Rwanda is switching from French to English
Emperor Napoleon using an Imperative Sentence
Rwanda, a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, has decided to change instruction in schools from French to English. The French language was brought to Rwanda by Belgian colonizers. On July 1, 1962, Rwanda was granted full independence from Belgium.
Rwanda has been in the news in recent years because of the 1994 mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda's Tutsis by Hutu militia. Now that the country is gaining some stability, there is a new focus on agricultural development and international trade. Most Rwandans speak the local Kinyarwanda language or French, but fewer than five percent speak English.
The emphasis on trade has made Rwandans aware that French is only spoken in France, and small parts of Canada, Belgium, and Switzerland. Whereas English is spoken worldwide even in countries like China. Rwandan Senator Aloisea Inyumba said:
"Introducing English is just being realistic. English is the language of business"
All Rwandan government employees are now required to learn English.
© Copyright - Antonio Zamora
