The U.S. is the great laboratory for the Spanish language, as dean of Harvard

The U.S. has become a " fascinating laboratory " for studying the relationship between Spanish and English and anticipate the future of both languages ​​, in the opinion of the Dean of Arts and Humanities at Harvard University , Diana Sorensen .

In a conversation with Efe, held this week in Cambridge ( Massachusetts ) at the launch at Harvard the "Observatory of the Spanish language ," Sorensen said the " important role " that is serving in the U.S. Spanish .

Could it be said - asked - that the future of Spanish is being played in this country?

" I dare not make a judgment as blunt " answers Sorensen, "but I think in the U.S. the Spanish is fulfilling an important role , affecting both English and Spanish being affected as a language , so that, rather than gamble with the future of language , I think we are witnessing a migration lab and Crosses is fascinating and very vital. "

The two most widely spoken languages ​​in the world live in the country at the forefront of science , economics , technology and entertainment, and that relationship will largely condition the transformation of both languages.

From Argentina , Diana Sorensen is Professor " James F. Rothenberg " of Romance Languages ​​and Literatures and Comparative Literature at Harvard , and a renowned specialist in Latin American literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries .

Thanks to their efforts, just starting your career at Harvard on " Observatory of Spanish language and Hispanic cultures in the United States " , a new center of the Instituto Cervantes which intends to investigate the evolution of the Spanish and the Hispanic in this immense country.

The Centre is directed by Professor of the University of Alcala de Henares Francisco Moreno Fernández , until recently, academic director of the Cervantes .

When asked if the U.S. will end up becoming a bilingual nation , Sorensen responds with a dart of reproach to the politicians in Washington.

" I do not know if ( bilingualism ) may occur in an official manner , because you all have witnessed the unfortunate lack of political cohesion that are there in Congress , in the government. 's A public embarrassment ," he says , referring to the recent dispute between the two major parties has remained paralyzed and the federal administration to the brink of bankruptcy.

" These same gentlemen, as this gentleman Cruz ( Ted Cruz, Republican Senator ), which unfortunately has a Hispanic name , I guess they are people who are willing to enact legislation that is so open , but I think we are actually sailing two languages ​​" .

The Dean reveals to Cambridge, where he is based university "is a city where English is rarely heard in the street."

"If you're standing in line at the post office, will hear Russian, will hear Arabic, Spanish course , much Portuguese ... , so here inhabit a sort of polyglot sea , which I find fantastic. But I think it becomes official ( bilingualism ), I think is going to happen maybe in practice . "

According to Sorensen , both the president of Harvard as the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences are delighted with the project of the Spanish Observatory .

Testing has shown that acquired the project is the fact that at the first faculty meeting of the academic year , on September 25 , the dean announced to the entire faculty building of the new center .

Being only one among many other projects of this university , considered the first in the world, is the only one that has been announced publicly.

The Observatory is also the best illustration of the new dynamics of "opening the doors to the international world " that pursues Harvard over other models used by other private universities in the prestigious Ivy League.

" Harvard seeks international attention , wants to receive foreign forces in the most positive sense of the word ," recalls the dean .

" While NYU built a campus in Abu Dhabi , or Yale in Singapore , we are creating a different model that is much more agile and flexible : we have an observatory, we can create a study center in São Paulo or Bombay , but we are trying to create agile international presence with institutions that are not new campus, " he explains.

The plan is that the first activities of the new Observatory begin immediately upon termination of the International Congress of the Spanish Language which is being held these days in Panama