A manual on lingala, known also as mangala, a trade language spoken in areas on both sides of the congo river, is presented. The speaker on whose speech the materials are based is from leopoldville. The transcription system consists of the orthography regularly used to write lingala plus diacritical markings to clearly indicate tone and pronunciation. Lingala is a tone language consisting of many words borrowed from other languages (french, arabic, english, and portuguese). Assimilated words are spelled as pronounced in lingala, while words recently borrowed and not assimilated are given the usual french spelling. The text contains 24 units for study plus a glossary. The course is designed to provide basic structures and vocabulary for situations in which there would be a need for this language. Tape recordings are designed to accompany the text. (rs)