Wednesday, 30 May 2012

(EN) Preserver of Nearly Extinct Languages

Kenneth L. Hale, 67, Preserver of Nearly Extinct Languages

Dr. Kenneth Locke Hale, a master of more than 50 languages and the keeper of aboriginal tongues in danger of vanishing with their speakers, died on Oct. 8 at his home in Lexington, Mass. He was 67.
The cause was prostate cancer, said the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a professor of linguistics.
Dr. Hale's knack for quickly picking up a language and conversing in dozens of them earned him an international reputation. His theoretical interests focused on linguistic universals, prompting him to learn as many disparate languages as possible and investigate laws or structures they might have in common.
His studies contributed to the continuing quest for a general theory of the human capacity for language. But he was best known for his commitment to keep alive the unwritten speech of peoples at risk of extinction by assimilation or other means.
Dr. Hale learned some of the ancient languages of the American Indians and the Australian Aborigines, and he saw some of the languages and their speakers disappear after he had learned them.
Throughout his career he promoted linguistic training for speakers of languages of indigenous peoples so that they could preserve them and pass them on to another generation. According to M.I.T., two of his graduate students, a Hopi and a Navajo, were the first Native Americans to receive doctorates in linguistics.
''Ken viewed languages as if they were works of art,'' said Dr. Samuel Jay Keyser, a friend and M.I.T. colleague. ''Every person who spoke a language was a curator of a masterpiece.''
Another colleague, Dr. Philip Khoury, an M.I.T. dean, said he once asked Dr. Hale about his ability to speak languages by the dozen. ''The problem is,'' he quoted Dr. Hale's reply, ''that many of the languages I've learned are extinct, or close to extinction, and I have no one to speak them with.''
Kenneth Hale grew up on a ranch in Canelo, Ariz., and attended a one-room grade school he reached on horseback every morning. Sent on to school in Sedona, Ariz., he learned Hopi and Jemez from roommates and figured out how to write languages that had no letters.
''I learned faster by working on more than one language at a time,'' he recalled later. Since high school, he said, he quickly moved on to Navajo, O'odam, Papago, Pachuco, Polish and whatever came along, including eight Australian Aboriginal languages.
As an undergraduate at the University of Arizona he studied anthropology and Native American languages. He also rode rodeo bulls, won the university's bull-riding event as a senior and kept the buckle of his trophy belt for the rest of his life.
After graduating in 1955, he received a master's degree in 1956 and a doctorate in 1958 in linguistics at Indiana University. He researched Australian Aboriginal languages on a National Science Foundation grant for three years and worked at the University of Illinois and the University of Arizona before moving to M.I.T. in 1967.
He retired from teaching in 1999.
Over the years he trained Walpiri-speaking teachers in Central Australia and taught linguistics in Arizona for the Navajo Language Academy. He was involved in a language revitalization project for the Wampanoag tribe of New England and for the last 15 years visited the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua to teach linguists in four indigenous languages.
He was the editor most recently, with Dr. Leanne Hinton, of ''The Green Book of Language Revitalization,'' published this year. Another book he recently completed with Dr. Keyser, ''Prolegomena to a Theory of Argument Structure,'' is to be published by M.I.T. Press.
He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1990.
Dr. Hale is survived by his wife of 46 years, Sara Whitaker Hale; four sons, Whitaker, of Arlington, Mass., Ian, of Tucson, Caleb, of Atlanta, and Ezra, of Lexington; and a brother, Stephen F., of Tucson.
Dr. Hale was modest about his polyglot accomplishment. ''It's more like a musical talent than anything else,'' he told The New York Times in 1997. ''When I found out I could speak Navajo at the age of 12, I used to go out every day and sit on a rock and talk Navajo to myself,'' he recalled.
He said he could never learn a language in a classroom, but only one on one with a person. He said he would start with parts of the body, common animals and objects, learn nouns, pick up sound systems and write it all down.
''If it's not a written language, like Nggoth, which is spoken in Australia,'' he said, ''I make up how to write it. I can learn that in one or two hours.
''Then I start making complex sentences because the complex sentences are more regular than the simple ones. Then pretty soon I can name anything in the world.''

