As we join the world in celebrating International Mother Language Day, efforts to sustain Ikinyarwanda deserve more than ceremonial recognition. Spoken by nearly all Rwandans, Ikinyarwanda is the language of home, community, oral history and collective memory. It carries proverbs that shape wisdom, poetry that preserves emotion, and narratives that define identity.

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It is the language through which children first interpret the world, and through which elders transmit values that resist easy translation.

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But in classrooms, boardrooms and increasingly in urban households, other official languages — English, French and Kiswahili — are expanding their influence. English dominates formal education and corporate communication. French retains diplomatic and historical presence. Kiswahili is growing through regional trade and continental integration. The shift is gradual and largely pragmatic. But its long-term implications deserve serious reflection.

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Rwanda’s embrace of multilingualism is neither accidental nor misguided. In an interconnected Africa and global economy, linguistic flexibility is an asset. English provides access to global research, technology and finance. French connects Rwanda to Francophone Africa and multilateral institutions. Kiswahili strengthens regional commerce within the East African Community. These languages expand opportunity and mobility. But opportunity should not come at the cost of foundation.

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At the 2026 National Dialogue Council (Umushyikirano), delegates urged the government to strengthen English proficiency among schoolchildren, citing concerns about academic competitiveness. The call reflects a genuine challenge: many young Rwandans struggle to access international platforms without strong English skills. But improving English proficiency must not inadvertently erode Ikinyarwanda literacy in early education.

Research across multilingual societies consistently shows that children learn best when foundational literacy is established in their mother tongue. Comprehension, critical thinking and conceptual understanding develop most effectively in the language a child speaks fluently. When education shifts too quickly into a second or third language, schoolchildren may memorise content without truly understanding it. Weak first-language foundations can translate into weaker performance overall.

Ikinyarwanda offers Rwanda a rare continental advantage. Unlike many African countries with dozens of competing languages, Rwanda enjoys near-universal linguistic unity. This has reinforced social cohesion, facilitated nationwide communication and strengthened civic participation. It has supported reconciliation and nation-building. Ikinyarwanda has functioned quietly as a powerful integrative force.

If that foundation erodes, the consequences may not be immediately visible. They may surface gradually — in declining depth of expression, reduced literary production, limited scientific vocabulary or a generation more comfortable consuming knowledge in foreign languages than producing it in Ikinyarwanda. A language does not disappear overnight; it weakens when sidelined in spaces of prestige and innovation.

Rwanda has never needed to borrow blueprints. From rebuilding justice after the Genocide against the Tutsi, to pioneering gender representation in parliament, to driving one of Africa’s most remarkable economic transformations — Rwanda has consistently forged its own path. The question of language is no different. Two voices capture this challenge with precision. The late Kenyan literary giant Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, speaking at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2017, warned: "If you know all the languages of the world but not your mother tongue, that is enslavement. Knowing your mother tongue and all other languages too is empowerment.” President Paul Kagame has made the same argument in economic terms. Addressing the Global Citizen NOW forum in 2024, he said: "Self-reliance is a general mindset of taking responsibility for our future. No one owes us a living.” Applied to language, both are saying the same thing: dependence — whether on foreign aid or foreign tongues — is a choice. And it is a choice Rwanda can refuse to make.

Multilingualism works best when it is additive, not substitutive. English, French and Kiswahili should expand Rwanda’s global reach, while Ikinyarwanda remains the cognitive and cultural base. Early-grade education must prioritise strong Ikinyarwanda literacy, supported by well-trained teachers and modern materials. Publishing, digital innovation and the creative industries must invest in producing knowledge in Ikinyarwanda — not only folklore, but science, technology and contemporary discourse. Language thrives when it evolves.

Families, too, play a critical role.

In some urban contexts, parents increasingly default to foreign languages at home, believing it provides advantage yet linguistic confidence begins in the mother tongue. Children grounded in their first language often acquire additional languages more successfully.

Rwanda’s ambition to be globally competitive is valid and necessary. But competitiveness built on fragile cultural foundations is ultimately unsustainable. Multilingualism can be a strategic advantage — if sequenced wisely and anchored firmly in what is already ours.

Ikinyarwanda stands at a crossroads — and all of us have a role to play.

Policymakers must protect it in curricula. Publishers must invest in it. Teachers must champion it. And parents must speak it at home, proudly and deliberately. Rwanda has built so much on the foundation of one shared language. Let us not quietly trade that foundation for fluency in someone else’s. Don’t trade Ikinyarwanda for global fluency.

Mutesi Gasana is a publisher and author.