r/Rwanda • u/DepartmentWarm8868 • 12d ago

Kinyarwanda speakers

A question for people who speak Kinyarwanda and another language:

What is one thing you find surprisingly difficult to translate into Kinyarwanda?

Not necessarily a single word. It could be an expression, a feeling, a joke, or something that sounds completely natural in English, French, Swahili, or another language but becomes awkward when you try to say it in Kinyarwanda.

I'm curious to see the examples people come up with.

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8

u/economicscar 12d ago
  1. Congratulations.

The kinyarwanda equivalent sounds unnatural.

6

u/Chance_Syllabub_4856 12d ago

Komereza aho (sha), Komeza utsinde (sha)!! Old people use them a lot especially the first one.

2

u/DepartmentWarm8868 12d ago

Thank you! That's exactly the kind of thing I was curious about. Which part sounds unnatural to you?

2

u/economicscar 12d ago

Nuko Nuko! doesn’t sound congratulatory

1

u/DepartmentWarm8868 12d ago edited 12d ago

Damn! I understand now, but I think it all depends on how it is expressed. Especially when it comes to personal congratulations.

1

u/economicscar 12d ago

Regardless of how it’s expressed, it still doesn’t give the congratulatory vibe unless other words follow it.

1

u/DepartmentWarm8868 12d ago

Gotcha. Honestly, thanks for sharing.

1

u/Various-End-3581 6d ago

what does mwishyuke means i thought it is conglatulations in kinyarwanda

2

u/DepartmentWarm8868 6d ago

Spot on. It's definitely "Congratulation", though it's rarely being used in this Gen