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Lingala is a language which gained its modern form in the colonial period, with the push of missionaries to standardize and teach a local lingua franca. It was originally spoken in the upper Congo river area but rapidly spread to the middle Congo area and eventually became the major Bantu language in Kinshasa.
Lingala (or Ngala, Lingala: Lingála) is a Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser degree as a trade language or because of emigration in neighbouring Angola or Central African Republic.
This language is used by 50.35% of the Congolese population who live along the Congo-Océan railway line which connects Brazzaville to Pointe-Noire in the south of the country. Lingala, the river language, is the language of President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, and is spoken mainly in the north and east of the country. This is the language which has ...
Kinshasa is the largest nominally Francophone urban area globally, with French being the language of government, education, media, public services and high-end commerce, while Lingala is used as a lingua franca in the street. The city's inhabitants are popularly known as Kinois, with the term "Kinshasans" used in English terminology.
A 2021 survey found that 74% of the population could speak French, making it the most widely spoken language in the country. [226] In Kinshasa, 67% of the population in 2014 could read and write French, and 68.5% could speak and understand it. [227] In 2024, there were around 12 million native French speakers in the country. [228]
The five major languages in the DRC are French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca, or trade language), Swahili (more specifically Congo Swahili such as the Kingwana dialect), Kikongo ya leta or Kituba (a Kikongo-based creole language), and Tshiluba or Luba-Kasai. In total, there are over 200 languages spoken in the DRC.
A map of the major Bantu languages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Like many African countries, the borders were drawn up by colonial powers, and bore little relation to the actual spread of ethno-linguistic groups. There are 242 languages spoken in the country, with perhaps a similar number of ethnic groups. Broadly speaking, there ...
Kongo or Kikongo is one of the Bantu languages spoken by the Kongo people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Angola. It is a tonal language . The vast majority of present-day speakers live in Africa.