(ES) Detienen en Barcelona a estafadores de traductores



Detienen en Barcelona a los responsables de una empresa por estafar a traductores

Barcelona | 30/05/2012 - 08:13h

BARCELONA, 30 (EUROPA PRESS)


Los Mossos d'Esquadra han detenido en Barcelona a un matrimonio de Dosrius (Barcelona), responsables de una empresa, por presuntamente estafar y usurpar la identidad de una cuarentena de traductores de toda España, según ha informado la policía catalana.

La investigación se inició en abril cuando una traductora denunció a la policía que otros traductores autónomos le estaban reclamando el pago por realizar unos trabajos que ella no había contratado y que para hacerlo alguien había usado su identidad.

El matrimonio imputado era propietario de una empresa de traducciones, con sede en Barcelona y Tarragona, legalmente constituida, y que hacía de intermediaria en las traducciones, de manera que buscaba profesionales de diferentes idiomas para los clientes que contactaban con ellos.

Los detenidos, Juan Fernando V.F., de 43 años, y Nuria D.R., de 38, también habrían utilizado identidades falsas de traductores para encargar los trabajos.

Los agentes han comprobado que los detenidos contactaban a través de páginas web con diferentes traductores a quienes les ofrecían el trabajo, y éstos la realizaban, la entregaban y esperaban para cobrarla.

Al ver que no cobraban por el trabajo, los afectados reclamaban el importe a la persona que, supuestamente, les había hecho el encargo, y era cuando descubrían que quien en principio había encargado la traducción, negaba haberlo hecho o que directamente no existía nadie que coincidiese con la identidad de quien supuestamente los había contratado.

Por este motivo, a los investigados se les imputa 17 delitos de usurpación de estado civil, 12 delitos de estafa, 24 faltas de estafa, dos faltas de coacciones y una falta de amenazas, siendo la cantidad estafada de unos 20.000 euros.

Por las declaraciones de los denunciantes, la estafa se inició hace unos 10 años, y algunas faltas de estafa ya habían prescrito; muchos de los afectados no denunciaron los hechos, de lo que se aprovechó el matrimonio practicando durante años la estafa.

Hasta el momento, la policía ha contabilizado 39 personas afectadas en Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, San Sebastián y Portugal, pero la investigación apunta a que serían más de 60 los traductores afectados y la cantidad estafada se podría duplicar.

El Juzgado de Instrucción 26 de Barcelona autorizó el registro simultáneo de las tres sedes de la empresa, y los Mossos detuvieron al matrimonio el 22 de mayo, que, tras pasar a disposición judicial, quedó en libertad con cargos.

Tuesday, 29 May 2012

(EN) -Mind your English language-

Letters pic 120511

Mind your English language


While most people accept that language will change with use and time, Sarah Churchwell appears to justify the increasing Americanisation of British English (A neologism thang, innit, 10 May). Noah Webster may have produced the language that should be known as "American", but that should not be a reason, as Churchwell seems to imply, for British English to be altered to the American version. American is characterised by a plethora of "z"s and a paucity of "u"s, which doesn't even reflect the way we pronounce many of the affected words. Churchwell seems to view the French influence on our language as in need of purging. This has no justification. The French influence is part of the Latin history of English, as is the impact of Spanish and Italian.
American terms and spelling are imposed on us via the internet, but television and lazy journalism are also to blame. Not only is it "new" words, but creating verbs from nouns is common. Witness her own example "hierarchize". American versions of words are too common, as in "bathroom" or "rest room" for toilet, "airplane" for aeroplane, and "stroller" for buggy. Our English is a rich and varied language – it needs a strong defence.
John Edwards
Linlithgow, West Lothian
• There's no need for Sarah Churchwell to come back to these shores and feel the underdog, just because she's an ex-colonial speaker of English. As such she must know that language, above all, is social. She condemns "innit" but not "gotten" because, at the moment, the former usage is English underclass and the latter American mainstream. They both sound horrible, or OK, according to taste; some even think they are "cool", democratic, like.
But no amount of genealogical research citing Shakespeare will effectively whitewash the social meaning of each. They are abominable not because they sound awful, but because they represent a depressed and depressing social status in England, on the one hand, and a bland, thoughtless, faux-classless, sold-by-the-yard cultural wallpaper from the US, on the other.
Dr James Andrade
St Albans, Hertfordshire
•  What a pity Sarah Churchwell spoils her otherwise well-made case about the inevitability of language change by a careless remark in her final paragraph: "From an aesthetic standpoint, 'innit' remains an abomination." Perhaps this was intended as tongue-in-cheek, but if so, I doubt it will be interpreted as such by the purists she mentions. And if not, then Prof Churchwell of all people must know there's no such thing as intrinsically aesthetically inferior (or superior) language. As her article demonstrates, it's a matter of personal preference and prejudice.
Prof Jennifer Jenkins
Chair of Global Englishes, University of Southampton
•  I agree with Sarah Churchwell's attitude to the evolution of English, but I wish to defend "innit", which she categorises as an abomination. Most languages have a simple way of designating a question expecting the answer "yes", eg "n'est ce pas?" or "nich wahr?". English has instead a bewildering variety of phrases – "didn't he?", "won't they?", "am I not?" – which have to be crafted for each context, a task which some non-native speakers find difficult. "Innit" fills the vacant role of a generic verbal question-mark inviting agreement. I predict that it will achieve the accolade of inclusion in the OED well before such redundant items as "grrl".
Herbert Munk
Coventry
•  I can explain to Sarah Churchwell why Scrabblers prefer the word "amongst" to "among". Using all seven tiles at once gains a bonus of 50 points. To begin a debate, it would be interesting to learn the strength of feeling amongst players who believe one should always know the definition of their chosen word.
Mollie Holden
Westgate-on-sea, Kent
•  The ending of "vendor" and "neighbour" is pronounced differently on both sides of the Atlantic. Not just kowtowing to the French!
Alexander Good
London

