One of 100 languages in this directory

Lingala data for AI training, collected to your brief

Lingala data from IndecalAI is collected or reviewed by a native Lingala speaker, not pulled from an existing archive. We work with speakers across Africa, frequently alongside French, English or Arabic in the same conversation, matched to your brief and checked before delivery.

The short answer

What Lingala data can we produce?

Lingala data from IndecalAI is speech, text, conversational and translation data collected or reviewed by a Lingala speaker for your brief, not pulled from an existing archive.

Speakers here often move between this language and French, English or Arabic within the same conversation, so a brief should say whether to keep that mixing or avoid it.

This sits across several of our services depending on what you need: data collection for raw speech or text, conversational AI data for dialogue, and translation and localization for converting between Lingala and another language.

Translation projects often pair this language with French, English or Arabic. See translation and localization for that scope.

Lingala data at a glance

Data types
Speech, text, conversational, translation
Who works on it
Contributors from our network of 30,000+ people worldwide, matched to your brief.
Review
A review pass before anything is delivered.
Your data
NDA first, used only for the agreed scope, returned or deleted when you ask.
First step
A small free sample before you commit.
About the language

What to know about Lingala before you brief it

Lingala is a lingua franca on the Congo river and is the language of Kinshasa and Brazzaville, as well as of the music that carried it across Africa. It is also used by the army and in many media.

Everyday Lingala mixes in a lot of French, so a transcript of a real conversation will not look like the formal written language taught in books. Decide what you want recorded. Tone and the open vowels are written with marks that casual typing often skips, which can make text ambiguous. The Lingala of Kinshasa and of Brazzaville differ in vocabulary, so name the city.

Languages that sit close to Lingala in script, family or region: Swahili data, Kinyarwanda data, French data, Zulu data, Wolof data and Xhosa data.

Deciding what to specify for any language? The guide to speech data collection covers the choices that apply across languages, and the one on transcription for AI and for people covers how speech becomes text.

Lingala at a glance

Language family
Niger-Congo (Bantu)
Script
Latin letters with marks for tone and open vowels, left to right
Spoken mainly in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo
Name it in a brief
Kinshasa Lingala, Brazzaville Lingala, Lingala of the Congo river
Its own name
Lingála
Available in Lingala

Four ways to request Lingala data

Each links to the service that runs it, with its full scope and process.

Lingala speech data

Recorded speech in Lingala: calls, prompts and voice bot utterances, mixed with French, English or Arabic if that reflects how people actually speak it.

Lingala text data

Written Lingala: messages, reviews, tickets or chat logs, written or labeled by people who read it natively.

Lingala conversational data

Scripted or spontaneous Lingala dialogue for voice bots and support agents, reflecting how speakers here actually mix languages.

Lingala translation

Human-verified translation between Lingala and French, English, Arabic or another language in the same project.

Before we start

What to put in a Lingala brief

Four things worth deciding before contributors start, so the first sample already looks right.

Region or dialect

Lingala is spoken mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. Worth naming in a brief: Kinshasa Lingala, Brazzaville Lingala, Lingala of the Congo river. Tell us the region or community you're targeting so contributors are matched to the right one.

Script or transliteration

Script for Lingala: Latin letters with marks for tone and open vowels, left to right. Say whether you want the native script, a transliterated version, or both, especially if your downstream system only reads one.

Data type mix

Speech, text, conversational and translation can be requested together or on their own. Tell us the mix your model needs.

Volume and timeline

A rough sense of how much data and how soon lets us staff the right number of contributors from the start.

How it works

From your brief to reviewed Lingala data

One named contact owns the project from scoping to the last file.

  1. Brief

    You tell us the data type, the Lingala variety or region and roughly how much you need.

  2. NDA and scope

    We sign an NDA before any data moves, then agree the scope with you.

  3. Free sample

    We produce a small sample free, so you can check it before you commit.

  4. Production

    Contributors from our network work in our own tools, to the brief you set.

  5. Review

    A review pass runs before anything is delivered.

  6. Delivery

    The data comes to you, or moves on to another service with us.

Where it's used

Where Lingala data ends up

Common jobs for Lingala data. They're examples of the work, not a client list.

Voice bots and IVR

Recorded Lingala prompts and calls teach a voice bot to recognize how people actually speak, not just how a script reads.

