José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero highlights "the excellent relations in terms of education" with China

President's News - 2011.4.12

  • x: opens new window
  • Whatsapp: opens new window
  • Linkedin: opens new window
  • Send: opens new window

In his speech on "The value of Spanish", José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero recalled how, in July 2006, the Prince and Princess of Asturias officially opened the Cervantes Centre in Beijing and announced the opening of the first Chinese Culture Centre in Spain, which will take place in Madrid later this year. Furthermore, the President of the Government also announced that the Quetzal Route will be taking place outside of Ibero-America for the first time in 2012 and will travel to Chinese lands.

In his opinion, these initiatives and others "are the expression of a desire by both governments, the Chinese and the Spanish, to narrow the gap that separates our two countries and open pathways to an entire universe of relations between our societies: political, trade, social and, of course, cultural relations".

Cervantes Institute

In his speech, the President of the Government emphasised the fact that Spanish is a language spoken by more than 400 million people in 21 countries and is the mother tongue for more than 40 million people in the United States. The Cervantes Institute, said José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, is "our main project in terms of spreading the Spanish language and, therefore, the Spanish culture" and comprises 77 centres around the world. One of the "main hubs" on this network can be found in Beijing.

Collaboration with China

The President of the Government expressed his satisfaction regarding the 20,000 students of Spanish that exist in China and highlighted that the number of universities in China with Spanish departments has risen from 25 in 2005 to more than 60 today. At these universities, Spanish is taught under the speciality of Hispanic Philology, as a second foreign language or as complementary studies to another course.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero explained that this offer is accompanied by the more than 160 agreements signed between Spanish and Chinese universities. Moreover, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation sends assistants to these universities every year. The number of assistants in the Asia-Pacific region has doubled in recent years and efforts are being made to increase the 14 assistantships that currently exist in China over the years to come.

The economic value of Spanish

The President of the Government stressed that, besides being the vehicle for communication, creation and cohesion for millions of Spanish speakers, the Spanish language is "unarguably a channel for economic development and the generation of wealth", not only for the revenue derived from the teaching of Spanish but also for the entire industry associated with language, such as editorial production, the cinema, music and television.

These industries are particularly dynamic, both domestically and internationally, and their main challenge today lies with the Internet and emerging technologies, concluded the President of the Government.

More Info