Instituto Cervantes’ debate at the UB on multilingualism
News
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Culture
(24/07/2024)
Today, Wednesday 24 July, the Aula Magna of the Historic Building of the University of Barcelona hosted a session of the Instituto Cervantes’ annual meeting. The session, which was dedicated to multilingualism in the Iberian Peninsula, was opened by the Rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia, and the Director of the Institute, Luis García Montero, also spoke. In his speech, the Rector expressed the “desire for collaboration between the two entities”, which he described as “long-standing”, and highlighted the “extraordinarily powerful network of knowledge that the Institute represents”, as well as “the option for the future that it represents”. García Montero also highlighted the collaboration that already exists with the UB with the exams for the Diploma in Spanish as a Foreign Language (DELE), and especially emphasized the “linguistic diversity of the state and the commitment of the Institute to work with the values of respect and democracy as a seed for the future”.
News
|
Culture
24/07/2024
Today, Wednesday 24 July, the Aula Magna of the Historic Building of the University of Barcelona hosted a session of the Instituto Cervantes’ annual meeting. The session, which was dedicated to multilingualism in the Iberian Peninsula, was opened by the Rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia, and the Director of the Institute, Luis García Montero, also spoke. In his speech, the Rector expressed the “desire for collaboration between the two entities”, which he described as “long-standing”, and highlighted the “extraordinarily powerful network of knowledge that the Institute represents”, as well as “the option for the future that it represents”. García Montero also highlighted the collaboration that already exists with the UB with the exams for the Diploma in Spanish as a Foreign Language (DELE), and especially emphasized the “linguistic diversity of the state and the commitment of the Institute to work with the values of respect and democracy as a seed for the future”.
This was followed by the ession on multilingualism in Spain, with the participation of experts Llorenç Comajoan, from the University of Vic, Ana María Iglesias, from the University of Vigo, and Miren Dobaran, Vice-Minister for Language Policy of the Basque Government. The session was moderated by Carmen Pastor, academic director of the Instituto Cervantes, who stressed that “60% of the inhabitants of Spain live in bilingual territories” and also “the institution’s commitment to the teaching of the rest of Spain’s official languages throughout the world”.
On the other hand, Comajoan underlined the current emergency in which the Catalan language finds itself: “despite the acceptable level of competence shown by the inhabitants of Catalonia, social use has fallen sharply over the last ten years”. Miren Dobaran highlighted “the progress made by Basque over the last thirty years, which has gone from being a language of the elderly to being the language most commonly used by young people”. Finally, Ana María Iglesias talked about Galician, “a language in regression, rooted in rural environments and used by the elderly, the result of a very weak standardization policy”.
The event was inaugurated on Monday 22 July in the Saló de Cent of Barcelona City Council. Among the attendants were the Mayor, Jaume Collboni, the Director of the Instituto Cervantes, Luis García Montero, and the Secretary General of the Organisation of Ibero-American States (OEI), Mariano Jabonero. This historic meeting brought together more than eighty Cervantes members from all over the world, and included a wide range of activities designed to promote the understanding and dissemination of the Spanish culture and languages at a global level.
The Instituto Cervantes, founded in 1991, is a public institution created to promote the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. It is present in 54 countries, with centres in 102 cities, and also promotes other Spanish languages such as Catalan, Galician and Basque.
The Cervantes Institute offers more than 145 Catalan courses around the world, with a growing demand in places such as Germany and Vienna. The presence of this language has increased by 234% in Cervantes activities since 2019.
On the other hand, Comajoan underlined the current emergency in which the Catalan language finds itself: “despite the acceptable level of competence shown by the inhabitants of Catalonia, social use has fallen sharply over the last ten years”. Miren Dobaran highlighted “the progress made by Basque over the last thirty years, which has gone from being a language of the elderly to being the language most commonly used by young people”. Finally, Ana María Iglesias talked about Galician, “a language in regression, rooted in rural environments and used by the elderly, the result of a very weak standardization policy”.
The event was inaugurated on Monday 22 July in the Saló de Cent of Barcelona City Council. Among the attendants were the Mayor, Jaume Collboni, the Director of the Instituto Cervantes, Luis García Montero, and the Secretary General of the Organisation of Ibero-American States (OEI), Mariano Jabonero. This historic meeting brought together more than eighty Cervantes members from all over the world, and included a wide range of activities designed to promote the understanding and dissemination of the Spanish culture and languages at a global level.
The Instituto Cervantes, founded in 1991, is a public institution created to promote the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. It is present in 54 countries, with centres in 102 cities, and also promotes other Spanish languages such as Catalan, Galician and Basque.
The Cervantes Institute offers more than 145 Catalan courses around the world, with a growing demand in places such as Germany and Vienna. The presence of this language has increased by 234% in Cervantes activities since 2019.
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