According to Wikipedia, “LuSoga (Soga) is a tonal Bantu language that is spoken in Uganda. It is the native language of people who are indigenous/originally from the Busoga region. In terms of the number of speakers, is one of the major languages spoken in Uganda, after English, Swahili, and Luganda. However, it is mainly spoken in the Busoga region of southern Uganda by + 3 million people (2007 census)… It is tonal in the sense that a given word can change its meaning depending on its tone, i.e. some words are differentiated by pitch. Words that are spelled the same may carry different meanings according to their pitch. Lusoga is rich in metaphors, proverbs and folktales.”
There are several websites that have the basic words and phrases of Lusoga, including:
– Wikipedia Lusoga Language entry
– English – Lusoga Dictionary, selected words and phrases
The recordings below allow you to listen to native Lusoga speakers. Due to the musical quality of this language, it can be very helpful to understand how Lusoga sounds when spoken by native speakers.
Please click on the links below to hear Lusoga and to download the text transcription of the audio.
Greetings In Lusoga – Audio
Conversational Lusoga – Audio
Conversational Lusoga, Part 2 – Audio
Numbers – Audio
Words for Food – Audio
Words Related to Health – Audio
Words Related to Sanitation and Hygiene – Audio
Common Verbs – Audio
Thanks to Lily Hsieh, Milly Nabirye, and Patty Barrientos for the audio recordings.