Language Lessons

So on top of everything else going on this week...fall festival, report cards, parent conferences, etc... we still had Kinyarwanda languauge lessons after school yesterday. I'm really not complaining! I want to learn more of the language, but practicing Kinyarwanda for a couple hours really does a number to your already-tired brain! Let me tell you a little bit about Kinyarwanda. It's been said that it is the 17th most difficult language in the world to learn. But for English speakers...it becomes the 7th most difficult language! After a few lessons, I can understand this!

I really love learning and studying new languages. I was hopeful my French would improve and be restored from when I learned it in college....but so many people can speak Swahili here, so it's been easy to just speak Swahili. I know what you're thinking...too many languages in one tiny country the size of Maryland! Yes, I know! There are many French speakers due to Rwanda once being colonized by Belgium, and later France. And of course, theres the national Kinyarwanda language. And many of the adults also speak Swahili and perhaps even another tribal language due to their days of exile living in Congo, Uganda, Kenya, or Tanzania. And to complicate matters, now President Kagame has said that his country will no longer speak French, but will instead become an Anglophone country, and beginning this year, schoolchildren will be learning English too! (Apparently there's some bad political blood with the French now...they have even refused French parents to adopt Rwandan orphans.)

So, you basically have your pick of languages, and out of all those, Kinyarwanda is by far the most difficult one! Swahili is really easy...all the words sound exactly like they are spelled, and they easily roll off your tongue. Plus, you can travel to almost anywhere in East Africa, and they will know Swahili. But Kinyarwanda is only spoken here. So I have to admit, I haven't felt this huge desire and need to learn Kinyarwanda, even though I know I really need to learn many phrases just out of respect for the people here since this will be my home for at least a year. It's been a slow learning process thus far!

For example...here are two words....mwiriwe? which means Good afternoon. Yes, you have to say it like a question you are asking them. Then theres, mwiriwe! which is spelled the exact same, but sounds a bit different right there in the middle, and you don't say it like a question. This one means Have a nice day.

Nibyiza is what you say when someone asks you how is everything? Nibyiza means everything is good. But here's how you pronounce it....neebeegeezay! Not at all like it is spelled!

The plural form of you is mwebwe...but you say it like this...mwebgay.

Basically there are no G's in the Kinyarwanda alphabet, but there ARE "G" sounds. Go figure. Also there is no "L" in the alphabet, but again, there are L sounds. All their "Rs" are pronounced as "Ls." Also, most "D's" you don't pronounce, but a few you do. And all "K's" are pronounced with a "ch" sound.

And there's some Kinyarwanda words that totally sound like they belong to another country....like "iki niki." You pronounce it like, "ichi nichi." It means what is this? To me, that sounds like Japanese.

And how about the word, turasubira? Sounds and looks like Spanish to me. But it means See you later. And this word actually sounds just like it's spelled!

The funniest thing to us Americans is the word for "No" which is "Oya." They say it all the time, and we still think they are agreeing with us, and saying, "Oh yeah!" :-)

I love language...I really do. But I need help with this one!