BUJUMBURA January 9th (ABP) – The Center for Language Teaching in Burundi (CELAB) of the University of Burundi, in partnership with the Burundian Center for Reading and Cultural Animation (CEBULAC) organized in Bujumbura on Monday, January 07 2019, a conference-debate on the modernization of Kirundi.
Mr. Nzigamiye said that the purpose of that conference-debate was to promote Kirundi in order to have a new impetus in the new information and communication technologies, projecting that Kirundi be integrated into the Google browser and that all pieces of information be found in Kirundi in the latter. He also said that this is a good opportunity to sensitize Burundian researchers to demonstrate their lives through writing in their mother tongue.CEBULAC Director Jean-Bosco Nzigamiye said on this occasion that Kirundi is a gift of God for Burundi where people hear one another in one language on the entire national territory and that Kirundi is a capital for sustainable development of the country. He also pointed out that Kirundi has faced many challenges, including the lack of historical and cultural documents written in Kirundi and the lack of support from researchers.
The CEBULAC Director also announced that a budget to take charge of the activities of writing Kirundi well is available and that a center responsible for the good writing of this language will soon be initiated in Ngozi province (north), Mwumba commune in the Gatsinga zone.
Mr. Nzigamiye urged all Burundian youth to write in Kirundi for its promotion and culture in order not to fall into the alienation of the mores and customs of other foreign languages, adding that they must be proud of Kirundi, wherever they are.
Patrice Ntafatiro, a researcher in Kirundi, said on his part that the discovery of certain notions in Kirundi as new accents with their names in addition to those of Jean Baptiste Ntahokaja and the biological terms in Kirundi will facilitate the dispensation of Kirundi in schools.
In his speech, Mr. Edmond Kabushemeye, a researcher also in Kirundi, explained that his discovery of a new keyboard with Kirundi accents that he called “Rwandiko” will also contribute to the promotion of Kirundi in the information and communication technologies.
