Amakuru ki? Nimeza cyane.

(How’s it going? It’s going very well.)

A few weeks ago I found a really interesting blog written by a young woman working for an NGO in Rwanda. She had posted a small, but useful, I felt, phrasebook and dictionary of Rwandan words. There were about 15 or so pages. Her blog had many followers and I was reading through some of the comments when I noticed that one of the contributors had listed the name of a company that published a Kinyarwanda dictionary, but that they were selling the dictionary and not giving it away for free. There are a number of Kinyarwanda dictionaries on the net for free, that encourage people to print and share their pages. Just on a hunch I thought I would check out this dictionary, so I went to the website the commenter had mentioned, to take a peek.

The website was called Speak Rwanda, and it did, indeed, have a pocket sized dictionary, but it was not yet ready for sale. What it also had, however, was downloadable language lessons and flash cards for use in learning Kinyarwanda. I thought about it for a moment, and then I figured, what the heck, and I bought the basic language lessons package, and the flash cards. They also have a set of advanced language lessons that will be ready a little later this spring. The lessons and flash cards came as downloads, arrived within seconds, and I uploaded the lessons onto itunes and from there onto my ipod. I can listen to the lessons as I drive to work, or go for my daily walks. The lessons came with a set of companion materials so that I can read what I am speaking, and write some answers down from time to time. I printed the companion materials and put them in my Learning Kinyarwanda binder, in which I also have the blogger’s little dictionary and some other Kinyarwanda materials. I read these papers every day.

My verdict on the lessons? They are worth every cent of the $24.99 I paid for them. I could read dictionaries and phrases for ages, even phrases with phonetically-written pronunciation guides, but without hearing the words spoken, I would never really know how to speak properly, and more importantly, never know what the language sounded like when it was being spoken to me.

I have been listening to Lesson One: Greetings, on my way to work every morning this week, and I think I have a basic grip on greeting people. The title of this blog entry comes from the first lesson. “Amakuru ki?” means “How’s it going?” and “Nimeza cyane” means “It’s going well.” You would never guess the pronunciation from looking at the words. These words are pronounced “Amakooroochee” and “Neemayzachahnee”.

I wanted to be able to use a few words when I arrived, to show respect to the Rwandans I encountered on the trip. I understand that most people will speak English or French so I am ok there, but undoubtedly we will meet people who do not, or for whom English and French are second languages. It is for those people that I am learning to speak a few words in Kinyarwanda.

The lessons include Greetings, Numbers (from 1 to 20), Speaking with Children, Food, Getting Around, Church, Emotions, Shopping, Going on Safari, and Emergencies. It includes two songs as well. One song is a counting song to help with memorizing numbers, and the other is a church song. Both have catchy African beats and the music is good. I am impressed with this product, and if their next set of language lessons and dictionary comes out in time for me to purchase before I go, I will definitely buy them both. Until then, however my only dictionary will be a homemade one: I have downloaded the free dictionary, as I said, and then I photocopied it with two pages on one page, side by side, and I will be cutting and pasting them into a 5 x 7 coil bound book to take with me. It will be time consuming and a little bulky, but will be a good project for me. It will take time, but then, if I am working on that, I won’t be eating.

I have to say that learning the numbers from one to ten was harder than I expected. Strangely enough, I had no problem with one to six (except the word for one, which is rimwe, and which seems to be unpronounceable for me, but I can do a passable facsimile of what the teacher is saying), and nine and ten, but for reasons that I can’t quite understand, I remember the word for seven only intermittently, and the word for eight just about never. The good thing is that I recognize them when I see them in print.

The other good thing about reading these phrase books that I have downloaded for free, and learning these lessons, is that I now recognize certain words when I see them. This will come in handy when looking at menus that are not written in English or French or looking at signs etc.

So, as the teacher says at the end of Lesson One: I am well on my way.