Sango-English/ English-Sango Dictionary & Phrasebook

Sango, also known as Sanngo and Sng, is an official language of the Central African Republic (CAR). It is also spoken in Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Congo and Cameroon and considered a lingua franca of the region. Spoken by nearly 6 million people in the CAR, there are also an estimated additional 1.6 million speakers of Sango worldwide. Although French is still used in most official communication and education in CAR, Sango is spoken by 98% of the population and is the primary language of socialization and oral communication through the country.

This unique two-part resource uses the official Sango Latin alphabet and orthography. It provides travelers to Central Africa with tools for daily interactions. The bilingual dictionary has a concise vocabulary for everyday use, and the phrasebook allows instant communication on a variety of topics. Ideal for businesspeople, travelers, students, and aid workers, this guide includes:

4,000 dictionary entries
Essential phrases on subjects such as healthcare, time, dates, transportation, money, communication services and much more
An introduction to the basics of Sango grammar (including a short guide to alphabet and pronunciation)

Author Biography

Marcel Diki-Kidiri is a noted Central African linguist and author of numerous books on Sango language development, standardization and computer processing of languages, African sociolinguistics, and technical and scientific vocabularies. He is a university professor, former senior researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research, member of the executive board of MAAYA the Global Network for Linguistic Diversity, academician of the African Academy of Languages ​​(ACALAN), president of Yângâ tî Sanngo tî Bêafrîka (YSB Sanngo), and medalist of the Academic Palms of the Central African Republic.  He currently resides in France.

John Lechner holds an MS in Foreign Service (MSFS) from Georgetown University. He is an expert on Russia’s growing influence in Africa, and speaks fluent Russian; advanced French, Turkish, and Georgian; and conversational Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), Chechen, German, and Sanngo (the lingua franca of the Central African Republic). He currently works as a freelance journalist and researcher, reporting on the Central African Republic (CAR) and Libya. He is an expert on the history, languages, and politics of Central Africa, Turkey, and the former Soviet Union. He resides in Washington, D.C.