‘Francophonie’ is a loose group of nations, worldwide, which use French in one way or another. From this perspective, Quebec, Haiti, Rwanda, Vietnam, the Ivory Coast, French Guyana, Tahiti – to name a few - are connected. French language came to Rwanda through some form of Belgian colonization from 1919 to 1962. So, for the last 90 years and even after Independence, French was the language used in schools. The longer you went to school, the better you spoke French and the higher your social status usually was. French became just a tool to acquire knowledge and know-how through schooling and training. The colonial teachers left long time ago, their language was left behind. It seems to me that the emotional attachment to the use of French disappeared long time ago. Many people who speak very good French have no particular interest or knowledge about Belgium or France. French language and France are not two sides of the same coin, here.
Geopolitically, Rwanda is surrounded by two francophone countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi and two English speaking countries: Tanzania and Uganda. The national language policy of Rwanda took a drastic turn recently when it was decided by the government to drop French as the language of education, to replace it by English and to join the Commonwealth. In view of the fact that English has clearly become the most important international language, this decision makes a lot of sense. Here are a couple of observations of what this current shift has created in the area of language use today.
- The young university graduates today speak both French and English fluently. They tend to prefer using English with me. They are proud of their achievements.
- Middle-aged university graduates speak excellent French but very little English or not at all, but they realise they will need to learn it fast if they want to remain competitive on the job market
- English publishing companies are currently doing excellent business in Rwanda... Old textbooks written in French (for social studies, mathematics, biology etc.) are being thrown away and being replaced by English textbooks. The Rwanda department of education is sending thousands of books, free of charge, to primary schools.
- Many primary school teachers – especially in the country, speak better French than English. They are being trained to learn English but, for many of them, it is going to be quite a challenge to teach in English very soon.
- Not many children in primary schools today will speak French when they are adults, but they will speak good English.
- Young children today greet ‘muzungos’ like me by saying ‘Hello, how are you?’ and no longer ‘bonjour, comment ça va?’ I should answer: Je go very bien, merci you...
Franglophony is currently doing well in Rwanda...
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