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

Experts discuss the impact of technology in the Spanish language

Inscribed on the celebrations of the fifth centenary of the discovery of the Pacific , Congress - organized by the Royal Spanish Academy , the Association of Spanish Language Academies and the Institute Cervantes , whose motto is " The Spanish in the book : the Atlantic to the Sea South " .

"We focus on the book and on those close to him applications , such as e-book that has elements of new technology and old traditional book elements ," explains José Manuel Blecua , director of the SAR and president of the Association which groups at 22 schools .

For four days will address issues as "problems that today have the book from the legal point of view , with digital rights , intellectual property , all these elements are as vivid today that did not exist 20 years ago ," he says .

From the first Congress in 1997 in Zacatecas ( Mexico ), where Gabriel Garcia Marquez threw his controversial call to retire spelling, also changed "the possibilities of working with the language, with everything that brought applications to research language , "he adds , noting " such access to large databases "online .

In this edition , chaired by Prince Felipe of Spain and Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli , the opening will be borne by the Spanish- Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa , Sergio Ramírez Nicaraguan and Panamanian Juan David Morgan .

The conference , which for the first time will have a virtual Internet edition will also be the occasion to launch a Elemental Spelling coincide with the interests of the host, Panama Minister of Education , Lucy Molinar , to give an educational character .

This conference should serve to " take a significant step in improving teaching in Spanish " in schools, had said Molinar during the presentation ceremony in June in Madrid , for which Panama among others invited to participate over a thousand student teacher .

Future.

The SAR will also present " two projects closely related to the issue of Internet " explains Blecua . The first is the new website of the Academy , where in addition to the dictionary of the language , which already recorded 42 million visits a month, will be available the fundamental works published since its founding 300 years ago , some of which no longer have paper edition .

To this is added the first phase of a database , called the Spanish Corpus XXI Century ( CORPES ) , with 160 million words of time , from 70% of American texts and materials 7.5% emerged Internet .

The network and its actors , including bloggers , will also be addressed but its influence is still too recent , as Blecua , to feel in the language. " The language states do not change so quickly.

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.

A new form of the Spanish language was born in the United States

The United States " is setting " a form of Spanish with a cultural sign itself , although still far from comparable with lexical varieties exhibiting other Spanish-speaking countries , according to experts at the Sixth Congress participaronn International Language in Panama .

Projections suggest that by 2050 the United States could become the first Spanish-speaking nation , ahead of Mexico , if migration and demographic trends continue, according to participants in the Congress, which has already completed .

The director of the Instituto Cervantes , Victor Garcia de la Concha , said in an interview with Efe in Panama City has been the progressive growth of the number of Spanish speakers , because the flood of migration, what is driving this new form of Spanish , one language , however , is still seen as a " language of migrants" in the United States.

"I actually , sociolinguists , say that you are setting a modality States ( of Spanish ) , but you are setting , yet is distinct from a configuration as fixed such as the Colombian or Mexican ," said Garcia de la Concha .

For the director of Instituto Cervantes , " we do need to consider this whole phenomenon " , but stressed that " still not yet fully as to specifically define .

Garcia de la Concha , however , noted that if anything stands out to Spanish is his " very strong unit ," which is clear from the fact that " 91% of the vocabulary used by all Spanish speakers, in any country , it is common " .

" Everything is Spanish , but Spanish varieties , some syntactic construction but lexical mainly reduced to the customs ," he said .

The president of the American Academy of the Spanish Language, Gerardo Piña Rosales , also told Efe that you can start talking about the existence of " Spanish in the United States."

This nascent form " has not so much a syntax, a structure " , but a " lexicon that responds to the cultural life of the United States," said Pina , who explains the phenomenon in a book he published with Professor Dominita Dumitrescu .

The U.S. Spanish "undoubtedly already happening " in a process that is also improving quality due to social promotion of Spanish speakers , said the president of the American Academy of the Spanish Language since 2008.

"People said , has a very wrong notion of what the Spanish in the United States, which is now the Spanish corrupted , as it somehow happened before . And for a social issue ."

"Simply put, there is a Hispanic middle class and , on the other hand, children of immigrants realize that being bilingual worth two ," said Piña Rosales.

In this process "we must take care " that the new Spanish American is being born " is as accurate as possible " , which is entirely linked to education, said Professor University of New York.

