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Chad moves to harmonise French and Arabic in public administration

August 11, 2026

By Djinodji SOLMENGAR Rodrigue

The Chadian government has launched work on a bilingual glossary aimed at standardising administrative terminology in French and Arabic, the country’s two official languages.

Government Secretary-General Dr. Rahmatou Mahamat Houtouin installed the 58-member technical committee on August 10. The committee has 45 days to complete the glossary.

The committee’s president, Mahamat Chahata Loukoumi, said applying bilingualism in public administration falls within the responsibilities of the Secretariat-General of the Government.

The minister said the glossary forms part of the National Strategy for the Application of Bilingualism in Public Administration. The strategy includes training civil servants, strengthening translation units and harmonising administrative terminology.

The initiative aims to provide government institutions with a common reference for using French and Arabic in official administrative work.

Djinodji Solmengar

Djinodji Solmengar

Djinodji Solmengar Rodrigue is a journalist with MRTV English, Chad’s first English-language media outlet, where he led English-language news coverage at its launch. Based in N’Djamena, his reporting explores political, economic, and social developments, with particular attention to everyday realities, informal sectors, and cultural life. His work also extends to football and broader societal issues, approached through field reporting and in-depth storytelling. Beyond reporting, Djinodji regularly conducts interviews focused on education, including the teaching of English in Chad, as well as conversations (with AFROTRONIX, to name a few) on culture and music. He is also active as an English–French interpreter, working alongside international media professionals. In this capacity, he recently supported and interpreted for a delegation of foreign journalists, including BBC representatives, during the PND Chad Connexion 2030 mission. Alongside his professional practice, Djinodji is pursuing a PhD, with research centered on the presence of China and Russia in Africa as portrayed in selected Commonwealth online media. His academic interests lie at the intersection of media, geopolitics, and discourse analysis. Earlier in his career, he taught English and authored a Master’s thesis examining the contextualization of English language teaching in Chad, reflecting a sustained engagement with educational challenges and policy.

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