Kituba Language Program only $19.95

How to Speak Kituba

The Kituba Language Program contains 10 hours of audio, and one textbook in PDF file format with 497 pages.

Drills are recorded first for listening, then for familiarization through repetition, and finally for participation. During the participation step, when the student performs the required manipulation, his utterances are confirmed on the audio immediately following the space provided for his participation.

Drills are generally in two groups in any unit: a) variation drills on pattern sentences, which provide opportunities for the student to develop flexibility in the use of patterns already memorized, and b) grammar drills, which are intended to provide practice for the student in the operation of the patterns explained in the immediately preceding grammar notes.

About the Kituba Language

Kituba, also known as Kikongo Ya Leta and Munukutuba, is a vehicular or trade language spoken along the lower reaches of the Congo and its tributaries. The course consists of a 'primer' in the language and subject-oriented groups of lessons. The primer is intended to introduce the major grammatical structures of the language, to develop in the support an adequate pronunciation, and to present a certain amount of useful vocabulary for a variety of situations. The subject-oriented lessons build on the vocabulary and grammar presented in the primer. Each unit in the primer consists of a short dialogue, variation drills, a vocabulary supplement, grammar notes, and grammar drills. In subsequent units, the dialogue is supplemented with a short narrative.

The Kituba language appears to have arisen out of a need for intercommunication between up-river Congolese tribes speaking diealects of Lingala etc. and lower-river tribes speaking primarily dialects of Kikongo. This process began before the advent of Europeans in the inland areas but was apparently a response to trading needs stimulated by the arrival of European traders on the coast. Thus at the time of its original development Kituba was a pidgin language, an alteration of primarily Kikongo to become creolized as some people came to use it in the home as their primary language. The number of people to whom it is the "native" language is probably still very small and the great majority of those who use this language also speak another, often several others.

The name of the language presents a problem. There are two main, mutually intelligible dialects. That of the eastern or Kwango-Kwilu region is called Kituba, in some sections, Kikongo in others, the latter name reflecting the absence of speakers of real tribal Kikongo in that area. In the western areas of Congo the language is most often called Kikongo ya Leta, Munukutuba. In this course, although it represents essentially the western dialect, we have chosen to follow Fehderau in selecting the shorter, more convenient and generally acceptable name.

Kituba has been associated with the Belgian colonial administration, since it proved useful to Europeans who found it easier to use than Kikongo or other tribal languages. For this reason there is some residual feeling that the use of Kituba is an indication of opposition to the nationalist aspiration of, especially, the Bakongo people. However, it provides a means of communicating with a large number of people, speakers of various Kikongo dialects and a variety of other languages, and in certain areas where the tribal linguistic picture is very complicated, it shows signs of increasing use.