The Linguist

32 The Linguist Vol/61 No/4 2022 thelinguist.uberflip.com INSTITUTE MATTERS A life with languages In Lingala and English, Mukile Kasongo MCIL outlines how his passion for languages led to varied research interests, from francophone African women authors to court terminology koluka maloba ya solo ekoki kosenga ngonga molayi. Nabongolaki mikanda ya tribunal na monoko ya Anglais nakati ya Lingala mikolo eleki. Ezalaki esengo mingi komona ndenge minoko wana mibale ekeseni makasi nakokoma pe na emonaneli ya mokili. Nakolukaka maloba esengeli, nakokaki kobongola maloba ya tribunal na Anglais nakati ya Lingala na lolenge oyo moto alobaka Lingala asosola malamu. Kasi mikakatano ebakisamaki lisusu po Lingala elobamaka na lolenge mingi. Mingimingi toyebi Lingala ya Makanza na Lingala ya Lelo. Na bambula oyo ekoya, nakosepela kosilisa doctoract pe kokoba na mosala nanga ya molakisi pe mobongoli. Nayekola na Lingala na Français tango nazo kola na Congo, mboka ya liboso ya monene elobaka Français na 500 bikolo ya ndenge na ndenge. Ntango nyonso, nazalaka na mposa yakoyekola minoko misusu to komona bamboka misusu. Yangowana, nakendeki na mboka ya Russie, epayi nafandi mbula minei liboso yakoya na Royaume-Uni. Atako nalobaka Lingala, Français, Russe na Anglais, natangaki liboso Comptabilité na Finance. Nasima, namonaki malamu natanga bobongoli ya makomi pona kobanda mosola yanga moko, pamba te nazalaki kosalela minoko nalobaka te. Naponaki master ya bobongoli ya makomi pona kozwa mokonda oyo esengeli po nakoma kosala pona nga moko. Kasi na ntango nazo silisa kotanga, mposa yakotanga bobongoli ya makomi na mozindo ekomaki makasi. Yango etindaki nga nabanda Doctorat na Université ya Birmingham, esika nazoluka koyeba lolenge nini babongoli makomi na monoko ya Français ya basi ya Afrika nakati ya monoko ya Russe. Nazolobela mingi makomi ewuti Senegal na Algerie: Aïcha Lemsine's La Chrysalide (1976), Mariama Bâ's Une si longue lettre (1979) and Aminata Sow Fall's La Grève des bàttu (1979). Likambo ya motuya awa ezali koyeba soki balimwisaki, babatelaki to pe babongolaki maloba ya bomwasi ya basi ya Afrika na ndenge na bango. Kobongola makomi ezali kaka kosala na makomi te, kasi ezo sangisa makambo misisu ebele nakati ya mokili. Nayango mobongoli makomi azwaka esengo mingi kasi ezali pe na mikakatano mingi pamba te Growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the most populous francophone country with more than 500 ethnicities, I was educated in Lingala and French. I always had a passion for languages and what we can learn from other cultures. This led me to Russia, where I lived for four years before relocating to the UK. Although I speak Lingala, French, Russian and English, my first field of study was accounting and finance. Since I was not using my language skills, I decided to do a translation course with a view to setting up a freelance business. I chose to do an MA in Translation Studies so I could obtain the relevant qualification to be a freelance translator, but by the time I had completed the course I had developed a research interest in Translation Studies. This led me to start a PhD at the University of Birmingham, where I am currently researching the translation of francophone novels by African women into Russian. Drawing on feminist translation theory, I focus in particular on voices from Senegal and Algeria: Aïcha Lemsine's La Chrysalide (1976), Mariama Bâ's Une si longue lettre (1979) and Aminata Sow Fall's La Grève des bàttu (1979). What is at stake here is whether African women's voice of femininity is silenced, retained or somewhat transformed into a regional feminism. Translation does not just involve working with texts, but it also intersects with many other aspects of life. This makes the work of translators very interesting but also challenging as a considerable amount of time can be spent on finding the correct terminology. I recently translated court documents from English into Lingala, which was fascinating due to the wide cultural and linguistic differences between the two languages. By researching the terminology, I was able to convey the meaning of English legal terms in Lingala in a way that is accessible to the Lingala reader. This was further complicated because there are many varieties of Lingala, most commonly Classical Lingala and Lingala ya Lelo (modern Lingala). In the next few years, I intend to complete my doctorate and carry on working as an associate lecturer and freelance translator.

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