To learn Mandinka, there's no secret: you have to practice.
✓ 7-day free trial • ✓ No commitment • ✓ Certified native teachers
Ousmane, your native Mandinka teacher
Regular live classes in small groups. Ask questions, practice conversation, progress fast.
You speak Mandinka every week, with a native teacher
You join whichever slot suits you, with nothing to book. The joining link arrives by email, and the session is recorded.
- 4 slots this week, across all three levels
- 2 to 5 students per class, all at your level
- Replay available the same evening, with no time limit
Reconnect with Mandinka
The language of your parents, your grandparents or your partner. The one you want to pass on to your children.
- Finally understand what is said at the table, and answer back.
- Your in-laws speak Mandinka to you. Answer them in Mandinka.
A language is passed down from generation to generation. Now it is your turn.
Start for freeProgress in Mandinka between classes, at your own pace
Interactive lessons with native audio, vocabulary, dialogues and quizzes. Everything you need to reinforce your skills between live sessions.
Between classes, you move forward twenty minutes a day
Lessons follow one another in order, with no evening to set aside. Every word is recorded by a native speaker.
- 264 lessons across 38 modules, from beginner to advanced
- Native audio on every word, with a slow-down button
- Your progress is kept, on phone and on computer alike
You hear the language as it is actually spoken
The recordings are made by native speakers, not by a synthetic voice. The slow-down button separates the sounds when it goes too fast.
- Every sentence can be played and slowed down
- The transcription and translation sit under the audio
- You replay it as many times as you need, with no limit
Every module ends with a quiz, not with a ticked box
You are corrected on the spot, with the explanation. A failed quiz can be retaken, with no penalty and no record.
- Immediate correction, with the right answer explained
- An end-of-level test opens the next level
- A level certificate at the end of the course
Your Mandinka level, certified in your name
- Issued once you have passed every lesson of a level: beginner, intermediate or advanced
- Downloadable as a PDF and shareable on LinkedIn
- A unique number, verifiable online on targumi.com
- Included in the plans with live classes, from the first payment: it is not issued during the trial
Join Targumi's Mandinka community
Dedicated WhatsApp group, exchanges between learners, resource sharing. You're never alone in your learning journey.
Join the support groupFree · No time limit · Native speakers present
Your Mandinka curriculum
Exactly what you'll find inside the platform: 38 modules, 264+ structured lessons, quizzes and exercises.
- Friends and Neighbours10 min
- + 2 more
- Personal pronouns10 min
- The verb "to be": ye and bɛ12 min
- To go, to come, to return10 min
- Eating, Drinking, Sleeping10 min
- To See, to Hear, to Speak10 min
- + 2 more
- The Head and the Face10 min
- The body: hand, foot, stomach10 min
- Internal Organs10 min
- Feeling Well, Feeling Unwell10 min
- Being in Pain: Expressing Discomfort10 min
- + 2 more
- Staple foods10 min
- Drinks10 min
- Fruits and vegetables10 min
- Eating and Drinking10 min
- Cooking10 min
- + 2 more
- The house and its parts10 min
- The Village and the Town10 min
- School and the Market10 min
- Locative Postpositions12 min
- Giving directions12 min
- + 2 more
- Basic Colours10 min
- Good or bad10 min
- Big or small10 min
- Beautiful, Pretty, New10 min
- Expensive or Cheap10 min
- + 2 more
- Domestic animals10 min
- Wild Animals10 min
- Trees and Plants10 min
- The Sky and the Elements10 min
- Numbers with animals10 min
- + 2 more
- The Mali Empire and Soundiata Keïta12 min
- The Jeli (Griots) and the Kora12 min
- Jamu (Surnames) and Sanankuya12 min
- Nyama: vital energy10 min
- Islam and Mandingue culture10 min
- + 2 more
- Greeting the whole family10 min
- Asking for news10 min
- Thanking and apologising10 min
- Asking for help10 min
- The telephone and messages10 min
- + 2 more
- Grammar summary12 min
- Summary of essential vocabulary12 min
- The Mandinka tonal system: H and L tones13 min
- Vocabulary: Food and the Market10 min
- Vocabulary: family and social relationships10 min
- Greetings and polite expressions10 min
- Simple questions and answers10 min
- Talking about your daily life10 min
- Preparing for your trip: passport, ticket, visa15 min
- At the airport: check-in and luggage15 min
- Booking Accommodation: Hotel and Host Family15 min
- Getting around town: taxi and sotrama15 min
- Asking for directions15 min
- + 5 more
- Basic professions15 min