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

(EN) -Freedom of speech-

The Azerbaijanis who aren't feeling the Eurovision glow

The EBU, which puts on the kitsch music-fest, is mandated to protect freedom of expression. It should do so in Baku
A policeman detains an opposition activist in Baku
A policeman detains an opposition activist in Baku … 'The European Broadcasting Union has to decide how it tackles the issue of Azerbaijan's awful human rights record.'
We are only days away from our annual European dose of kitsch and glamour delivered wonderfully by the Eurovision song contest, coming this year to our living rooms from Baku, Azerbaijan on 26 May.


The warm glow of European togetherness that the show usually generates, at least for an evening, is one of the things the European Broadcasting Union, the association of Europe's national public service broadcasters that puts the contest on stage, loves most about it. The EBU regularly reminds anyone listening that, particularly at such times of economic strain in Europe, it's this music-fest, rather than worthy pan-European political gestures from Brussels or elsewhere, that nudge us toward loving this continent.
This year, the EBU has an extra challenge regarding Eurovision. It has to decide how it tackles the issue of Azerbaijan's awful human rights record – not because it necessarily wants to but because activists in Baku and elsewhere, plus media and some governments in Europe, have forced the issue into the spotlight.
What has come to light? A terrible record on freedom of expression, with six journalists in prison on spurious charges; several dozen opposition political activists also behind bars, according to local monitors; crackdowns on peaceful protests, most recently on Monday in the centre of Baku; tight media controls creating a climate of fear in the country; and physical violence against those saying things the country's authoritarian government, led by President Ilham Aliyev, does not like.
One of the most recent victims was Idrak Abbasov, a respected reporter. Last month he was filming forced evictions and house demolitions by the country's state oil company when the firm's security officials, along with police, viciously beat him unconscious, leaving him hospitalised. Investigations into this and other cases are half-hearted at best.
The EBU's core mandate, of protecting and promoting the basic rights to freedom of expression, might suggest it would use the Eurovision occasion to confront Azerbaijan on its rights record. So far, however, it has very clearly decided not to do so. This is a setback for journalists and others in Azerbaijan standing up for freedom of speech, and a stance that the Baku government can use to legitimise its actions. It's also not great PR for the EBU itself.
For a media alliance that lives off freedom of speech to ignore abuses of that freedom on the doorstep of the show's sparkling seafront venue undercuts the organisation's own credibility.
The EBU has touched gingerly on freedom of expression in Azerbaijan in various statements, and on 2 May held a workshop in Geneva on these issues aimed at promoting "dialogue" between the Azerbaijan authorities, local and international pressure groups, and others.
Sadly, despite EBU pledges of training sessions for journalists in Baku, the organisation largely gave the senior Azerbaijan officials at the workshop a free ride on the government's serious human rights abuses.
If the EBU wants to engage seriously with a country such as Azerbaijan, it has to get off the fence. Such regimes are often brutal and cunning, and they need to face international pressure if they are to stop limiting freedom of expression. In using the EBU's influence, platitudes about more "dialogue", are not enough.
The EBU and its members in 56 countries do have influence, and, on paper, high ethical standards. The body boasts proudly of being "the largest association of national broadcasters in the world", and in 2010 crafted a new international declaration – after a conference in Baku, in fact – "condemn[ing] arrests, harassment and intimidation of journalists" in the EBU region and "call[ing] on governments to investigate all instances of violence against journalists and bring to justice those responsible".
So why so quiet on events on Azerbaijan? On the six journalists in prison on trumped-up charges? On the journalists severely beaten in recent months for doing their jobs? And on the climate of fear that means self-censorship is pervasive?
Human Rights Watch has, over the last nine months, used meetings and correspondence with the EBU to explain the severity of conditions in Azerbaijan and the need to speak out. We have asked the EBU to use its influence to raise publicly the issue of imprisoned and harassed reporters, and to support publicly the efforts by Baku's courageous civil society to organise freedom of speech events in the week before Eurovision.
Such steps would annoy Azerbaijan and, in our view, this is the reason the EBU has refused. It argues that Eurovision is apolitical, and that such issues should be raised on other occasions. But it also admits that, in the show's 57-year history, it has never faced such a wave of international concern about the human rights record of the host country as it has this year.
The EBU still has some time to speak out – and to get ready to monitor events after Eurovision, when the international spotlight will have shifted but local journalists and activists will be at their most vulnerable. Action now by the EBU would be a good signal, also, on how it will handle future Eurovisions. As one EBU official noted – what happens if Belarus wins on 26 May?

