Kinyarwanda Kinyarwanda, Rwandan or Rwanda, officially known as Ikinyarwanda, is a Bantu language and the national language of Rwanda. It is a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language that is also spoken in adjacent parts of the Democratic Republic of the ...

is the

national language '' '' A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection— de facto or de jure—with a nation. The term is applied quite differently in various contexts. One or more languages spoken as first languag ...

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

, and the

first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...

of almost the entire population of the country. It is one of the country's

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

s alongside French, English, and Swahili. French had been the language of administration from the country's time under Belgian administration, between the World War I and independence in 1962. Since the 1994 genocide, the complications of relations with successive French governments and the return of numerous

Tutsi The Tutsi ( ), also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu languages, Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi ( ...

refugees from anglophone

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

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. Swahili 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 The (OIF; sometimes shortened to ''La Francophonie'', , sometimes also called International Organisation of in English) is an international organization representing where there is a notable affiliation with French language and culture. ...

''. 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%. Inhabitants of Rwanda's Nkombo Island speak Mashi, a language closely related to Kinyarwanda.

References

External links

Linguistic situation of Rwanda (in French)
* 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. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

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

Archive
. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. Friday 16 January 2009. {{Languages of Africa