Lingala

Totonga Bomoi – Build Our Future – The Lingala language is spoken throughout most of DRC and Republic of Congo (Brazzaville). Lingala is also used in parts of Central African Republic and Angola; two countries located north of the two Congos. Today, more than ten million people speak Lingala. Can this lingua franca of modern-day DRC be attributed to an inevitable and reoccurring aspect of post-colonial Africa – fate?

Prior to the arrival of Europeans—civil administrators, missionaries and tyrannous dictators alike—Lingala was spoken by the Bantu people near the Congo River. As trade increased and proselytizing took flight and Belgians began exploiting the country and its people a common language was needed. I recently read that it was by chance the language of the Bantu people was adopted. It was embraced as being exclusively Bangi (or Bobangi); a regional trade language that was spoken by the Bangala people. Europeans adopted this language and named it Bangala.

As Bangala (the language) moved throughout the country there was an increase in vocabulary, original interpretation and the unavoidable influence of colonial syntax (French and Portuguese). That journey established the Lingala language as we know it today and the original Bangala has taken a backseat ride as dialectal Lingala. Thus an obscure language was taken, colonialists stumbled over it, missionaries attempted to purify it (grammatically) and now I join the millions of Lingala speakers around the world by saying MBOTE!! WELCOME!!