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D.R. of Congo: the richness of Lingala

Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007 @ 14:40 UTC

by Ndesanjo Macha

Countries:: D.R. of Congo
Topics:: Language

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.”

Posted by Ndesanjo Macha

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2 Responses to
“D.R. of Congo: the richness of Lingala”

May 24th, 2007 at 14:40 pm
Papa Shongo:
1
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?
March 25th, 2008 at 3:03 am
zaza mpolo:
2
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>>

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