Luganda – Rwanda’s Unofficial Second Language
Posted by Jaiken Struck on April 3rd, 2009Kirundi or Congolese Lingala or even Swahili are not spoken in the streets of Rwanda’s major towns as much as they used to. A decade and a half after the end of mass exile for many Rwandans, Kinyarwanda is the preferred mode of communication – with Luganda a close second. And with every passing year it seems as if speakers of the language in this country only increase.
Luganda is a very popular language in and around Kigali. There are certain areas of Kigali that are well-known as Luganda speaking enclaves. Interestingly, these speakers are likely to be fluent in their own language, Kinyarwanda, but prefer to communicate in Luganda. This is likely not to be just a case of people who were born in Uganda growing up with the language. The speakers could as well be Rwandans who never lived anywhere near Uganda but for some reason decided to learn that country’s lingua franca.
Immediately after the Genocide Luganda speaking areas of Kigali had an influx of Luganda speakers, Rwandans who either went to Uganda fleeing earlier pogroms and ethnic cleansing campaigns in the early sixties or those born in exile. But Ugandans looking for opportunity in the shell shocked country came in many numbers as well, contributing to disseminating Luganda in the country.
Why have so many Rwandans decided to learn Luganda? The first obvious reason is the perception that the most influential people in the government speak the language, so if you want opportunity you better be able to have a serviceable knowledge of it. It doesn’t matter whether or not there is substance to this perception, it still is there.
Commerce also has a role in gaining the language ever newer speakers in Rwanda. Right after the war, almost 90 percent of the imported goods Rwandans consumed either were from Uganda or imported through the country. For businessmen to be able to communicate in Uganda they were forced to learn Luganda.
But one of the biggest reasons Luganda is likely to be around for a long time is that many Rwandan parents take their children to Ugandan schools. They feel these schools will give the offspring a better grounding in English which has rapidly replaced French as the language of the offices and official business.
The children obviously will mix with Ugandan children, and they will learn to speak Luganda like natives-as many already do.
Read more: allAfrica
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