- At the office: meetings and colleagues15 min
- Applying for a job: the interview15 min
- Describing your skills15 min
- Salaries and negotiation15 min
- + 4 more
- Radio in Bambara: ORTM and Private Stations15 min
- Newspapers and the written press15 min
- Television: programmes and channels15 min
- Internet and social media15 min
- Giving your opinion on current affairs15 min
- + 4 more
- The State and institutions15 min
- Political history: independence15 min
- Political Parties15 min
- Rights and Duties of the Citizen15 min
- Gender equality15 min
- + 4 more
- Agriculture: the pillar of the economy15 min
- Trade and the market15 min
- Banking and money15 min
- Natural Resources: Gold and Cotton15 min
- Inflation and the cost of living15 min
- + 4 more
- The Malian School System15 min
- Collège and lycée (lower and upper secondary school)15 min
- University: faculties and courses of study15 min
- Dissertations and research15 min
- Language Learning15 min
- + 4 more
- Mande Music: Kora and Balafon15 min
- The Epic of Sundiata15 min
- Traditional dance15 min
- Malian cinema15 min
- Craftsmanship: Weaving and Pottery15 min
- + 4 more
- Mandinka nature: fauna and flora15 min
- The River Niger15 min
- Desertification15 min
- Climate change15 min
- Water: a vital resource15 min
- + 4 more
- Long Ritual Greetings13 min
- Ceremonial speech: weddings and funerals12 min
- Islam and Mandinka Religious Vocabulary11 min
- The Mande dialect continuum: Bambara, Dioula, Mandinka13 min
- Contemporary Mandingo: media and politics11 min
- Advanced Proverbs and Mande Wisdom11 min
- Sunjata Keita, founder of the Empire18 min
- The Kurukan Fuga Charter18 min
- Mansa Musa and the pilgrimage of 132418 min
- Timbuktu and Djenné, capitals of knowledge18 min
- The Decline of the Empire (15th-16th centuries)18 min
- + 5 more
- The jeli, keeper of memory18 min
- The epic of Sunjata (Sunjata Fasa)18 min
- Sumanguru Kanté and Occult Power18 min
- Sogolon Condé, the founding mother18 min
- Mandingo Ntalen (Proverbs)18 min
- + 5 more
- Islam and Sufi brotherhoods in Mali18 min
- The concept of nyama (vital force)18 min
- The nyamakala: castes of the spoken word18 min
- Bambara Animism and the Boli (Fetishes)18 min
- Minority Christianity in Mali18 min
- + 5 more
- The Independences: 1958-196018 min
- The era of one-party states (1960-1990)18 min
- Democratisation in the 1990s18 min
- The 2012 Coup d'État in Mali18 min
- Military transitions 2020-202418 min
- + 5 more
- Mali's Gold: Tradition and Modernity18 min
- Livestock Farming: Traditional Wealth18 min
- Cotton, Mali's White Gold18 min
- Subsistence Farming: Millet, Rice, Sorghum18 min
- The informal sector: market, artisans, taxis18 min
- + 5 more
- The Soninke in France: a history18 min
- Malians in Ivory Coast18 min
- Emigration to Spain and Italy18 min
- The Diaspora in the USA18 min
- The myth of return: kɔsegi18 min
- + 5 more
- The jeli, guardian of speech and music18 min
- The Kora, a Twenty-One-String Harp-Lute18 min
- The balafon and the ngoni: further treasures18 min
- Salif Keita, the golden voice of Mali18 min
- Ali Farka Toure and desert blues18 min
- + 5 more
- The Mandingo continuum: 4 variants, 1 family18 min
- Bambara, Mali's lingua franca18 min
- The N'Ko alphabet, a pan-Mande script18 min
- Multilingualism in Mali18 min
- Bambara Facing French: Tensions and Loanwords18 min
- + 5 more
- The cosmogonic prologue of the fasa18 min
- Sogolon Condé, the Buffalo Mother18 min
- Sunjata's paralysed childhood18 min
- The exile and the Mema18 min
- Sumanguru Kanté, the Sotigi of the Sosso18 min
- + 5 more
- Sanu, the gold of the medieval Manden18 min
- The mines of Bambuk and Boure18 min
- The Trans-Saharan Gold-Salt Trade18 min
- Timbuktu, Trading City18 min
- Mansa Musa's Hajj (1324-1325)18 min
- + 5 more
They talk about us
Learners talk about their journey on Targumi.
4.9 / 5 · Verified learner reviews
Targumi on the radio
Benjamin Maubacq, Targumi’s founder, was a guest on “Grandir ensemble”, a Radio Tamtam Africa programme about languages and how they are passed on.
What you'll learn in Mandinka
A curriculum designed to get you speaking Mandinka in the situations that actually matter to you.
Start for free- 01Conversational Mandinka from The Gambia and Casamance
- 02Tones and Mandinka phonology
- 03The Mandé family: Mandinka, Bambara, Dyula, similarities and differences
- 04Mandinka culture: kora, djembe, Kankurang ceremony (UNESCO)
- 05Mandinka for travelers in The Gambia and Casamance
- 06Mandinka for the Gambian and Guinean diaspora in France
Frequently asked questions about learning Mandinka
All Mandinka resources
Explore our free tools to progress outside of class.
