with bilateral ties between india and the african countries strengthening job opportunities for indian students in these countries have also increased delhi university du offers a oneyear certificate and a oneyear diploma programme in swahili for those interested in establishing base in african countries or are interested in working with african companies swahili one of the official languages of the african union is taught at the department of african studies delhi universitysuresh kumar head of department department of african studies du points out that india is currently laying ground for an enduring partnership between india and the african nations thus it is expected that african industrialists will come to india for trade if one knows swahili it will be easier for them to communicate with their counterparts from the african countries he adds that learning swahili will also be beneficial for people who want to take up jobs in africa swahili is a mix of hindi arabic and other languages making it easier for hindi speakers to learn it a lot of words in swahili are spoken and mean the same in hindi the areas covered in both the programmes include the basics of grammar composition translation in english comprehension letter writing reading in swahili history language and culture among other areas we have a laboratory in which students listen to a conversation in swahili and learn the language says kumar for the certificate and diploma courses the number of seats is not fixed there is also no age limit for applying to the courses and so people who want to learn the language for business purposes can also apply for the course talking about some other avenues for students who wish to utilise their language expertise in india itself kumar says people can work as translators or even work in foreign embassies a few of our students have also got jobs in all india radiocandidates with a minimum 2 qualification are eligible to apply for the certificate course while those with a certificate in swahili or with basic knowledge of the language are eligible for the diploma programme application forms for all courses can be collected from the faculty of social sciences from june 15 wwwduacin