Week Five: Kinyarwanda (Outside of the Book)

            This week, I was made to feel more accomplished with my Kinyarwanda study. I believe this is due, in large part, to my maintaining more of a set schedule, not only in terms of the time I dedicated to my language study, but also due to more of a commitment to the activities I outlined in my individualized study plan at the beginning of the semester.

            First and foremost, I was able to meet with my language partner for the first time this past Saturday, an activity I was nervous about, due to my lack of consistency in this area last year. However, despite some audio issues that persisted for the duration of the session, I think it went rather well. We decided to concentrate this session on pronunciation, so when she intervened in regard to my speech, it was to correct how I was saying a certain word or phrase. I thought this would be most appropriate, as I haven’t been able to confirm my pronunciation with an L1 speaker of Kinyarwanda in quite some time.

            In so doing, I also discovered that my ear for the language isn’t quite what it used to be, Indeed, J would occasionally introduce me to new words and/or phrases, and hoping to make a note of them, I would attempt to confirm the spelling with her, and in this area, the textbox became very useful. It also became a bit of a problem, however, insofar as I think J, wishing to expedite the process, started spelling the words out for me, before allowing me to guess. If the problem persists, I will try to think of a meaningful way in which to address it!

            Also, another surprisingly motivating component of my week was watching a documentary film, Rwanda and Juliet, airing on campus. It was disappointing for me in a number of ways, particularly as it represented an American imposing his version of the Rwandan Genocide on Rwandans, but it also reaffirmed my reason for language study. The documentary displayed a professor emeritus traveling to Rwanda to put on a production of Romeo and Juliet, and it said that the majority of the play would be in Kinyarwanda, with equal parts French and English. A value system was imposed on these languages, insofar as the common people are presented as speaking Kinyarwanda, lords and ladies in French, and those who spoke the most prominent quotes in English. Of course, this is bad enough, but with very minimal exceptions, Kinyarwanda was largely not featured in the documentary, and when it was, it wasn’t always translated.

            For me, this was offensive, because insofar as the focus of the film wasn’t the play itself, how would it have harmed the filmmaker to feature Kinyarwanda? And why wasn’t Kinyarwanda important enough to translate (because, in some cases, he did subtitle Rwandans speaking English)? The answers to these questions directly pertain to my language study, and they are as follows: Kinyarwanda is important, and if Kinyarwanda is the way Rwandans wish to portray their world, then I must learn it. Plain and simple.

            So, here I am, and here I will stay!