When foreigners in Rwanda struggled to find a place to learn Ikinyarwanda, Denise Umuneza saw an opportunity. What began as informal lessons in cafés after work in 2010 has grown into a language education career, with textbooks, structured courses, and classes helping foreigners, children, and diaspora families reconnect with Rwanda’s mother tongue. ALSO READ: Code-switching, foreign languages could erode Ikinyarwanda, officials say At the time, there were no schools offering Ikinyarwanda lessons for foreigners, so Umuneza began meeting learners in cafés after work, teaching them basic words, expressions, and conversations. ALSO READ: What we lose by not speaking our native language As demand grew, she developed her own teaching materials and expanded the classes beyond the informal lessons she had started. Umuneza had studied languages, specialising in translation, at the University of Rwanda. After completing her studies, she worked as a translator and later held positions in different institutions, while continuing to teach Ikinyarwanda in the evenings and on weekends. ALSO READ: Fluent to the world, losing our voice at home She said: “I would come from work and still go somewhere to teach someone. That meant I had a job, but I was also teaching on the side. As more people joined my classes, I realised this was something I could build, and I decided to focus more on language education. ALSO READ: To build Rwanda’s future, start with its first language “People were interested, and I could create materials and dedicate my time to teaching.” One of the challenges she faced was the lack of resources designed specifically for foreigners learning Ikinyarwanda. Available materials did not focus on everyday conversations or the needs of people learning the language as a second language. ALSO READ: Ikinyarwanda: A rare national asset worth protecting She found an old book written by missionaries that explained aspects of the language, but much of its content was centred on religious teachings. Her students encouraged her to create materials that reflected how Ikinyarwanda is used in everyday life. “They would tell me that I should write my own books and create my own curriculum. They also suggested that I make audio files so people could listen and practise.” In 2016, Umuneza wrote her first beginner-level Ikinyarwanda textbook and later developed four levels of learning materials, ranging from beginner to advanced. The books combine vocabulary, dialogues, and exercises to help learners practise everyday communication. “I organised different vocabulary and presented it in a conversational way, with dialogues and audio so people could practise real conversations,” she said. Today, Umuneza teaches adults and children through private lessons and small group classes from her office in Kimihurura. Her learners include foreigners living in Rwanda, visitors, members of the diaspora, and children who have had limited exposure to Ikinyarwanda at home. She began focusing more on teaching children after Covid-19, when she noticed an increase in the number of diaspora families returning to Rwanda. “Many of these children had grown up abroad, while others were born to parents who had lived outside Rwanda, leaving them with little or no ability to speak the local language.” She began organising holiday programmes and classes for children based on different age groups. She also trained another teacher who later started conducting her own Ikinyarwanda classes. “She came and observed how I teach for about a year. Later, she started having her own classes,” Umuneza said. Preserving Ikinyarwanda Umuneza is also concerned about the declining use of Ikinyarwanda among young people. She said many children spend most of their day using English or French at school, while some parents also communicate with them mainly in those languages at home. “Some parents think they are helping their children by making sure they speak English because it will help them in school or when they go abroad, but they sometimes forget the importance of the local language,” she said. Umuneza said schools should dedicate more time to teaching Ikinyarwanda, including its structure and grammar, so children can better understand and appreciate the language. She also urged families to preserve their identity by ensuring that the mother tongue is not forgotten. Richard Hategekimana, the Chairperson of the Rwanda Writers’ Federation and Rwanda Book Industry Association, said Ikinyarwanda is unique because it is Rwanda’s shared language. “If we preserve our language, we preserve our identity,” he said. He said Ikinyarwanda carries Rwanda’s history, culture, and values, adding that it played a central role in pre-colonial Rwanda, where values such as patriotism, leadership, and respect were passed from one generation to another through Itorero. “Some people still think speaking English or French makes someone more educated. When someone speaks Ikinyarwanda, it is sometimes viewed differently. We need to appreciate our own language,” he said. Hategekimana said this perception has also affected literature, with books written in Ikinyarwanda sometimes considered less important than those written in foreign languages. “Visit our universities and look at their libraries; you will find very few books written in Ikinyarwanda. Yet institutions such as the Library of Congress in the United States buy and preserve those books,” he said. He urged parents, schools, universities, government institutions, and the private sector to invest more in promoting Ikinyarwanda through books, libraries, and reading programmes. “We have programmes that support English, and they are important. We should also invest in Ikinyarwanda and support people who write in our language.”
