Ndonga
Encyclopedia
Ndonga is a Bantu
language spoken in Namibia
and some parts of Angola
. It is a standardized dialect
of the Ovambo language, and is mutually intelligible
with Kwanyama, the other Ovambo dialect with a standard written form. The total number of Ndonga speakers is estimated to be slightly over one million.
Martti Rautanen
translated the Bible
into the Ndonga standard.
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
language spoken in Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
and some parts of Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
. It is a standardized dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
of the Ovambo language, and is mutually intelligible
Mutual intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is recognized as a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related languages can readily understand each other without intentional study or extraordinary effort...
with Kwanyama, the other Ovambo dialect with a standard written form. The total number of Ndonga speakers is estimated to be slightly over one million.
Martti Rautanen
Martti Rautanen
Martti Rautanen was the pioneer of Finnish Mission in Ovamboland, Namibia.-Childhood and education:...
translated the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
into the Ndonga standard.