" To the extent that children , especially Hispanics, Anglos but also , have access to education , that Spanish is getting better ," he said .

In that sense, García de la Concha said the recent launch of an Observatory of the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures in the United States, driven by the Cervantes Institute and Harvard University , under the sponsorship of Banco Santander.

The Observatory " will be giving us information of how you're doing " everything Hispanic in the United States, including the phenomenon of the new form of Spanish in this country .

The director of the Cervantes also referred to the social progress of the U.S. Hispanic migration , and how this can help the Spanish no longer seen as a " language of migrants " and go to be considered one of " excellence."

"As immigrants are boosting their social role grows also the consideration of the language , but if they stay true to that language " and not limited to use it " in the family " , then that Spanish will also progress , said Garcia de la Concha .

" At the time when the Spanish started now into social areas and then begin to have more extensive references , more universal , then I can acquire that language recognition of excellence ," he added .

Festival of the Word of Puerto Rico seeks to help the Spanish language in the U.S.

The Festival of the Word , the fourth edition in Puerto Rico , wants to strengthen the literary connection between the Caribbean island and the Anglo world , as well as " help (language) Spanish in the U.S.," the director told Efe programming of the event, the Spanish José Manuel Fajardo.

The director of the event, the writer Mayra Santos Febres , Efe further elaborated that , coinciding with the century of existence of the New York newspaper in Spanish "The press " has prepared a special agenda that promotes bilingualism for a festival celebrated until next Sunday in San Juan .

Thus, through the streets of San Juan are already Latino writers but preferably in English writing as Daniel Alarcon , Justin Torres and Larry La Fountain .

This objective of boosting the visibility of Puerto Rican literature abroad and to strengthen ties between the Latino writers is why the Word Festival moves next week to New York , where he held a second part , between 16th and 19th .

"This is an international festival held in Puerto Rico ," said Fajardo , to make clear that there is room in the event to promote literature in general , whether in Spanish , English or any other language.

Another of the objectives in this issue is to highlight the link between journalism and literature , issue addressed in depth the Spanish Jacinto Antón , linked to the culture section of the newspaper El País for over two decades.

This edition highlights the presence of the Portuguese Lidia Jorge , whom Fajardo defined as one of the leading figures of European literature : " It is one of the great voices of Europe" .

In the corridors of the imposing Museum of Art Puerto Rico could see today also Colombian Santiago Gamboa , Venezuelan Juan Carlos Mendez Guedez , Yolanda Lopez and Puerto Ricans and fellow Matienzo Roxana Juan López Bauza .

López Bauza is the new winner of the third edition of the Americas for Best Latin American narrative for his ambitious and quixotic work " Barataria " , a satirical novel about the political status of Puerto Rico .

Another of these is the Puerto Rican Eduardo Lalo , winner of the last edition of the Romulo Gallegos Prize for his novel " Simone " , who claimed during the inauguration of Puerto Rico flee festival of rhetoric and empty words .

Rajoy considers the Spanish language as a resource against economic crisis

The Prime Minister , Mariano Rajoy, has opted Wednesday for a more interactive Cervantes Institute in promoting Spanish and considered this language as a resource to deal with the crisis that should be used by the companies. Rajoy has chosen to enhance that role of Spanish in his speech at the meeting of the board of the Instituto Cervantes , which was presided over by the Prince of Asturias in the Zarzuela Palace .

The Chief Executive highlighted the role of the Instituto Cervantes in Spanish promoting and disseminating the image of Spain , and reiterated that this language is already the third most used on the Internet . In his view, this fact is one of the main challenges of the Institute in redefining its role in the XXI century , and therefore , although this entity is already present on the internet, think you should go for the digital environment as a space reference and opportunities for the internationalization of Spanish .

In that vein , said that "should embrace the changes related to the new digital scenarios with lower entry barriers and lower costs of production , distribution and dissemination" . "We should move towards a more interactive Cervantes Institute , which offers more content and information in real time ," he argued Rajoy.

For him , an Institute to intensify the use of virtual platforms for Spanish teacher training and the evaluation and certification of Spanish as a foreign language would link " inexorably " Spanish language and culture with technology and innovation.

The Prime Minister believes that this decision will also help maintain the quality and sustainability of the Instituto Cervantes , whose leadership believes it has made ​​a great effort to generate capital and keep intact its network of centers. Rajoy has stressed that the promotion of Spanish is a task that transcends as a country and that requires cooperation and co-leadership of the entire American community .