Saturday, 19 May 2012

(EN) - EL PASO DEL NOROESTE-

Unmapped Northwest Passage proves perilous for ships that stray

Remote sea lanes in Canada's Northwest Passage poorly mapped yet increasingly popular with cruise lines.(Abridged by José V.)

northwest passage
 
Uncharted ... the Northwest Passage from space. Photograph: AP/NASA
Within the space of a week two ships have been involved in accidents in the Northwest Passage, fuelling debate on the environmental risks associated with shipping north of the Arctic Circle, despite the waters being increasingly ice-free in the summer. Both accidents were blamed on navigation problems, drawing attention to a lack of proper charts for the region.
In late August the cruise ship Clipper Adventurer was heading for Kugluktuk, at the entrance to the passage, when it struck a rock not shown on the map, according to the captain of the ship. The Canadian Coast Guard sent an icebreaker to rescue the 110 passengers, taking them to the ship's next port of call. The condition of the ship – still stuck but said to be "stable" by CCG spokeswoman Chantal Guénette – is being closely watched until it can be refloated.


The MV Nanny, a small Canadian oil tanker, suffered a similar fate on 1 September, running aground on a sandbank in the western part of the passage. Here again a CCG icebreaker soon reached the ship, which was carrying 9m litres of diesel fuel for remote Nunavut communities. An inspection of the vessel confirmed that "no damage has been detected and there are no leaks", said Guénette. The ship's master also blamed the grounding on inaccurate charts.
Louis Fortier, the scientific director of ArcticNet, the main network of Canadian researchers working in the Arctic, is not surprised at the accidents. "Only a tenth of the region is properly mapped," he said.
Dale Nicholson, the head of the Arctic region at Canada's Hydrographic Service, confirmed this figure.
He reckons there is no need to map the whole of the Canadian Arctic for it to be possible to navigate the main channels "but we obviously need more than 10%".
Highly specialised, relatively expensive equipment is required to map the seabed. The Hydrographic Service lacks the financial resources to speed up the process, yet time is running out, says Fortier. "Between 1906 – when the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen first negotiated the passage – and 2009, 69 ships took this route. This year, in only seven months, 24 ships have already passed through and most of them are cruise ships. If we want to prevent a rash of accidents, we must make mapping the Arctic a priority," he said.
But it is impossible to control everything. Cruise ships sail too close to the land to give passengers a better view, straying from the properly charted central channel.

This article originally appeared in Le Monde

This article was amended on September 14. It originally read "Highly specialised, relatively expensive equipment is required to map the seabed. The Hydrographic Service lacks the financial resources to speed up the process, yet time is running out, says Nicholson."