Mandinka level test
Assess your CEFR level in 5 minutes. 30-day learning plan included.
Discover →Mandinka survival kit
A hundred words and thirty key phrases as a printable PDF, free.
Discover →Mandinka cultural quiz
How well do you know Mandinka culture? Films, music, traditions.
Discover →Mandinka articles
Guides and articles to learn Mandinka.
Discover →Mandinka vocabulary
Essential words and phrases organized by theme.
Discover →Cultural resources
Podcasts, movies, TV shows and music to progress through immersion.
Discover →Guides to learn Mandinka
Learn Mandinka: complete beginner's guide
Discover how to learn Mandinka (Manding): West African Mandé language, grammar, essential phrases and Mandinka culture. Complete beginner's guide.
12 min read→Guide pratiqueBambara, Dioula or Manding: Understanding the Mande Language Family to Choose Your Language
Bambara, Dioula and Manding are three variants of the same linguistic continuum. Vocabulary, geography, diaspora and culture: how to choose the right one for your goals.
14 min read→Language GuideHow to Say Hello in Mandinka: Greetings in Gambia and Senegal
Learn Mandinka greetings, main language of Gambia: Salamaleekum, I be di. Spoken by 40% of Gambians. Pronunciation, culture, and historical context.
7 min read→They are learning Mandinka with Targumi
Verified learner testimonials.
4.9 / 5 · Verified learner reviews
“Been on Targumi for 3 months. The small group format is exactly what I needed. My teacher takes time to correct accent, it's precious. Made more progress in 3 months than in 2 years of regular apps.”
“What sold me is you actually speak from class one. No 10 hours of theory before opening your mouth. And the platform between classes is well-built, I revise on the morning commute.”
“Honestly I had doubts at first because I'd tried plenty of methods without sticking. This is different, the teacher knows their stuff, adapts to your level, and we have fun on top of it. 6 months in and still motivated.”
“Really good experience overall, the rhythm between live classes and independent practice is well-balanced. Small note: the mobile app lags sometimes, but the teaching content is well worth the price.”
“The thing that makes a real difference compared to other platforms: teachers are native and trained. You feel it, especially on accent and everyday expressions you don't learn in textbooks.”
Start learning Mandinka today
Try free for 7 days, every language included.
Launch offer until October 31 at 11:59 pm (Paris time) · Limited number of spots
Reduced price kept for as long as you stay subscribed
- 4 live classes a week with a native teacher: small groups of 3 to 5 people. Practise, ask your questions, improve your pronunciation, and let yourself be guided as you learn the language. No obligation, join in as you wish. There are classes for every level.
- A complete learning platform: learn to build sentences, listen to audio recorded by native speakers, practise with exercises.
- Every live class replay available, the ones held before you signed up and the upcoming ones, with their PDF, available to download.
- Learner discussion groups, with the teachers: practise writing, chat every day.
- Level certificate at the end of each learning path.
- Every language included: over 100 languages, and you switch language whenever you like, at no extra cost.
Launch offer until October 31 at 11:59 pm (Paris time) · Limited number of spots
Reduced price kept for as long as you stay subscribed
- 4 live classes a week with a native teacher: small groups of 3 to 5 people. Practise, ask your questions, improve your pronunciation, and let yourself be guided as you learn the language. No obligation, join in as you wish. There are classes for every level.
- A complete learning platform: learn to build sentences, listen to audio recorded by native speakers, practise with exercises.
- Every live class replay available, the ones held before you signed up and the upcoming ones, with their PDF, available to download.
- Learner discussion groups, with the teachers: practise writing, chat every day.
- Level certificate at the end of each learning path.
- Every language included: over 100 languages, and you switch language whenever you like, at no extra cost.
Launch offer until October 31 at 11:59 pm (Paris time) · Limited number of spots
Reduced price kept for as long as you stay subscribed
- 4 live classes a week with a native teacher: small groups of 3 to 5 people. Practise, ask your questions, improve your pronunciation, and let yourself be guided as you learn the language. No obligation, join in as you wish. There are classes for every level.
- A complete learning platform: learn to build sentences, listen to audio recorded by native speakers, practise with exercises.
- Every live class replay available, the ones held before you signed up and the upcoming ones, with their PDF, available to download.
- Learner discussion groups, with the teachers: practise writing, chat every day.
- Level certificate at the end of each learning path.
- Every language included: over 100 languages, and you switch language whenever you like, at no extra cost.
Want all the content, without the live classes? Platform, every language for $9.50 a month instead of $19, 7-day trial included
How the 7-day trial works
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