This week, I intended to take a conscious break from Kinyarwanda, in adherence to Spring Protocol 101, and though it is, indeed, true that I was nowhere near as productive as I should have been, I wasn't as un-productive as I could have been. And I consider that a win, albeit a modest one.
As I mentioned in my last blog post, I decided to download an app that streamed Rwandan radio stations, and I listened to it the majority of the drive to Michigan and back to Wisconsin. Listening to the commentators, as well as the songs, I recognized that my language-skills are not comparable to that of an advanced speaker (or listener, in this case). Yes. This is disappointing, after all this time, but I also recognize that I believe I am capable of acquiring the necessary skills to become one, should I chose to buckle down.
Indeed, last week, my professor, Dr. T, brought to my attention that the one-plus hour I was spending per day on Kinyarwanda was not enough, not for language-learning, nor for the course's credit load. And, of course, I know this is true, and I can also readily admit that there are days (maybe even weeks) that Kinyarwanda is not my priority. So, I'd like to work toward reframing my language study, not only to increase the amount of time I am spending with the target language, but also in a way that ensures I am developing and sustaining the skills of an independent language-learner, skills that will be helpful long after this class ends.
With that said, I made sure to post a lesson to my language-learning website, as well. One of my classmates, L, had commented on my lesson on Fruit, reflecting on the ways in which her target language helped her to get through the deck in Kinyarwanda successfully. Of course, I know that she wasn't looking at my website as a potential L2 speaker, but regardless, knowing that someone was looking at my website, that she thought it looked cool, and that it was useful, was very motivating to me. Accordingly, I followed up my lesson on fruit with a lesson on vegetables!
After a delay, I was also finally able to talk to someone in Rwanda about my upcoming research trip this afternoon. I'm not entirely sure as to whether or not he liked my research direction, but he said some pretty interesting things about the "official narrative." In particular, he stated that the term "genocide" was borrowed from French. In Kinyarwanda, it is "jenoside." Of course, I knew this already, but he mentioned this in response to my observation that the "official narrative" had changed over time. He stated that initially the genocide was referred to as "itembatsemba" (extermination), and then the imported "jenoside." For those familiar with the history, you will know that it is not referred to as the Rwandan Genocide in country, but rather the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi. He argued that Rwanda does not have a singular term (like the Holocaust) that immediately invokes what happened, but speculated that there may one day be such a term. From this conversation, I envisioned a chapter of my dissertation- what the genocide has been called historically-, where I didn't necessarily have such a clear vision before.
Moving forward, I'd like to carve out more time in my schedule for Kinyarwanda, so this week, I'd like to use this app Dr. T suggested called "Time Track" in order to determine how long I am spending on certain tasks (including those outside of language-learning), to increase my efficiency across my courses.
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