Friday, 18 May 2012

(IT) - A VERY LONG LIVE-

Qui Campodimele, Latina
siamo il paese della longevità

Gli abitanti hanno valori particolarmente bassi di colesterolemia totale e Ldl, il "colesterolo cattivo". E sono più protetti da malattie ischemiche legate ad aterosclerosi e diabete. Uno studio dell'università La Sapienza di Roma ha individuato una variante genetica legata a queste condizioni privilegiate

ROMA - Meno di mille abitanti accomunati da un segreto davvero prezioso: ottima salute e una singolare longevità. E' a Campodimele, comune laziale in provincia di Latina, che un gruppo di scienziati dell'università La Sapienza di Roma ha individuato uno dei geni che sarebbe alla base della caratteristica più saliente dei suoi cittadini: una vita lunga e poche malattie.

Il gruppo di ricerca, coordinato da Marcello Arca, ha condotto uno screening accurato sulle caratteristiche genetiche e cliniche degli abitanti del piccolo comune a 150 chilometri da Roma, che presentano valori particolarmente bassi di colesterolemia totale e Ldl.

Dallo studio, pubblicato sulla rivista Journal clinical endocrinology and metabolism, è emersa una mutazione nel gene che sintetizza la proteina chiamata Angptl3. Questa molecola funziona da "freno" all'eliminazione delle lipoproteine che trasportano il colesterolo e i trigliceridi nel sangue. È stato osservato che i soggetti in cui si riscontra la mutazione, oltre a presentare valori bassissimi di colesterolo, godono di una sorta di protezione dalle malattie ischemiche legate all'aterosclerosi e al diabete.

Non è certo la prima volta che si parla di geni della longevità  o di enzimi chiave per il declino delle cellule, di "cocktail" allunga vita . Anche le ultime osservazioni di Arca e colleghi potrebbero avere implicazioni molto importanti per la ricerca farmacologica. "L'esistenza di persone che sono totalmente prive della proteina Angptl3 e che al contempo godono di buona salute - ha dichiarato Arca - ci fa chiaramente ipotizzare lo sviluppo di farmaci diretti contro questa molecola per proteggere i pazienti a rischio di aterosclerosi".

Molti degli abitanti di Campodimele sono ultracentenari. Un'indagine dell'Oms - progetto Monica, Monitoring of cardiovascular diseases, nato all’inizio degli anni Ottanta - aveva già sottolineato questa particolarità, attribuendola allo stile di vita e all'alimentazione degli abitanti che apparivano particolarmente salubri. Ma in seguito, fra gli abitanti di Campodimele già di per sé "virtuosi", è stato individuato un gruppo di persone con valori particolarmente bassi di colesterolemia totale e Ldl, il "colesterolo cattivo " che causa un aumento delle malattie cardiovascolari legate all'aterosclerosi. Lo studio di questi soggetti aveva fin dall'inizio rivelato l'esistenza di una base genetica per tale vantaggio, ma il gene responsabile non era ancora stato scoperto.

Per cercare una risposta al quesito scientifico, il gruppo di ricerca del professor Marcello Arca ha condotto, con il sostegno della municipalità di Campodimele e dell'Asl di Latina, uno screening accurato per definire con precisione il numero di famiglie e i soggetti con bassi livelli di colesterolemia presenti nel paese, e per studiarne le caratteristiche genetiche e cliniche. E ha contribuito ad ampliare una nuova area di ricerca, rivolta all'individuazione di nuove varianti genetiche che possono avere un ruolo protettivo nei confronti delle malattie, soprattutto di quelle legate all'aterosclerosi.
 
