Book and Literary Translation Service in Lingala

Working together with our experienced and qualified translators, voiceover artists, interpreters, audiovisual translators, transcribers and subtitlers, we offer a wide range of language services.

Available in over 200 languages within the UK and beyond, our linguists can get you heard in any language of your choice. While we do not offer a walk-in service, we are only one phone call away from discussing your language requirements.

Completed by qualified Lingala literary translators

Literary translation is probably one of the most challenging forms of translation and we are delighted to be able to offer a very strong team of experienced Lingala translators.  The art of translating prose or poetry into or from another language is in some ways a lot less straightforward than translating an operating manual.  The technical translator must of course be familiar with the specific terms of his or her area of expertise, but for the literary linguist, the challenge is different every time.

To translate a book, script or piece of poetry from or into another language the linguist will need to know how to handle abstract language, find the right rhythm, idioms and adapt culturally dependent references in order to produce a piece of the work that works as well in the target language as it did in the source.  We would argue that literary translation is an art form in its own right.

Our team of Lingala literary linguists can also abridge, edit, proofread and prepare written texts ready for audio book production.

Just let us know how we can help you.

Whom do we work with?

• Published authors
• Not yet published authors
• Script writers
• Poets
• Individuals and agents

What sort of material?

• Books
• Poetry
• TV and film scripts
• Drama
• Audio book scripts
• Fiction and non-fiction

How is the cost for Lingala literary and book translation calculated?

• The cost depends on the volume
• Translation is calculated per source word of original content
• Proofreading/revision is calculated by the hour

Get in touch with one of our lovely project managers and they would be very happy to discuss all the available options with you. Do also take a look at the security procedures and infrastructure we already have in place to protect your data.

While you’re here… some quite interesting facts about the Lingala language.

Lingala is a Bantu lanuage spoken mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in the Republic of Congo, and also in Angola and the Central African Republic. There are thought to be 5.5 million native Lingala speakers, and 7 million second language speakers in the DRC. The Lingala of today is based on Bangi (Bobangi), a language that was spoken along the Congo River between Lisala and Kinshasa, and which is still spoken in parts of the DRC and the Republic of Congo. Bangi was the regional trade language until the arrival of the Europeans in the late nineteenth century. After the Europeans arrived, Bangi became the lingua franca for the region and was used in administration and by missionaries. Over time it became simplified, borrowed words from other languages, and started to be used in most domains. This version of the language became known as Lingala. Courtesy of Omniglot

Where is Lingala most widely spoken?

Lingala is spoken as a first, second, and third language primarily in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), and in parts of five neighboring central African states: Northwestern Angola, eastern Gabon, southern Central African Republic, and southwestern Sudan.