First off, kudos to Firaxis for including a Sub-Saharan civilization in the first place. The region tends to be badly ignored in the media, so I'm glad they didn't ignore the region and leave it for an expansion pack or for DLC.
That said, I'm upset about the Ngao Mbeba. Why? It's just wrong.
"Ngao Mbeba" is Swahili for "Shield Bearer". But the Kingdom of Kongo didn't use Kiswahili, they spoke Kikongo. Using Swahili instead of Kikongo is an understandable thing to do though. References on Kikongo and its dialects are scarce, it's simpler to just use Swahili.
Except the term Ngao Mbeba (Literally 'Shield' + 'Bearer') is grammatically incorrect. Kikongo and Kiswahili compounds words and add adjectives in reverse order to English. So "Fireman" would be "Manfire", for example.
As examples, here are breakdowns of some Swahili words and phrases:
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Mwananchi (Citizen) = Mwana (Child) + Nchi (Country)
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Mwanasheria (Lawyer) = Mwana (Child) + Sheria (Law)
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Mwanafamilia (Family member) = Mwana (Child) + Familia (Famliy)
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Pembetatu (Triangle) = Pembe (Corner) + Tatu (Three)
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Elimu Jamii (Sociology) = Elimu (Knowledge) + Jamii (Society)
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Elimu Msitu (Forestry) = Elimu (Knowledge) + Msitu (Forest)
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Baba Yetu (Our Father) = Baba (Father) + Yetu (Our)
And a Kikongo example, just for wholeness:
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M'banza Kongo (Kongo City) = M'banza (City) + Kongo
But Ngao Mbeba is: Ngao (Shield) + Mbeba (Carrier/Bearer) so in English, it would be translated "Carrier/Bearer Shield" (if it is translatable at all). As a matter of fact, the phrase 'Shield Bearer' appears twice in the Bible, and guess how the phrase was translated in the Swahili Bible? (you can see for yourself here)
Mbeba ngao wake alitangulia mbele yake.
His shield bearer went ahead of him. (1 Samuel 17:7)
Wakati ule ule, yule Mfilisti, akiwa na mbeba ngao wake mbele yake, akaendelea kujongea karibu na Daudi.
Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. (1 Samuel 17:41)
I pointed this out a while back in the hopes that they'd fix it. But with the recent Let's Plays that have been posted, it seems Firaxis has doubled-down instead. I found the claim that the Kongolese would keep records in Swahili dubious. The already had Kikongo and Portuguese, why use Swahili? (and consistently incorrect Swahili at that). So I posted a question to r/AskHistorians
Did the Kongolese actually keep written records in Swahili rather than Kikongo? Etc.
Nope. Swahili is a lingua franca used in portions of the DRC today, but Swahili and Arab traders did not reach the eastern parts of the congo basin until the mid-19th century. The use of Swahili for the Kingdom of Kongo is very anachronistic.
I'm somewhat upset Firaxis sees fit to ignore the error just because Kongo isn't as well known to us as many of the other civs: I don't think the majority of us would be happy if Teddy's UU was called a Reiter rauer. So I sincerely hope Firaxis does something before release, find a better name, find out what Shield-bearer would be in Kikongo, or at least fix the Swahili.
Edit: u/Tomatek has listed a number of terms that might work as the UU name.
Edit 2: Also the Portuguese in the Civilopedia has "Adagueiro" (person armed with a dagger) instead of "Adargueiro" (person armed with a buckler/small shield). So they messed up the Portuguese too.
