Everything You Need To Learn Mandinka
Mandinka is a Mandé language and the native language of the Mandinka ethnic group. It’s spoken throughout West Africa in Mali, The Gambia, Guinea, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
It belongs to the Niger-Congo family of languages which also include Wolof, Ishango, the Bantu languages and more. There are over 1.3 million Mandinka speakers.
Mandinka is closely-related to Bambara, another Mandé language spoken in Mali and Senegal.
The sad news is, learning materials for Mandinka are almost nonexistent. We’ve gathered together everything we could find, and we hope you can get some use out of them.
Mandinka Language Learning Books
Due to the limited number of learning resources available, your only real option is learning through a Mandinka study book. With this, you’ll get a general introduction to the language, an overview of its basic grammar and vocabulary, and some useful cultural information about Mandinka society.
A good Mandinka-English dictionary is also a must for anyone serious about learning the language. You’ll need a handy reference book for looking up all of those new Mandinka words you come across during your studies.
Other Mandinka Books
A great way of improving not only your reading comprehension but your overall command of the language is by reading books written in the Mandinka language. You’ll pick up things like grammar, vocabulary and see how the language is structured in a natural, interesting way.
