Kinyarwanda is the national language of

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

, and the first language of almost the entire population of the country. It is one of the country's official languages alongside

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, English, and

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

. Rwandan Sign Language is used by the educated deaf population. As a slang, the younger population in Rwanda prefers to mix

with Kinyarwanda in a

pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...

like way, with Kinyarwanda being the dominant influence in the pidgin. French had been the language of administration from the country's time under Belgian administration, between the First World War and independence in 1962. Since the 1994 genocide, the complications of relations with successive French governments and the return of numerous Tutsi refugees from anglophone Uganda meant an increase in the use of English by a higher proportion of the population and administration. In 2008, the government changed the medium of education from French to English. By 2018 the Rwandan government had introduced French as a foreign language class at the primary school level, and French was still widely used by members of the upper classes. A Rwandan historian, Antoine Mugesera, stated that French is still used among the educated, but Kinyarwanda is used for matters relating to simple topics and messages. English is now considered as the primary language among other foreign languages.

is used by some people, in commerce, and is taught as a subject in schools. French was spoken by a bit under 6% of the population according to the 2012 census and the '' Organisation internationale de la Francophonie''. English was reported to be spoken by 15% of the population in 2009, though the same report found the proportion of French-speakers to be 68%.The Benefits of the English Language for Individuals and Societies: Quantitative Indicators from Cameroon, Nigeria, Rwanda, Bangladesh and Pakistan
/ref> Swahili is spoken by fewer than 1%.''Ethnologue'' report for Rwanda
/ref>

References

External links

* Ntakirutimana, Évariste ( National University of Rwanda).
LE FRANÇAIS AU RWANDA

Archive
. University of Nice. * Steflja, Isabela.
The Costs and Consequences of Rwanda’s Shift in Language Policy

Archive
.

Africa Initiative Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. 31 May 2012. * McGreal, Chris.
Why Rwanda said adieu to French

Archive
. '' The Guardian''. Friday 16 January 2009. {{Languages of Africa