Increased demand for Spanish as a foreign language

China , Portugal and other countries in the world are demanding more and more tools to learn the Spanish language , and not necessarily motivated by the reading of " Don Quixote " .

" It's stupid to think that, in the case of China have to do with an interest driven more by trade ," says Humberto López Morales , secretary of the Association of Spanish Language Academies .

Be in the interest to read "Don Quixote " by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra learn Spanish or for other reasons, Spanish specialists have noticed this growing trend to adopt language in the world. For example, some institutions outside speaking countries begin to include the teaching of Spanish in their curricula .

Therefore, the Cervantes Institute and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM ) in Panama on Tuesday urged the signing of an interagency agreement that creates American network training and updating of teachers in Spanish as a foreign language .

" The network was created for the purpose of responding to the demand for teachers , through approval of training systems , upgrading and certification internationally validated and adjusted to the most advanced standards of the specialty ," said Victor Garcia de la Concha , director of the Institute Cervantes.

Currently, there are no precise figures on the number of teachers from Spain and Latin America who teach Spanish in countries with other languages ​​, but the phenomenon exists and grows increasingly as the unseating Spanish languages ​​like French between worldwide use, says Lopez Morales.

The deal comes as part of the Sixth International Congress of the Spanish Language , involving first Spanish hundreds of teachers , mostly from Panama and that the government has funded virtually the cost of their participation.

Aida Montenegro a Panamanian journalist decided to take a course in teaching Spanish in Barcelona , Spain , participated in the conference , even if it had to make a long journey from the United Arab Emirates , where she teaches Spanish .

Some educational institutions in the Arab country have in their programs the Spanish study , said Montenegro.

" I help them communicate. To write a letter, an email ," he said . " They are happy students since entering the classroom and say ' good morning ''' .

An estimated 530 million people speak Spanish in the world and is considered , according to the Instituto Cervantes , the second international language after English communication .

The interest Spain and Latin America for trade , culture , tourism and literature has given a boom to the language.

The Spanish " each passing day is a language most coveted , most respected , obviously there is an important part of the Spanish -speaking world ," Lopez said Morales .

Besides UNAM Instituto Cervantes and integrated as founding member of the Instituto Caro y Cuervo ( Colombia ) and the Universities of Salamanca ( Spain ) , Católica de Chile , Católica de Valparaíso (Chile ) , from Costa Rica , Nacional de Rosario ( Argentina ) , Rio Piedras ( Puerto Rico ) and Ricardo Palma ( Peru ) .

Once established the network and created the training and certification systems , for which dates were not specified , others will join the project.