Kinshasa - "I haven't once spoken my mother tongue Kilokele in the 62 years I've lived in Kinshasa. None of my nine children speak it," says Charles Tongohala. Tongohala's native tongue is one of 450 ...

Meanwhile, both Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are home to over 200 languages. In Cameroon, Bulu, Beti and Pidgin are most popular, while Lingala, Swahili and Luba are spoken ...

In the DRC, the language has been superseded by French in primary education. Swahili is one of the four ”vernacular” languages used in radio and television in the DRC.

Daniel Mukebayi, another Kinshasa resident, speaks Tshiluba, the language of the Luba people of central DRC, mainly the Kasai region. Mukebayi and his wife taught their 10 children Tshiluba, and he ...