Author: MATERN KAYERA
AfricaPress-Tanzania: POLISH Ambassador to Tanzania, Krzysztof Buzalski, has hailed Tanzania for grooming Kiswahili that not only facilitates his diplomatic work, but also enables him to communicate well in the public.
He made the revelation in Dar es Salaam, Thursday after Baraza la Kiswahli la Taifa (BAKITA) awarded him a certificate of recognition in Kiswahili. Mr Buzalski passed Kiswahili examination for foreigners in Stage III at the intermediate level for grade A.
According to BAKITA, the pass rate is similar to C1 for European testing standards. Chief Guest at the event BAKITA Board Chairman, Dr Method Samwel, appreciated Mr Buzalski for his decision to learn Kiswahili and get good passes.
He said his decision to learn Kiswahili made him to be part of Tanzanian family.
“It’s not easy for an ambassador to learn Kiswahili and cover all programmes, because we are occupied also with other activities and time limiting….however, great effort should be made to contribute in our better diplomatic relations. “We request him to convey our message to other diplomats and or foreign companies, which work in Tanzania to learn Kiswahili because we have competent teachers and they will learn it for a short period of time,” said Dr Samwel.
Since other countries like China and Germany have policies and laws that require diplomats or foreign companies to learn Chinese or German, Dr Samwel proposed that it’s high time Tanzania had similar policies and laws that will make diplomats or foreigners to learn Kiswahili.
BAKITA Acting Executive Secretary, Consolata Mushi, said that Mr Buzalski passed his Kiswahili examination for foreigners by scoring A in listening, B in Speaking, A in reading and B in writing.
According to Ambassador Buzalski, Kiswahili has helped him to communicate easily with Tanzanians and to carry out his diplomatic responsibilities effectively, besides also following up Kiswahili news about Tanzania every day and understanding the culture of Tanzanians.
“I decided to learn Kiswahili because of two reasons, first due to the request made by President John Magufuli to foreigners to learn this language, and secondly, I thought to understand the native language of Tanzanians will help me in doing my work easily. I suppose other diplomats study the language as well,”said the envoy.
He further said that he had to programme two sessions off per week from his routine Embassy work since 2017 to October 2020, and equally, thanked his teacher Mr Joshua Mshani for making him learn the language.
Mr Buzalski said that since he started speaking Kiswahili well, people in different villages in the country he has been visiting have been happy and feel free to communicate with him as one of them.
