Bishi! is the first word learned by many who have an interest in learning Tshiluba.
Tshiluba (Ciluba) is a southern Bantu language spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that belongs to the Niger-Congo language family. Tshiluba is chiefly spoken in a large area in the Kasaï Occidental and Kasaï Oriental provinces of the DRC, but an eastern dialect is spoken by the Luba people of the East Kasai Region and a western dialect by the Lulua people of the West Kasai Region.
The differences in Tshiluba within the area are minor, consisting mostly of differences in tones and vocabulary, and speakers easily understand one another. Both dialects have subdialects.
Additionally, there is also a pidginised variety of Tshiluba, especially in cities, where the everyday spoken Tshiluba is enriched with French words and even words from other languages, such as Lingala or Swahili.
This website provides some basic information for English speakers with any level of interest, especially to people who may want to visit southern DRC.
The following guide will let you try out some basic Tshiluba:
