Glossary

Whenever refugees interact with various service providers who have a stake in their well-being, the later may not speak or have a good command of the language in which the refugees speak. Many a times, most of the words or phrases spoken by refugees are only specific to them and thus call for aid if there should be effective communication between an individual service provider and a client.

Having interacted with refugee clients from various countries of origins for a decade, the Refugee Law Project deemed it necessary to build a core-glossary that would enable us to communicate with our esteemed clients as if we spoke the same language, so that the RLP can fulfill its mandate. However, this will also be a guide into clear communication between other service providers and refugee clients.

In order to achieve this, in October 2008, the RLP started a Community Interpretation Project that recruited a team of nine interpreters from various refugee communities namely: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Somalia. The team was trained on professional interpreting; of which glossary building was a training component.

This team of community interpreters has been, and is still involved in searching for the words and phrases relevant for the glossary in their different language communities. As this search continues, what appears on this glossary page is still a Work-In -Progress. In the near future, there could be some changes to the outlook of the glossary as shall be deemed necessary.

As of now, this glossary is specifically in four (4) categories namely: Congolese-speaking community, Rwandese--speaking community, Somali-speaking community, and Lingala-speaking community. This glossary enables definition of concepts, (especially for newcomers to these enlisted languages). It contains a small working vocabulary and definitions for important or frequently encountered concepts, usually including idioms or metaphors useful in the different cultures. We hope to have the Amharic language glossary in the near future.

The core-glossary is divided into six areas of meaning namely: legal terminologies, medical terminologies, culture-specific words, social terminologies, political terminologies and violence-related terminologies. The concepts defined are given in either two or more languages. The literal meanings of words are also given where applicable. Please enjoy…

1. Legal terminologies - | Congolese | Lingala | Rwandese | Somali |
2. Medical terminologies - | Congolese | Lingala | Rwandese| Somali |
3. Culture-specific words - | Congolese | Lingala | Rwandese | Somali |
4. Social terminologies - | Congolese | Lingala | Rwandese | Somali |
5. Political terminologies - | Congolese | Lingala | Rwandese | Somali |
6. Violence-related terminologies - | Congolese | Lingala | Rwandese | Somali |

Contact us at lac@refugeelawproject.org.