Therefore considered that cash to improve the status of Spanish is necessary to design a strategy that should be shared internationally for all Spanish-speaking countries . " We are an extraordinary asset of more than half a billion people who must feel the Instituto Cervantes as an instrument itself , as a strategic element of institutional strength to successfully export a comprehensive picture of Spanish culture ," he stressed .

For Rajoy , Spanish linguistic cohesion should serve to establish alliances with Latin American countries in order to access the academic and socio-cultural environment of the United States. It is there that understands the stakes consolidation of Spanish as a second language , as well as new technological and financial borders are being drawn to Asia and the Pacific .

Rajoy has come to the meeting in his capacity as Executive Chairman of the Board of Instituto Cervantes , and it was also attended by government Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia - Margallo , and Education and Culture, Jose Ignacio Wert .

Heritage courses for bilingual

His school performance was excellent , whenever English . But at home it was in Spanish , from its dilated talks with his grandparents in the evenings until Barbie magazines that came monthly. She was sure she was bilingual .

Until Dorothy , now a student at Harvard University , spent last summer studying in Mexico and realized how poor was his Spanish .

" We were talking about the presidential election and there were so many things I wanted to explain ," said Villarreal . "In the end we ended up playing a guessing game that I spoke English and my friends repeated it in Spanish , trying to guess what I meant ."

Villarreal 's experience is increasingly common in the United States, where one in five children growing up in a bilingual household . To help these young people to improve their language , several universities are expanding their language courses, in part to improve the preparation of students who will graduate and will need several languages ​​for their professional future in a world characterized by globalization.

For those who grow up in homes multilingual , there are certain advantages to it. They can greet and speak colloquially in another language, and even talk about light topics as time soap opera . But when it comes to deeper issues , or to read and write , they are in trouble.

The shortcomings are evident in high school, where these students are bored in basic language classes but are overwhelmed in the more advanced courses . And that is only if your school offers classes in cultural language , therefore the end of the day , how many schools in the U.S. offer courses in Arabic or Korean ?

With the growing U.S. Hispanic population , most language courses are in Spanish heritage , and these classes have proliferated California , Florida and several central-western states . Also some have emerged in institutions like Harvard University , which incorporated a course this year.

Villarreal , who aspires to work in Latin America for a multinational corporation or for the U.S. government - " without looking ridiculous ," he says - was among the first students to enroll in the course. He was excited about the opportunity to improve your Spanish without having to engage an advanced course with non-Latino peers , which may have strong accents but they pronounce the words correctly.

That kind of pressure , and shame because they can not read or write in a language that supposedly dominate , may lead some students to fall behind in the regular academic program , says Maria Luisa Parra Velasco , the Harvard professor who created the new Spanish course . Also , students may carry on stigma of speaking " broken Spanish " or more colloquial Spanish , says .

Apart from the language , the classes offer an unusual Villarreal academic space to talk about issues that can not talk comfortably with their white Anglo-Saxons. Compare your Spanish class with the class that has immediately afterwards: an advanced course in Spanish , focused on cultural practices in the border area between the U.S. and Mexico . In that class, Villareal speaks less .

" In class we talk about the border like an abstract concept, and for me , I went to school that was five minutes from the border. Border to me is what made suspend classes at my school because police helicopters are trying to catch people crossing , "he said .

Language programs of cultural heritage in the United States have existed in one form or another for over a century , as a way to preserve both the language and the culture, even amid movements demanding that only speak English. In the late nineteenth century , the German schools were common. In California, are tradition for years the Chinese and Japanese classes on weekends , and bilingual classes in English and Spanish have been established for years.

However, the emergence of language classes and cultural heritage is relatively new, especially in universities. The University of Texas -Pan American received funding from the Department of Education in 2007 to create a program of medical terms in Spanish , which is being replicated in other educational institutions.

Spanish classes are not the only ones that are fashionable . Harvard has developed programs in Russian, Chinese and Korean languages ​​that the U.S. government considers strategically important to the academic life and the world of espionage.

The National Heritage Languages ​​at the University of California at Los Angeles , funded by the Department of Education of the United States since 2006 , recently conducted the first national study of such courses , and found that they were teaching at 34 states and then the Spanish , the most popular were Chinese, Korean , Russian and Farsi .