Gambia Language Resources

Wolof and Mandinka Resources

The following files are available for the study of the Mandinka and Wolof languages. You have to get Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® is free software that lets you view and print Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)

Note: WEC also has a few good books on the Mandinka language. Contact: WEC; PO Box 2351; Serrekunda; Gambia Golf Rd 14; Fajara; The Gambia; Tel 495221; Fax 391137. And don't forget to check the online bibliography for other printed language materials.

Mandinka Dictionary
by Ebrima Colley, Peace Corps, 1995

The Mandinka-English Dictionary is 162 pages long, and is available in PDF format.

mandinka.pdf - 1.1 MB

Mandinka Grammar Manual
by Ebrima Colley, Peace Corps, 1995

The Mandinka Grammar Manual is 44 pages long and is available in PDF format.

mandgram.pdf - 183 KB
Mandinka Fonts - Download and extract contents in the fonts folder

Wolof Dictionary
by Sierra Dem, Peace Corps, 1995.

The Wolof-English Dictionary is 76 pages long, and is available in PDF format.

wollof.pdf - 620 KB

Wolof Grammar Manual
by Sierra Dem, Peace Corps, 1995

The Wolof Grammar Manual is 73 pages long and is available in PDF format.

wolfgram.pdf - 250 KB

Living Lexicon Database

Living Lexicon is a training database of Mandinka and Wolof vocabulary. It is available in MS Access format and FoxBase Mac+ format. (The MS Access version is much nicer.)

Living Lexicon for MS Access

Living Lexicon for MS Access is a user-friendly database application of Mandinka and Wolof vocabulary. It was created by volunteers and staff of the Peace Corps in The Gambia. With Living Lexicon you can:

look up words
print or export customized vocabulary lists
edit vocabulary or add new vocabulary
test your knowledge of Mandinka and Wolof by creating and taking fun-filled randomly-generated quizzes, which can be either printed or taken on the computer

Access 2.0	Access 95	Access 97
Hardware-Software Requirements To run this version of Living Lexicon, your computer must have Microsoft Access 2.0 for Windows. For best performance you should also have at least 8MB RAM. To install all the files (including the optional sound effects) you will need 5.5 MB of free hard disk space. To install only the minimum files necessary you need approximately 4.3 MB of free hard disk space. You also need a SVGA monitor (800 x 600). To download the archive, click on the file below. After it's downloaded, double-click on it in File Manager to extract the files. lexicon2.exe - 1.7MB	Hardware-Software Requirements To run Living Lexicon 95, your computer must have Microsoft Access 95. To install all the files (including the sound effects and 3 fonts) you will need 5 Mb of hard disk space. You also need a SVGA monitor (800 x 600). To hear the sound effects you will need a sound card. To download the archive, click on the file below. After it's downloaded, double-click on it in Explorer to extract the files. lexicon95.exe - 1.7MB	Hardware-Software Requirements To run Living Lexicon 97, your computer must have Microsoft Access 97 or later. To install all the files (including the sound effects and 3 fonts) you will need 4.8 Mb of hard disk space. You also need a SVGA monitor (800 x 600). To hear the sound effects you will need a sound card. To download the archive, click on the file below. After it's downloaded, double-click on it in Explorer to extract the files. lexicon97.exe - 1.7MB

Sound Effects for Living Lexicon for MS Access
There are several sound files, in WAV format, that can be used with the Living Lexicon for Access application. If installed, these sounds will be heard during the intro screen and when taking the randomly generated quizes. You do of course also need a sound card to hear the sounds. Please note the sounds effects are not recordings of spoken Wolof or Mandinka.

The sound files are available as a self-extracting archive called sounds.exe - 700 KB.

Living Lexicon for Access Users Manual
The Living Lexicon for Access help manual has some basic tips for using Living Lexicon for Access. It is saved as a compressed (i.e., zipped) MS Word 6.0 document and is available as lex_manl.zip - 16 KB.

Living Lexicon for FoxBase/Mac+

Living Lexicon for FoxBase/Mac+ is a user friendly application that can be used to edit Mandinka and Wolof vocabulary, print or export lists of words, or take fun-filled randomly generated quizzes. Online help is available.

To use this version of Living Lexicon, you must have a Macintosh computer with FoxBase 2.1 or later installed.

There are actually three files to download in order to run Living Lexicon for FoxBase/Mac+:

Application - saved as LivingLexicon.zip - 184 KB. After extracting, open Living Lexicon.prg from FoxBase.
Mandinka data - saved as MandinkaData.zip - 308 KB. Expand into same directory as the application files.
Wolof Data - saved as WollofData.zip - 155 KB. Expand into same directory as application files.

Note: to decompress zip files you need Winzip available from http://www.shareware.com.

PDF File Format -- PDF stands for Portable Document Format. This is a very common format for documents available on the internet. The advantage of the PDF format is that you can be almost 100% guaranteed that you will be able to view and print out the document in the same format it is supposed to be, without having to worry about what type of computer you have (Mac or IBM) or what fonts you have. The disadvantage of the PDF format is that you have to get a separate program to open the PDF file, because word processors such as MS Word or Word Perfect can not open PDF files. But the good news is that this special program, called the Adobe Acrobat Reader, is free and there are versions for both the Macintosh and IBM.

Having problems downloading or printing? Send me a note, and we'll see what we can do to help.