The Lingala Learner’s Dictionary (Lingala-English/English-Lingala) is the first reference book of its kind, and it took him four years to come up with a book that is already a hit in the Kenyan Book Market.

“Compiling a dictionary is an activity that does not end. It took me four years and I intend to update it after every three years” ,he says.

Contrary to his expectation, the response was overwhelming, especially from the Congolese music lovers.

“The response was instantly overwhelming. I was surprised there were people who were interested in understanding the language. They wanted the meanings of these songs. In knowing the language, they will be able to understand the meaning of the songs”,he said.

His desire is to assist the English speakers access the Lingala language and help native Lingala speakers learn the English language, given that the two Lingala-speaking nations of Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo Brazzaville have French as official language.

According to him, challenges ranged from compiling the words, lack of editors, spelling words for the first time, and finance but did not stop him to complete the project. 

“Lingala is an oral  language. It does not have documentation like other languages such as English and French. I made use of my student readers who contributed for me to come up with this volume”, Baongoli states.

He has made it his routine to sacrifice every free time he has to produce books.

So far he has produced five books: “Translation of Classic Lingala Songs”, “Learn to Speak Lingala”, “A Guide to CV  Writing for University Graduates” and “Basics in Four European Languages: French, German, Italian and Spanish”.

“I sacrifice my free time. When I get some free time, I use that to write. I maximize in all my free time”, he says on the balancing act he has to go through between teaching and writing. The readers can access the books in major bookshops in Kenya, the embassies of the two Congos and Congoman Publishers in Nairobi, Kenya.

Mr. Arizona Baongoli blames lack of funding and motivation as the reason many African academicians do not publish in their areas of expertise.

“Publishing in an area of specialization does not bring direct income. Another reason is that not many would read if you publish for instance a book on Genetics”.  

He says that if scholars get motivated then they would be prolific and able to produce materials that would spur education to greater heights in the continent.

On the Kenyan Publishing industry that continues to be under fire from creative writers and budding authors for leaning so much on textbooks, the Linguistics don reckons that the reason is money.

“Textbooks for Primary and Secondary schools will make more money as opposed to novels, poems and even academic works like mine”, he argues.

For one to learn a language, Mr. Baongoli advises that they have to be motivated and be ready to understand the language, adding that initially, he was for sciences but developed interest in languages after being motivated.

His passion for African languages is manifested in the Lingala Language Academy which he has founded to promote and preserve African languages.

He plans to assist budding writers realize their dreams by organizing workshops where they can find avenues to put their ideas into practise.  

“I have noticed that a place like a University has got many students who are interested in writing books, but they don’t have the place they can put their ideas to paper”, he says.

A part from writing and teaching, he is a consultant in the level of editing, a certified translator, and a motivational speaker, which he does for free.

During his spare time he browses, Facebooks, tweets and listens to Lingala music. His favourite book is the Bible which he credits as a source of inspiration and encouragement.

“Unlike other books, when you read it over and over you still find something to inspire you. When you are down it encourages you”, he adds.

His message to budding writers is that they should be patient and committed since nothing can be achieved overnight.

He also advises them to attend workshops for writers and read works by other authors. To teachers like him, the best way to leave a lasting legacy is to write, arguing that by doing so, one transmits his knowledge to the future generation.

If you would like to purchase the dictionary, please contact us at editor@iq4news.com