Should Kinyarwanda become our official language?

Kinyarwanda should remain local Call me exotic but making Kinyarwanda an international language should never ever be considered. Yes, it’s our dear mother tongue and one way to keep our culture intact but Kinyarwanda doesn’t measure up to become an international language. Rwanda is one country with one local dialect—Kinyarwanda, which should remain uniquely our national language. Rwanda is a country that needs development and ties with the rest of the world, therefore, making Kinyarwanda the international language would literally mean shutting down some doors for investors, who can’t stand spending years learning the local language. Besides, Rwanda just joined the Commonwealth and the East African Community, so how will Kinyarwanda aid communication with other countries that barely speak the language? Language barrier and its consequences are real. How would it feel if Rwandans became mute whenever they visited other countries just because they did not bother to learn the universal languages? It obvious that any international language is given priority in schools and all organizations around the country; this means that people will understand one international language best and later grasp other secondary languages. For instance many Tanzanians can barely speak English or French because Swahili is their international language, which is bad. On the contrary, some Rwandans are stepping out to be trilingual because they can speak more than three languages. It should also be kept in mind that because of the political instabilities in Rwanda as far back as 1959, many Rwandans were born and raised in the Diaspora and only returned to their homeland when they were all grown up. How would returnees cope up with or even compete favourably for jobs if Kinyarwanda is all people spoke. And hey, we need to think out of the box. Yes Kinyarwanda great culturally but what happens if Rwandans want to import development from foreign countries? How would it feel for our lovely Rwandan children to be as good as illiterate when it comes to communicating with the rest of the East African kids? What Rwanda needs is international ties, relations and development and this can only be achieved through embracing international languages like English or French. lillianean@yahoo.com