[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.23.3″ background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” custom_margin=”||-100px”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.23.3″ text_font=”Oswald|||on|||||” text_text_align=”center” text_text_color=”#998002″ text_font_size=”61px” text_line_height=”1.1em” link_font=”||||||||” ul_font=”||||||||” custom_margin=”-20px||”]<\/p>\n
Embracing Language: Rwanda Adapts to Globalization <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/language.png” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.23.3″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”3.23.3″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.23.3″]<\/p>\n By Carol Yuan and Han Xu<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.23.3″ text_font=”Roboto||||||||”]<\/p>\n Greeting local farmers in Kinyarwanda; introducing attractions to tourists in English and French; using <\/span>Swahili to communicate with traders from Congo. These are daily occurrences for Olivier Rutagengwa, 24, a tour guide from Rwanda.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt is pretty common for people who\u2019ve got higher education to speak multiple languages in Rwanda,\u201d said Mr. Rutagengwa, who can speak four languages and looks forward to learning more.<\/span><\/p>\n Rwanda became a sovereign country in 1962 with the end of Belgian rule, but the French language remained. Now it\u2019s one of the four official languages of Rwanda along with English, Kinyarwanda and <\/span>Swahili. <\/span><\/p>\n But in 2008, Rwanda switched its education system from French to English, in a nation-wide shift towards the English-speaking world. <\/span><\/p>\n Officially, the move was to strengthen ties with neighboring countries including Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, which use English as their official language. \u00a0But others say resentment over colonial rule plays a part too. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe government kind of blames France for letting the genocide happen, so I think that\u2019s the real reason why they changed the language, to cut off the connection with France,\u201d said Sylvia Mutesi, a tour guide from Rwanda.<\/span><\/p>\n She added that students had to learn to take exams in English, which was challenging. <\/span><\/p>\n But French seems to be back in Rwanda, with the country\u2019s <\/span>Minister of Foreign Affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo, being appointed head of the International Francophone Organisation last year.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though the language switched to English, French is still more popular among the people,\u201d said Brice Hirwa, a designer at The New Times<\/em>, the most popular English newspaper in Rwanda. \u201cPeople can\u2019t change their language habits in one or two days.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n If one wants to have more working opportunities in Rwanda, knowing French is a must, Ms. Mutesi said.<\/span><\/p>\n Viviane Irabizi, 21 and an intern at The New Times<\/em>, said people nowadays are more open-minded.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe live in an era of globalization. The more languages you can speak the better. For me, I can speak English, French and Kinyarwanda, now I want to learn Chinese the most,\u201d said Ms. Irabizi.<\/span><\/p>\n With the increase of Chinese investment in Rwanda, more young people might shift toward learning Chinese.<\/span><\/p>\n Jean Maniriho, a third-grade elementary school student, said that he would love to learn Chinese and wants to study in China when he grows up.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cChinese helped build roads in Rwanda. They hired my brother,\u201d Jean said.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”3.23.3″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/languauge2.png” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.23.3″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Carol Yuan and Han Xu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-articles-1","category-slider"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":427,"href":"https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions\/427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}