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However, these differences do not continually recur. One has to memorize such differences as "-anga" in Kinyarwanda in contrast to "-anka" in Kirundi (meaning to dislike or hate), because the shift from "g" to "k" is extremely rare, with proof being words like "inka" (cow), "inkono" (pot) and many other words where "nk" is common in both dialects.
Kinyarwanda, [3] Rwandan or Rwanda, officially known as Ikinyarwanda, [4] is a Bantu language and the national language of Rwanda. [5] It is a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language that is also spoken in adjacent parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Uganda , where the dialect is known as Rufumbira or Urufumbira .
Kirundi, also known as Rundi, is a Bantu language and the national language of Burundi. It is a dialect of Rwanda-Rundi dialect continuum that is also spoken in Rwanda and adjacent parts of Tanzania (in regions close to Kigoma), the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Uganda , as well as in Kenya .
A Rwandan historian, Antoine Mugesera, stated that French is still used among the educated, but Kinyarwanda is used for matters relating to simple topics and messages. [6] English is now considered as the primary language among other foreign languages. Swahili is used by some people, in commerce, and is taught as a subject in schools. [7]
The Bantu languages (English: UK: / ˌ b æ n ˈ t uː /, US: / ˈ b æ n t uː / Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) [1] [2] are a language family of about 600 languages that are spoken by the Bantu peoples of Central, Southern, Eastern and Southeast Africa.
In a dialect continuum, neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but differences mount with distance, so that more widely separated varieties may not be mutually intelligible. Intelligibility can be partial, as is the case with Azerbaijani and Turkish , or significant, as is the case with Bulgarian and Macedonian .
Of course, I'll admit that it's hard to verify the 50/50 thing, but there are certainly plenty of academic sources which use Kirundi, e.g: Kinyarwanda and Kirundi names: a semiolinguistic analysis of Bantu onomastics (Alexandre Kimenyi, 1989) Dictionary: Kirundi-English, English-Kirundi (Elizabeth E. Cox, 1969)
Per WP:ENGVAR, articles about Rwandan topics should be written in Rwandan English. i.e. the dialect spoken in Rwanda itself, a country in which English is an official language. And when referring to this language, Rwandan English speakers overwhelmingly use the term Kinyarwanda. The national English daily newspaper confirms this: , ,