I will recommend to an interested learner is the Lingala Bible, especially the "Libongoli ya Mokili Ya Sika". The Bible is one of the most meticulously studied and accurately translated books out there, and the translations are quite reliable. I downloaded a copy from the Jehovah Witnesses website many years ago but it seems they took it down, as I couldn't find it a few years later. Luckily, I haven't lost my copy, and I can share that with any interested person who drops a request in the comments section. If you can access a hard copy of the Lingala Bible that would even be better. I guarantee you, by reading the Lingala Bible alongside the Swahili or English translations, you'll learn a lot more than any video or blog post could ever teach you.

The next resource I will recommend is the google translator. The only caveat is that the translations are often-time misleading and other words will be translated into French (Congo is a french speaking country) rather than into Lingala. But that shouldn't discourage you because they usually get the basics right. And, of course, they're only going to improve. The same goes for the available apps on google Play Store. For most part they'll be right but their databases are rather narrow. They get around this by translating certain words to French. There's no one app that I'll endorse or recommend so don't even bother to ask.

When it comes to online translations I think nothing beats Globse. Not only are their translations made in context, but there is also provided a number of sentences where a word is used. This will be more suitable to learners who already have some basic knowledge of the language, but it remains a useful resource for new learners as well, especially to those who are keen to see how a word is used in a sentence. There is also the online Lingala dictionary, dic.lingala.be and lobalingala.wordpress.com and of course this blog.

Lastly, you can check out translated music videos on youtube. This is a wonderful resource as it will only only make the learning memorable but also fun. I personally recommend Franco's songs. They're widely translated but more importantly Franco sung in most part in pure Lingala as opposed to the contemporary artists who soil their Lingala with too much French (and other Congolese languages).