(14 maggio 2012) La Repubblica

Thursday, 17 May 2012

(IT) - LA MACCHINA DE ANTICITERA-

ARCHEOLOGIA

Raggi X per il marchingegno
che sapeva spiegare il cosmo

Una nuova tecnologia di esame permette di guardare dentro La "Macchina di Anticitera", il reperto di epoca ellenistica rinvenuto nel 1900 al largo di Cerigotto. Una macchina di precisione in grado di calcolare il movimento degli astri, eclissi e lunazioni. Un dispositivo avanti di mille anni rispetto ad ogni altro ritrovamento, e che anima il dibattito scientifico

UN MISTERO lungo duemila anni sta per ricevere un po' di luce grazie alle tecnologie moderne. L'isola di Anticitera, o meglio le coste, l'hanno custodito per secoli, fino al 1900. L'anno del ritrovamento di quella che viene chiamata la "macchina di Anticitera" da parte di un gruppo di pescatori di spugne, assieme a statue e manufatti risalenti a epoche antiche custodite in un relitto di una nave, affondata al largo di Cerigotto (a Anticitera), isola greda al largo di Creta. Qualcuno la ritiene un'eredità degli studi di Archimede di Siracusa, inventore. La macchina di Anticitera potrebbe essere un progetto laterale del suo famoso planetario.

La macchina di Anticitera. Un complesso innesto di 27 ingranaggi ricoperti da iscrizioni quasi completamente decifrate, la macchina di Anticitera è datata agli anni 100-150 avanti Cristo ed è custodita al museo nazionale ad Atene, dove c'è anche una ricostruzione funzionante.

La macchina è un meccanismo originariamente contenuto in un involucro di legno, dalle misure di 30x15 centimetri che per molto tempo la scienza non è riuscita a catalogare. A metà del secolo scorso grazie ai raggi X, si iniziò a intuirne il funzionamento: la macchina era uno strumento di altissima precisione, studiata nel dettaglio per misurare i movimenti di sole e luna, le eclissi, i loro rapporti di moto e addirittura le lunazioni. E come se non bastasse, la macchina serviva probabilmente anche a definire il calendario delle Olimpiadi.

Ma solo oggi, grazie a una nuova tecnologia di esame radiografico basata su delle sonde a raggi x appositamente inviate ad Atene, i ricercatori hanno potuto vedere davvero cosa c'è nel blocco di roccia che contiene la macchina originale. E i primi risultati vengono definiti "sbalorditivi" per il livello di precisione assoluta con cui il dispositivo può misurare le meccaniche celesti.

Precisione incredibile.
Il mistero della macchina è tutto in questa sua precisione fuori dall'ordinario. E' infatti costruita con materiali comuni per il tempo e le misurazioni sono limitate ai pianeti visibili dalla terra senza ausilio di strumenti particolari. Ma il livello di dettaglio rimane stupefacente: è confermata la capacità del dispositivo di calcolare persino i ritardi nei movimenti lunari, per via dell'orbita ellittica, con un opportuna progettazione e un ingranaggio dedicato. Nelle iscrizioni sulla macchina ci sono i nomi di Venere e Mercurio, ma ci sono studiosi che sostengono che la macchina di Anticitera possa in realtà rivelare informazioni anche su altri pianeti. La macchina viene definita dalla scienza come tecnicamente molto più complessa di ogni altro dispositivo ipotizzabile e rinvenuto per almeno mille anni successivi alla sua datazione. E un tale livello di complessità può significare che chi l'ha costruita fosse aduso a questo tipo di lavoro: non sarebbe quindi un esemplare unico, ma qualcosa che inevitabilmente viene da una storia lunga. La stessa su cui i nuovi studi tenteranno di fare luce.
(12 maggio 2012)

Monday, 7 May 2012

(ES) El español da un jaque en el tablero mundial

El español da un jaque en el tablero mundial

Uno de cada diez cuidadanos en el mundo hablará pronto la lengua de Cervantes, con Estados Unidos a la cabeza. Dominarlo es una ventaja laboral evidente (El País de hace unos días)



En Miami un trabajador bilingüe inglés-español gana, de media, 8.000 dólares más que uno monolingüe. Una cantidad que aumenta si se trata de directivos. Porque el español ha dejado de ser una herencia familiar a preservar para convertirse en una herramienta utilísima de trabajo. Tanto, que en Florida no se pueden cerrar algunos tratos sin este de por medio. El bilingüismo se está instalando ya en Nueva York y pronto manejarse en ambos idiomas será un plus en todo Estados Unidos. No es una exageración, la primera potencia del mundo, que en poco tiempo ha pasado de 36 a 52 millones de hispanohablantes, será en 2050 la que más lo habla. Y dentro de tres generaciones, el 10% de la población mundial podrá comunicarse en español, además de ser oficial en 21 países, la segunda lengua de comunicación internacional y la tercera más utilizada en Internet (136 millones de usuarios en 2008, 8% de la audiencia), según el estudio El español en la Red (Fundación Telefónica, 2010), por detrás del inglés y del chino. Los números no dejan duda, está excelentemente posicionado en el tablero mundial – millones de personas lo estudian y 500 lo hablan (450 como primera)– y debe sacar partido de este dominio. Aunque no es fácil, otros países como el francés, usado en la diplomacia, o el alemán, más comercial, no quieren perder terreno.

