One of the region’s leading publishers, Fountain Publishers Rwanda Ltd, over the
weekend, launched a comprehensive Kinyarwanda-English dictionary at a ceremony
held in Kigali.
According to the publisher, the bilingual dictionary is an important
reference menu because it enables one to study both languages with ease.
Addressing the guests, Fountain Publishers Ltd. Group Managing Director,
James Tumusiime, said that the dictionary is very useful especially now that
Rwanda has adopted English as the medium of instruction in schools.
“This book will enable Rwandans who were living abroad and have returned to
Rwanda to learn Kinyarwanda, and native Rwandans to learn English. Now they have
the opportunity to learn both languages,” he said.
Tumusiime added that since Rwanda has joined the East African Community and
the Commonwealth, it is very important for Rwandan to speak and understand
English well, since it is the main language used within the said blocs.
According to Prof. Geoffrey Rugege, the author of the dictionary, the book
targets those who know Kinyarwanda and want to learn English as well as those
who know English and want to learn Kinyarwanda.
“The main motivation for doing this work is my children. They grew up in the
USA and when they were growing up they kept reminding me to teach them
Kinyarwanda because they didn’t feel like being black American, they wanted to
identify with their roots,” said Rugege, who is also the Executive Director of
the Council for Higher Education.
“I was working full time as a professor so I didn’t have the time to actually
sit and teach them so that gave me an inspiration to start doing the book which
could teach them the language.”
He noted that the original conception of the dictionary was five years ago
when he was still living in the USA.
Prof. Rugege revealed that a Kinyarwanda-English-Swahili Web-based dictionary
is currently being developed.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Charles
Murigande, who officiated at the launch hailed Rugege for having contributed
towards developing a reading culture in Rwanda by writing such an important
book.
“A person who lived in the USA for close to 30 years and is be able to write
an English-Kinyarwanda dictionary is living proof of his attachment to his
culture, and we should all emulate him,” Minister Murigande said.
“This dictionary has come at a time when we need it most in our country
especially in the education sector and I believe this book is going to be
extremely useful to our teachers and children in schools as they switch to
English”
The launch was attended by the Ugandan Minister of Education and Sports,
Geraldine Namirembe Bitamazire, several government officials, diplomats and the
business community.
New Times
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