Week Ten: Kinyarwanda as Kinetic

            This week, my language study progressed along steadily, but I feel it was enhanced by a sense of kinetic energy, propelling me forward. Indeed, this week was marked by potential, not only my potential as a Kinyarwanda speaker, but also the wide plethora of potential resources available to me. Sometimes I feel I allow my “potential” to impact me negatively. When I say this, I mean that I imagine what I am capable of and the high standard to which I hold myself, and I become immediately disappointed if and when I do not display and/or reach this super-imposed goal. This week, however, I tried to reframe this bleak outlook, and I was assisted by exposure to a more diverse assortment of resources.

            For instance, last week, I attended a presentation sponsored by my university’s African Studies Program. The talk dealt with (propaganda) cartoons preceding the Rwandan Genocide. For whatever reason, when anticipating the talk, I didn’t really think about it in relation to Kinyarwanda, likely because the presenter, Dr. O, doesn’t speak Kinyarwanda, so I didn’t think his subject material would deal with it. However, upon arriving, another professor of mine approached me and asked if I could read the cartoon, featured on the introductory slide. For the first time, I looked up at it and realized that it was, indeed, in Kinyarwanda (not French or English, as I was expecting) and that I could, indeed, read it! It was a really gratifying moment for me to be able to read Kinyarwanda in context, “in context” only because I wasn’t expecting or preparing myself to do so. I have since looked at Dr. O’s African cartoons website (http://africacartoons.com), and I can’t seem to locate the cartoons his presentation relied on, but I hope to ask him about access soon. An added bonus to this talk: Dr. O brought in a Kinyarwanda speaker, who works on campus, to translate and contextualize the cartoons. I Googled him, and on a professional website, he describes himself as “very fluent in Kinyarwanda.” I think he might be worth contacting too, if he’s open to it!

            In addition, and only just a few hours ago, my professor, Dr. T, brought to the class’s attention an opportunity to translate English words and/or phrases into our target languages for Google Translate. As an experiment, I quickly read and translated what Google prompted me to five times, but I had to stop myself, as I had other tasks to complete this morning. I plan to incorporate this activity into my revised ISP, because I feel like it implements some helpful learning strategies, for me, at least. First, it allows my interaction with the language to be a little more spontaneous than it often is, insofar as Google prompts me with a word and/or phrase that I am unable to anticipate/train myself for, but that I have to determine if I can negotiate with my preexisting language skills. In addition, it allows me to “teach” another the language, which I find helpful, because it keeps me accountable without the time commitment of a full lesson on my language-learning website.

            In conclusion, it’s been a very good week for Kinyarwanda, due to my focus on “potential,” not as a measure of what I am not doing, but as a yard stick of what I can do and what I will do!