Local African language to be taught in Beijing university

One of China’s oldest universities, the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), announced the introduction last month of a course in Kinyarwanda – one of Rwanda’s four official languages which is spoken by almost all of the native population and 12 million people in Rwanda, Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and adjacent parts of southern Uganda.

According to Professor Phil Cotton, vice-chancellor of the University of Rwanda, the introduction of Kinyarwanda as a foreign language is the result of a longstanding partnership between the University of Rwanda and various universities in China including Chongqing Normal University, which set up a Confucius Institute at the University of Rwanda in 2009.

The aim of the institute is to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching, and facilitate cultural exchanges. As a result, some Rwandans can speak Chinese without having lived or having set foot in China, according to university officials.

BFSU is the first Chinese higher education institution to offer a Kinyarwanda language course in its newly-established School of African Studies. Officials believe other Chinese universities could emulate the move given the extensive and growing academic and diplomatic relations between Rwanda and China.

According to BFSU's Vice-President Jia Wenjian, teaching Kinyarwanda “will further promote people-to-people exchanges between China and Rwanda, and between China and Africa, and strengthen the bond between the two peoples and mutual learning between the two civilisations,” he was quoted as saying by Xinhua news.

Welcoming the news, Cotton said that the teaching of Kinyarwanda in China would strengthen the partnership between the two universities and advance social cohesion among students from the two countries.

“We have had a productive partnership with the Confucius Institute here at the University of Rwanda where they teach Chinese language. Offering Kinyarwanda [in China] is a result of such partnership,” said Cotton in an interview with University World News.

“The study of a language is vital to our understanding of the way in which societies emerge and develop and the way in which histories are collected,” he said. “Unless you understand the language and the formation and the use of language and the development of the language then you can’t understand the history and you can’t look to the future,” he said.

“This initiative is not just about spreading the number of [Kinyarwanda] speakers in other countries; it is also about understanding societies, anthropology, social sciences, [and] behavioural sciences.”

Dr James Vuningoma, executive secretary of the Rwanda Academy of Language and Culture, called the development “a privilege” which would increase the number of people who speak Kinyarwanda, and boost the existing friendship between Rwanda and China.

“This is good news for Rwanda and for Kinyarwanda speakers. It is a privilege that our language is taught in a country with the largest population worldwide. We believe this will increase the number of Kinyarwanda speakers and spread our values and culture across the world,” he said.