The Cervantes Institute calls for “new internationalization strategies” for the Spanish language

The Diplomat The Cervantes Institute has warned of the need to “rethink the State’s foreign policy” to promote the “internationalization” of Spanish as a foreign language. The recommendation appears in the book “Spanish on Stage: Analysis of its International Promotion and New Proposals,” presented this past Monday, January 19, at the Cervantes Institute headquarters in Madrid. The work reviews the challenges facing the international promotion of Spanish as a foreign language and focuses on the need to improve coordination among Spanish institutions with responsibilities in this area. The book, published by the University of Jaén and produced in collaboration with the Cervantes Institute itself, highlights that the State needs to “rethink its foreign policy in the area of internationalization” of Spanish as a foreign language and proposes, to this end, the creation of a structure or protocol within the Spanish public administration that “allows for a national strategy, with the objective not only of coordinating, but also of organizing and streamlining this sector.” The book also points out that Spain's institutional structure for foreign policy in this area has grown "in an unbalanced manner." "There is a clear paralysis in reorganizing, reducing, or even closing some centers within the institutional network abroad that are not meeting their objectives, while blind spots that could be crucial for the future of Spanish worldwide, such as its presence as a foreign language in universities or secondary schools in countries with significant population growth, are not being addressed," the authors state. Among the data included in "Spanish on Stage" is a typology of countries based on their degree of institutionalization of Spanish as a foreign language, highlighting the direct relationship between Spanish institutional presence and the number of Spanish students. In this regard, the book emphasizes the importance of strengthening strategic planning in countries where Spanish is not yet fully established but has high growth potential. Thus, in the case of high institutionalization, the book includes countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States, among others. In the case of medium institutionalization, characterized by a limited presence of Spanish institutions and the very recent introduction of Spanish as a foreign language in public secondary education, we find countries like China, India, Madagascar, and Thailand. In the case of low institutionalization, with little to no presence of Spanish institutions and no presence of Spanish in public secondary education, we find countries like Indonesia, Nigeria, and Mozambique. “For all of the above to rest on a solid foundation, the generation of data and information on Spanish worldwide needs to take a qualitative leap: the pool of Spanish students is fragmented, uneven, and outdated, and there is very little information on teachers, schools, and support institutions in different countries and regions,” the authors of this study lament.

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