Speech data

Support chat and tickets

Everyday Lingala messages, written in the domain you work in, give a chat assistant real phrasing to learn from.

Text data

Content moderation and sentiment

Labeled Lingala posts, reviews and messages teach a model to read tone and intent correctly in this language.

Conversational data

Localizing a product

Translating prompts, UI copy and training data into Lingala so a product reads like it was written for that market, not machine-translated.

Translation

Off-the-shelf, or built to your brief

Off-the-shelf Lingala data, or built to your brief?

We hold around 35,000 hours of off-the-shelf speech, prompts and conversations already collected across our network. We can't promise Lingala is in that pool until you ask, but it's worth checking before you commission a fresh collection. Here's how the two paths compare.

Off-the-shelf Lingala data compared with a Lingala brief built with IndecalAI
TopicA typical off-the-shelf datasetLingala data with us
Already collected?No way to know until you've already paid for itWe check our ~35,000-hour speech and conversation pool first and tell you honestly either way
Fit to your briefBuilt for whoever bought it first, not your exact region, register or use caseCollected or reviewed to the region, script and format you specify
Who else has itThe same files can be sold to more than one buyerScoped to your engagement, never resold for unrelated projects
Checking the fitYou find out after you've already paid for itA small free sample first, so you check it before committing to volume
Glossary

Lingala data terms, in plain words

General definitions. They describe the field, not a claim about us.

Native speaker review
A pass by someone who grew up speaking the language, checking that phrasing, tone and spelling read naturally, not just correctly.
Regional variety
A version of a language tied to a place, which can differ in vocabulary, pronunciation or script from the variety spoken elsewhere.
Code-mixing
Switching between two languages within the same sentence or conversation, common in everyday speech in many multilingual regions.
Human-verified translation
A translation checked by a person, rather than machine output delivered as final, catching meaning a model alone would miss.
Off-the-shelf dataset
Data already collected and packaged before a buyer exists, sold as-is to whoever licenses it next, rather than produced for one specific brief.
Related

Where Lingala data fits

Lingala is one of 100 languages on our languages directory. You can also browse every category on the datasets hub.

FAQ

Questions about Lingala data

The datasets FAQ covers questions that apply across every category.

Do you support Lingala?

Yes. Lingala is one of 100 languages in this directory, part of our wider language coverage worldwide, including deep Indian language coverage. Tell us the regional variety you need.

Do you already have any Lingala data collected?

Maybe. We hold around 35,000 hours of off-the-shelf speech, prompts and conversations across our network, but we can't promise Lingala is in that pool until you ask. It costs nothing to check before you commission a fresh collection.

Can you mix regional varieties of Lingala in one project?

Yes. Tell us the mix of regions or dialects you need and we'll match contributors from our network to that brief.

Which data types are available in Lingala?

Speech, text, conversational data and translation to or from Lingala. Image and video categories don't depend on language, so Lingala speakers can also appear in those briefs on request.

Is a sample available before we commit?

Yes, a small free sample first.

Can this run alongside other languages in the same project?

Yes. Many engagements mix languages, domains and data types under one brief and one named contact, using our network of 30,000+ people across 150+ projects delivered so far.

What counts as a regional variety of Lingala?

A version of the language tied to a place or community, which can differ in vocabulary, pronunciation, formality or script from another region's variety. Name the region in your brief if it matters for your use case.

Can you handle Lingala in its native script?

Yes. Contributors work in the native script by default, with transliteration available if your project needs it instead.

Which variety of Lingala should I ask for?

Ask for the one your users actually speak. Lingala is spoken mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo, and the forms most worth naming in a brief are Kinshasa Lingala, Brazzaville Lingala, Lingala of the Congo river. If you are unsure, describe your users and where they live, and your named contact will help you decide before collection starts.

How is Lingala written, and does it matter for the data?

Lingala data uses Latin letters with marks for tone and open vowels, left to right. The script and its encoding affect how a model reads the data, so say in the brief which one you need and whether a romanized or transliterated version is also required.

Request Lingala data

Pick the data type, confirm Lingala as the language and a rough volume, and send it. We'll produce a small sample free before you commit.

  1. Your named contact replies within one business day.
  2. We sign an NDA before any data changes hands.
  3. We produce your free sample, then agree the full scope.
What should we produce?
Email this brief

This opens your email app with the brief filled in. Nothing is sent until you press send. You can also use the contact page.