The 30th anniversary of the Cervantes Institute ends with a book, a good phrase and a data battery that, although they are the continuity of statisics already known, impress. First, the phrase and the book: "Spain is Spanish. It is Spanish and some more things, but Spanish is the great cause of Spanish society, "said professor of economics José Luis García Delgado in a colloquium with the scientist of the CSIC Elea Giménez Toledo, held to present Spanish in the world. . Yearbook of the Cervantes Institute 2021.
The yearbook is a classic format: records the work of the Cervantes, country by country, warn of demographic trends and political circumstances that condition the demand of the Spanish language, detects the future worklines and, in the end, issues a message that, up Now, it has always been of optimism: "Spanish is a language with good health," said its director, Luis García Montero.
And, to justify that diagnosis, the data came. According to the Cervantes, Spanish is the native language of 493 million people; Only Mandarin Chinese has more. If speakers are added to the account with partial competition, the figure rises to 591 million people. Six million more than last year and 96 million more than in 2012. A 20% increase.
EN 2021, 24 million students study Spanish in the world. The language is the second language set in education from the United Kingdom, from US and 18 of the 27 States of the European Union. In the United States, in addition, the Trump era, partying of the "English, Only" politics and the White House has relaunched its website in Spanish.
More interesting data: Spanish is, since 2015, the second language that produces the most scientific content. Spain, Argentina and Mexico are among the first 15 producing cinema and Spain and Argentine countries, among the 15 largest book publishers. Spanish is also the third most used language on the Internet and the second on channels such as YouTube, Netflix or Spotify.
The but: The growing influence of Spanish responds to the demographic vigor of Latin American countries. But that cycle is over. In the middle of the century, the demography of Spanish will stop and other populations in sub-Saharan Africa will grow. "You have to bet on consolidating the prestige of the Spanish as a second language," explained Luis García Montero, who called "betting on the prestige of culture in Spanish as an ambassador of the Hispanic community to attract more students. Teaching a language is much more important than teaching a vocabulary. The values that interest us defend are settled in the vocabulary ».
Some future challenges: "We have to take artificial intelligence very seriously, because there is nothing more alien than a machine. There is a great task in science and technology ahead. "
For this challenge, the State will contribute 76 million euros, according to the general budgets that were presented at Congress. With its own income, the Institute will come to manage 135 million. A lot of money? Neither did not. Before the crisis of 2008, the State came to invest 90 million in the Cervantes. Then, he stayed at 60 million. With that budget, the Cervantes will end their center from Dakar, will consolidate its ivory coast classroom and will advance with its new center in Los Angeles.
Date Of Update: 15 October 2021, 10:52
