D.R. of Congo: the richness of Lingala
Written byNdesanjo Macha
Blogging from the Democratic Republic of Congo, John writes about the richness and complexity of Lingala: Then there’s the word “poto” which I think is “mpoto” in the classic Lingala (but that’s a whole other discussion…). It means Europe, but I’ve discovered that it also means the U.S. I haven’t probed too far into the meaning, but pretty much for the Congolese it means anywhere where the white people live. “Malili” is related to “moi” because it means both “cool” or “cold” (as in a cold beer, which is my most frequent use of it) and also “shade.”
Written byNdesanjo Macha
3 comments
Hey for some reason i thought the article would be longer, in any case doesn’t “moi” means the sun or the heat from the sun?
poto is short for portugal since the first whites to arrive in the area were from portugal the native referred to any place white people live as poto short for portugal. Today it simply means the west>>
Moi does mean sun, and malali means sick whereas the word for cool is literally translated as hot, not or moto te, though that may also be a word for cool (Nabosani yango). However, there are variations on the language as I learned in Rep of Congo, not DRC.