Cádiz (EFE).- The number of Spanish students in the world has increased by 60% in the last decade, reaching currently 24 million students.
These are some of the data provided by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, at the table on “The strength of Spanish in Europe and on the international scene” that has been developed within the framework of the IX International Congress of the Spanish Language that is celebrated in Cádiz.
Albares has highlighted the “growing relevance” in the international context of the Spanish language, one of the three official languages in the United Nations and the European Union.
The minister has maintained that the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU for the next semester will give “a leading role” to this language and will be an opportunity to promote it.
The EU is one of the areas where interest in learning Spanish has grown the most, since, together with the US and Brazil, it brings together 81% of the 24 million students of the language.
Genoveva Ruiz, Director General of the Directorate General for Interpretation of the European Commission, explained at the table that information technologies are “a very important asset” to support the work of translators and interpreters, in which the EC is investing ” a lot” to improve dissemination, for example, among citizens with hearing problems.
These technologies are “a support”, but, in his opinion, they will not be able to replace people because they cannot, like humans, understand “all the nuances in a negotiation”.
Growing interest of students to learn Spanish
Ruth Fine, president of the International Association of Hispanists, and Inke Gunia and Alexandra Oddo, presidents of the German and French associations of Hispanists respectively, have also testified to the growing vitality of interest in learning Spanish.
The universities of France, for example, welcome a thousand professors of Hispanic studies and 21,000 students.
“The strength of Spanish is indisputable,” said the president of the International Association of Hispanists, who believes that this language continues to be “a paradigm of diversity.”
This entity, founded in 1962 to promote the language, continues to grow with the incorporation of new Hispanist associations, the last of which was created in Taiwan.
In fact, as Albares has recalled, 52 countries and 600 congressmen will participate in the “great event” of international Hispanicism that will be held soon.