Mariano Rajoy presents project entitled "Spanish, a global language"

Reina Sofía National Art Center, Madrid

At the start of his speech, President of the Government Rajoy recalled the Magallanes-Elcano expedition, "an exploit headed up by the Spanish people", that "revolutionised History in all areas" because it was the first time that the Spanish language "became a global vehicle for communication and trade".

The President of the Government, after describing the project "Spanish, a global language" as "a State affair", explained that his goal is "to enhance the value and use of the Spanish language and foster its ability to create opportunities for the Spanish-speaking community". For that reason, he added, this is "a great day for the Spanish language, culture in Spanish and for Spain".

Spanish: a product, medium and market

Pool Moncloa/Diego CrespoMariano Rajoy referred to the three dimensions of Spanish: as a product, a medium and a market. With regard to the first point, the President of the Government highlighted the role being played by SIELE (International Service to Evaluate the Spanish language), the system for the certification of the degree of dominion and competence of the Spanish language, headed up by the Cervantes Institute and backed by the University of Salamanca and the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

As regards Spanish as a medium, the President of the Government committed to boosting both cultural content and "the development and programming of new applications, digital services and technology in Spanish".

As regards Spanish as a market, Mariano Rajoy underlined that "such an extensive linguistic field facilitates and considerably reduces the costs of transactions and ends up becoming an economic area in its own right". For this reason, "we are heading up the field of language technologies and the development of linguistic infrastructures and applications and innovations in Spanish".

New technologies

Harnessing the many opportunities offered by new technologies, Spanish must be "present in the technological eco-system that is developing at full speed and which offers innumerable opportunities for business development", argued the President of the Government.

Mariano Rajoy added that the goal is "to foster the universal use of knowledge in the Spanish language", to which end "we will use the best strands available", since Spanish is, at present, "the third most used language on the Internet and the second in the social media".

Lines of action

Pool Moncloa/Diego CrespoThe President of the Government explained the two lines of action of the project entitled "Spanish, a global language". He stated that the first line is "the cohesion and global vocation of the Spanish language". In this area, Mariano Rajoy announced the creation of an Ibero-American Erasmus (a successful programme implemented in the European Union for the last 30 years) and the creation of a digital content platform in Spanish (with works and documents in various disciplines).

The second line of action of this project, added the President of the Government, focuses on the economic value of the Spanish language, because the 570 million Spanish speakers "make up a great business society with trade exchanges that do not recognise borders". In this regard, he explained that all the initiatives to be set in motion will be "cross-cutting", since they will reach "such varied areas as education, the economy, new technologies, culture, and naturally, tourism".

Institutional framework

Mariano Rajoy highlighted that the government will provide this project with an institutional framework "in order to harness the instruments currently available". In this regard, he announced that the Government High Commissioner for the 'Spain Brand' will be renamed, following the approval of the corresponding Royal Decree, to become known as the Government High Commissioner for the 'Spain Brand' and the Promotion of the Spanish Language.

Pool Moncloa/Diego Crespo

The President of the Government also added that "an Advisory Council will be set up with representation from institutions and Ibero-American public authorities, that will oversee the optimal functioning of the different initiatives" and the figure of project 'Ambassadors' will also be created, who will "lend their image and their voice to this renewed boost that we want to give our language".

To finalise, the President of the Government explained that now is the time to "build a new world in Spanish with broad horizons and great possibilities", and that "we have an unprecedented historic opportunity that we must not let pass - to head up this project".

Non official translation