Sangolex.com

The Sango Language

Every language has its sound.  To my ear, French flows and pleasantly gurgles like falling water.  German sounds like dogs barking.  Spanish sounds like a hen house.  And Sango?  Sango sounds like birds in the morning.

But not just any bird.  Specifically, the village weaver bird, or kaya.  Early in the morning, kayas get together and chirp and sing like they haven't seen each other in decades.  Its a happy, boisterous noise that says more with intonation than with its basic syntax.

Everything I read about the language before I came to Bangui made it sound simple and easy to learn.  The one English-Sango dictionary I could find contained the 490 unique words that had been identified at the time and their English equivalents.  Sounds easy right?  Unfortunately that dictionary was written in 1962, when French orthography was still the mode and no universal system of accentuation was in use.  Then there's another level of complication.  Sango uses phrasal verbs and nouns to describe many concepts that use only one word in English.  For example, in English if someone cedes in  a game, you can use "forfit" or "give up".  "Give up" is a phrasal verb.  It has nothing to do with giving or moving up.  But put them together and you know what it means.  Turn to a dictionary and look at the encyclopedic entries under give, get, move or any other English verb and you'll see what I mean.  Then try to explain the subtle differences between “give up”, “give in” and “give out”.  Likewise, in Sango, the word "obstacle" is always translated ye so kanga lege ni, the “thing that blocks the way”.  The context and lots of practice tell you to read and understand it all as one word.  The following example shows how words are often used over and over again to mean different things:
 

Sango	Literally	Understood
be	heart	heart, center
dabe	to house in the heart	remember
mabe	listen or understand with the heart	faith
be Afika	heart of Africa	Central Africa
do be	trembling heart	anxiety
de be	cool heart	comfort
sara be	make heart	jealousy
kota be	big heart	greed
bi be	throw your heart	thoughts, motives
nzo-be	good heart	kindness
be bungbi	heart of the group	Governing Body

 and my personal favorite, 

ta-be-ti-molenge

true heart of a child

humility

One thing I really like about Sango is the reaction you get when you speak.  More accurately, this is something I really like about Sango speakers.  Any attempt you make to learn their language is always met with appreciation and the most agreeable giggles.

Many foreigners never learn the language even after years in the country, viewing it as an inferior means of expression.  And really, why bother when all the people you want to speak to probably know French?  What they forget is that the most amazing resource this landlocked country has to offer is not diamonds or uranium or beautiful timber.  Its the people.

Please note:

Dictionaries take years to write. If you see a typographical or translation error, by all means contact us. We read all emails enthusiastically!