Kiswahili spreads its wings

BY LUSEKELO PHILEMON

5th September 2013

Dr Suma Kaare

The widely spoken language in East and Central African countries—Swahili is now attracting more foreigners from across the world including Chinese and Koreans.

Principal of the Arusha-based MS-Training Centre for Development Cooperation (MS-TCDC), Dr Suma Kaare made the observation here yesterday when launching two new courses on governance, development and leadership.

The introduced courses include diploma in governance and development, BA in development studies and Master’s degree in governance and leadership.

The college head said: “During the last 30 years, MS-TCDC has developed extensive expertise in enabling expatriates to improve their language skills. As a result, our training has gained a very strong reputation in the East African region and across the world.”
“Apart from the western world, more people are coming to Tanzania, particularly MS-TCDC to learn Swahili…we are now speaking with the Chinese embassy in Tanzania on the need for the Chinese coming in Tanzania to be easily taught Swahili,” she stressed.

Dr Suma said the move came after realizing that there are more Chinese who are interested in learning the language don’t know where to get it, “apart from the Chinese, there are more Koreans who are coming to Tanzania for different purposes including developmental projects and businesses.”

She said that Swahili language has started gaining popularity in the outside world and the number of foreigners learning the language in the country has kept on increasing.

Despite the fact that Swahili is widely spoken in East African countries, the language is found in many other parts of the world. Statistically, more than 100 universities in different parts of the world are currently teaching Swahili language and culture.

It is estimated that Swahili speakers ranges between 120 million and 150 million across the world.

Dr Kaare called upon the Tanzanian government to heavily invest in the language which can be treated as a product that would contribute to the country’s economy.
According to him, there are more foreigners from the western countries such as USA, Germany and Denmark who are coming to Tanzania to learn Swahili.

On a yearly basis, the centre receives more than 500 foreigners interested in learning the language.

She implored the need for the language to be highly promoted for the country’s socio-economic development. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN