Mandinka is a West African language spoken by the Mandinka people. It is one of the Mande languages, which are a branch of the Niger-Congo language family. As a translation company of over 33 years we have experience and experienced language pairs to translate any Mandinka document requirements.
The Mandinka language is spoken primarily in West Africa, particularly in the countries of Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. It is also spoken by smaller communities in other West African countries, such as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Sierra Leone.
Mandinka is a tonal language, which means that the meaning of words can change depending on the pitch at which they are spoken. It is also a highly regular language, with a consistent sound-to-meaning correspondence.
More facts about Mandinka
Mandinka (Mandi’nka kango / لغة مندنكا)
Mandinka, with about 1.3 million speakers (in 2006) in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau and Chad. It is the main language of The Gambia, and is recognised as a minority language in Senegal.
Mandinka is also known as Mandingo.
There are versions of the Latin and Arabic scripts for writing Mandinka. The Latin script is official, but the Arabic script is used by more people, and is older. The N’Ko script is also used in north east Guinea, and in neighbouring parts of Ivory Coast and Mali.
Example of Mandinka
Mung ne ye a tinna ñankaroo mang kungo soto
Kabiring Alla ye daafengolu bee dadaa, a naata kungolu fanaa bee dadaa ì ye. Kabiring kung taa siita, daafengolu bee taata ì kungolu taa. Bari seewoo le labanta ka taa a kungo taa.
Biring a be bo kang nang kung taadulaa to, a ning ñankaroo benta siloo kang, wo fanaa be taa kang a kungo taa kang. Bitung ñankaroo ye seewoo ñininkaa ko, “Kori kungolu mang bang jee?” Seewoo ko a ye ko, “Kungolu mennu tuta jee to, nte le fanaa kungo ñiiñaata wolu ti.”
Ñankaroo ko a ye ko, “Wo to nte fanaa faata wolu la le.”
Wo le ye a tinna ñankaroo mang kungo soto.
Note
Long vowels are indicated by doubling: aa, ee, etc.
You can learn more about Mandinka by watching the video below. If you would like to know more about our translation services for Mandinka then please get in touch.
