Optimism about future of Spanish language from 9th Congress of the Spanish Language

“This is the time of the Spanish language, with all of its voices, all of its twists and turns, and all of its nuances, with all of its accents, all its richness and diversity. Let us not miss the opportunity that History has placed before us. The 21st Century should be the century of the Spanish language”, said King Felipe of Spain in his speech. He also stressed that Spanish is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the world after Mandarin Chinese and the second most popular language for international communication, only behind English. With some 496 million native speakers, this figure rises to 595 million speakers when including potential users (i.e., those with limited skills and those studying the language).

In turn, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation said that this congress “highlights the role Spain assigns to our language as an asset that ties us to the other 19 countries on three continents where Spanish is the official language and which, in turn, represent a priority in our foreign affairs policy and a powerful force for enhancing Spain’s image abroad”. “Our language”, added José Manuel Albares, “exists beyond the Ibero-American space. It is a global language, one of the few languages spoken on every continent and one with an increasingly important role in diplomacy and international relations”.

At the opening ceremony, King Felipe and Queen Letizia were accompanied by the President of the Regional Government of Andalusia, Juan Manuel Moreno; the Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares; the Mayor of Cadiz, José María González; the Director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero; and the Director of the Spanish Royal Academy (RAE) and President of the Association of Spanish Language Academies (ASALE), Santiago Muñoz Machado. The opening ceremony also included speeches by the writer Elvira Lindo; the Nicaraguan academic and writer Sergio Ramírez, winner of the Cervantes Prize in 2017; and the writer and academic from the RAE Soledad Puértolas.

The 9th International Congress of the Spanish Language gathered more than 1,300 participants, including speakers, registered attendees, invited guests, journalists and public officials, over the course of four days during which Cadiz became the global capital of the Spanish language. It was also the first to be entirely streamed online, which enabled people from 70 countries all over the world to follow the 57 plenary and specific themed sessions that took place since last Monday, either in person or online. Besides the academic programme, 78 cultural activities took place alongside the event to fill the city with literary gatherings, exhibitions, concerts, theatre performances and seminars. The next Congress of the Spanish Language will take place in 2025 in Arequipa (Peru).

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