Cervantes is on its way to Korea

Lovers of the Spanish language have come one step closer to having a Cervantes Institute open its doors in Korea.

"I set a priority in Korea because there is a big demand for learning Spanish and also promoting Spanish cultures," said Spanish Ambassador Juan Bautista Lena.

In Korea there are a large number of candidates going for their Spanish language accreditation known as the DELE or the Diploma of Spanish as a Foreign Language.

The exams take place twice a year, in May and November. According to the latest statistics, 930 people went for their accreditation in November making the number over 1,800 for the year.

"It`s even more than Beijing and Tokyo," said the ambassador.

The first step for the institute before fully opening its doors in Korea will be a small research and classroom center at Kyung Hee University`s Suwon campus.



The date set for the opening of the small center will be in March with a full fledged center to be opened at a later date assured Lena.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Spain, so the Embassy and its government are working hard to make that dream of opening a Cervantes Institute in Korea a reality. First, however, are a few loopholes and hurdles which have to be overcome.

The Director of the institute, Carmen Caffarel, told The Korea Herald that she had three objectives during her recent visit to Korea: one was to assist in a local Spanish scholars meeting, the other was to sign the memorandum of understanding between the Institute in Madrid and Kyung Hee University, and last was to discuss the plans with the local government.

"This is a long process and we need permission from the government to proceed," she said. "The road is already set in front of us, this is our first step and now there will be fewer obstacles ahead of us in the future."

The Cervantes Institute wants the main center that will house the institute to be a fully independent entity not supported or influenced by any universities.

Until then, what students will find as soon as they walk through the doors of the center in Kyung Hee University will be cyber classrooms, a library and another room for meetings and conferences.

She added that the center will also hold many cultural events representing every Spanish speaking country including Spain, but for the really big events, she said that the center will employ the help from universities, organizations, foundations and museums.

During the past few years, many universities were hoping to host the center but in the end, Kyung Hee University won the bid due to their large number of people studying Spanish and "they were very proactive and eager to give us a space (building)."

The Cervantes Institute is a worldwide non-profit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991 and is now the largest organization in the world responsible for promoting the study and the teaching of Spanish language and culture.

Named after Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), the author of Don Quixote, and perhaps the most important figure in the history of Spanish literature, the institute was modeled on the British Council and the German Goethe Institute.

"In those short years we`ve opened centers in more than 70 cities," said Caffarel.

The institute`s ultimate goals are to promote the education, the study and the use of Spanish universally as a second language, and to support the methods and activities that would help the process of Spanish language education, and to contribute to the advancement of the Spanish and Hispanic American cultures throughout non-Spanish-speaking countries.

The center will also organize the official Spanish-language tests (DELE).

"Ethnologue: Languages of the World" says that 329 million people speak Spanish as a native language, making it the world`s second most spoken language in terms of native speakers. Other sources say that the number is far greater hitting over 400 million Spanish speakers worldwide.

"Spanish, as an international language for communication is also second," according to Caffarel.

As an official language, Spanish is spoken in 21 countries and is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

It is also growing increasingly popular as a second or third language in a number of countries because of logistical, economic, and touristic interest towards the many nations which chiefly use Spanish as the primary language.

Because Spanish is not only the language of Spain but the language of most Latin America countries, Brazil being the exception, Caffarel plans to have the new Institute showcase the different cultures where Spanish can be found.

"That gives us a lot of potential to show the Spanish speaking cultures to the rest of the world."

In Korea, Spanish is growing in popularity with 14 universities teaching the language to over 2,000 Korean students.

"In my opinion, Spanish has a lot of cultural traditions and is the language for the future," she said.

(yoav@heraldm.com)







By Yoav Cerralbo