Celebration of the 1st World Kiswahili Day

2 January 2023

  • Africa

  • Training

On July 7, Odile Racine, professor of Swahili at Inalco, was invited to Unesco headquarters in Paris to take part in the first World Kiswahili Language Day. Under the theme "Kiswahili for peace and prosperity", the day was celebrated in several East African states and universities around the world.
Odile Racine à la Journée mondiale du kiswahili - Siège de l'Unesco (Paris, 7 juillet 2022)
Odile Racine à la Journée mondiale du kiswahili - Siège de l'Unesco (Paris, 7 juillet 2022) © Ambassade de Tanzanie pour O. Racine‎

On November 23, 2021, the 41st session of UNESCO's General Conference proclaimed July 7 of each year World Kiswahili Language Day. The mission of the annual celebration is to promote the use of the Kiswahili language as a beacon for peace and enhanced multiculturalism. (Unesco)



The first African language to be recognized with a special day of celebration, Unesco, at Tanzania's request, dedicated this specific day to it "...because on July 7, 1954, the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) - the ruling party in Tanganyika at the time - led by Julius Nyerere, declared that Swahili was an important tool in the struggle for independence." (Source: United Nations)



With 200 million speakers, Swahili is one of the fastest-growing cross-border languages. Swahili is the national language of Tanzania, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and a lingua franca in Burundi, northern Mozambique, Uganda, Rwanda, southern Somalia and, to a lesser extent, Malawi and Zambia. It is also the official language of the East African Community, the Southern African Development Community and the African Union. It is also taught at major universities and colleges worldwide.





Odile Racine, a professor at Inalco specializing in Swahili linguistics and didactics, who has worked to set up new practices for learning this language (hybrid bi-modal) at Inalco, and to forge various partnerships and educational exchange programs with the University of Dar-es-Salaam, was invited to this 1st edition. Her talk focused on various pedagogical aspects in the teaching of Swahili as a foreign language.



In France, Inalco is the only institution to offer comprehensive teaching of Swahili language and literature.





It was featured in the media, in Swahili...

In Zanzibar: Idhaa ya Kiswahili - Zanzibar yaadhimisha Siku ya Kiswahili duniani

In Uganda and Dar es Salaam: Idhaa ya kiswahili - Uganda:Kiswahili lazima shule za msingi na sekondari

On RFI: Historia ya kiswahili duniani na maadhimisho yake kwa mara ya kwanza

USEFUL LINKS
Discover the teaching of Swahili at Inalco Message from Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of World Kiswahili Day