The promotion of Spanish, the cornerstone of the Spanish Government's Foreign Policy

Genoveva Ruiz Calavera, head of the EU's Directorate General for Interpretation, has emphasized, during the IX International Congress of the Spanish Language in Cadiz (CILE), the economic potential of Spanish, which will be at the center of decision-making, "a prestige for Spain in the face of great challenges". 

In an interview granted to this correspondent, the Director General of the Interpretation Service of the European Commission, based in Brussels, Genoveva Ruiz, announced that the presidency of the European Union will consecrate the Spanish language. Spanish will be spoken in all the meetings that will take place within the European framework for six months, which indicates that its presence in the round of multilateral negotiations will be vital. 

In this regard, Ruiz Calavera echoed the words of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, who, at the Language Congress in Cádiz, highlighted the strength of Spanish in Europe on the international scene, where Spanish speakers generate 10 percent of the world's GDP.

When asked about the possible loss of the quality of the language due to the intrusion of Anglicisms, Ruiz Calavera assured that on a day-to-day basis, legal linguists, interpreters and translators are very purist and "from Brussels we don't see it that way". "There is a dynamic of intoxication, but from the European institutions, Castilian is pure," Ruiz Calavera pointed out. 

Given the process of diaspora in the coming years, Castilian could be at risk of possible fragmentation and on the future of our language, the head of interpretation in the EU has stated that from the European point of view, our language is very consolidated. "We are 27 member countries and potentially 600 million Spanish speakers in the world, all of which allows our interests and values to be projected globally". 

In this sense, a total of 500 interpreters in the EU of all nationalities provide services in 24 languages. The Spanish government asks that our language be present at all meetings. "Our colleagues are interested in learning Spanish in Brussels". The intrinsic component of our culture, the good climate, the way of being, and the familiarity of our language are attractive in value for the youngest, and all this makes Spain the most beloved destination for the Erasmus program for university student exchange. A total of 24 million students are currently studying Spanish in the United States, Brazil and the EU.  "Making an investment in Spanish is an investment in the future. The health of our language is robust and the international projection is very great." 

One of the main conclusions drawn, within the framework of the IX International Congress of the Language, dealt with Spanish as a living language that grows year by year, the second mother tongue in the world. With a very high level of communication and comprehension, it embraces the diversity and unity that make it an international language, "the common language of all of us that generates links in international relations", Ruiz Calavera concluded.

As a result, Spanish enjoys excellent health in the international arena. Half of the videos on YouTube in Spanish reflect a striking sound creation that shows that our language is the third on the Internet. Currently, more than 595 million people in the world speak Spanish as a native, second or foreign language. It is an official language in 20 countries, being one of the three languages present in both the United Nations and the European Union, and has recently joined the African Union.

Carmen Chamorro García, CIP/ACPE Board Member

Graduate in International Relations