CUESTIÓN DE ESTADO
El español es cuestión de Estado y el nuevo Gobierno del Partido Popular lo lleva por bandera. Es un valor económico no cuantificable que aumenta cuanto más se habla. Un botón que da idea de su potencia: 237.000 estudiantes del ELE (Español como Lengua Extranjera) generaron 463 millones de euros en 2007, frente a 130.000 alumnos y 255 millones en 2000. “Una lengua posee grandes propiedades económicas –como destreza o herramienta de comunicación social, como elemento identitario y como soporte creativo– y es, ante todo, un bien que multiplica el potencial comunicativo de una colectividad”, afirman Juan Carlos Jiménez y Aránzazu Narbona en El español en los flujos económicos internacionales (Fundación Telefónica, 2012). “Además, reduce los costes de transacción al igual que lo hace una moneda común y es amortiguadora de la distancia psicológica entre los mercados, ya que compartir una lengua es un factor favorable de inserción empresarial en otros mercados de acogida”.
En el plano económico, con América Latina en pleno desarrollo, el español avanza. “El hispano ya no es un señor que llega a recoger tomates. Ha estudiado, subido socialmente y tiene sus negocios. Por eso desde hace 15 años las familias hablan a los niños en la lengua materna, se han dado cuenta de que, luego, es una ventaja laboral”, recuerda Francisco Moreno Fernández, director académico del Instituto Cervantes. “El 65% de los universitarios estadounidenses estudia español.Son conscientes de su utilidad”, continúa. Incluso la escuela de literatura más prestigiosa de Estados Unidos, integrada en la Universidad de Iowa –por la que han pasado como alumnos o profesores John Irving, Philip Roth o John Cheever– acaba de inaugurar un curso de escritura en español.

No hay que olvidar que su fortaleza mercantil existe también en el campo de las artes. La edición de libros en español en otros países aumenta y hay más demanda que oferta; el pop, con Shakira y los Grammy Latinos a la cabeza, arrasa; el modo de trabajo de las orquestas venezolanas se ha exportado a medio mundo; no cesa la apertura de cadenas de televisión –incluso un canal de noticias iraní o dos nuevas de la Fox, que cuenta también con una web de noticias–; el arte latinoamericano alcanza precios nunca imaginados en las subastas internacionales o el 25% de las obras de artistas nuevos que compra la Tate Modern de Londres provienen del subcontinente. El reto ahora es que esta “moda” perdure en el tiempo y sea una vía para difundir el idioma.
“Si se abrieran 50 Cervantes más en Estados Unidos se llenarían”, asegura Víctor García de la Concha, al frente del instituto, contento de que el español deje de ser “estigmatizado, vinculado a una lengua de inmigrantes que plantea problemas”. Aunque la primera potencia mundial no es el único objetivo. El Cervantes de Pekín, con más de 3.000 alumnos, da idea de la pujanza. “En China está muy valorado hablar otras lenguas. Tiran por el inglés por ser la lengua franca y por la presencia histórica de Reino Unido en Asia. Pero el español tiene su sitio, como el japonés. No solo porque hay muchos chinos viviendo en América Latina, sino porque los contactos bilaterales por comercio son muy intensos”, explica Moreno Fernández.

El 65% de los universitarios de EE UU estudia castellano porque es consciente de su utilidad
“No va a darse la vuelta a la tortilla. El inglés va a seguir siendo el idioma comercial y científico, pero somos conscientes de la proyección del español. Antes de defender su proyecto de fin de grado en inglés, los alumnos tienen que pasar un examen en castellano”, explica Miguel Larrañaga, vicerrector de la IE University. El 65% de los que estudian en inglés son extranjeros, de 70 nacionalidades, y llegan a su campus de Segovia sabiendo la lengua de Shakespeare. “Les ofrecemos español divididos en tres niveles”. Reconoce que su ubicación juega a favor de IE. “Es como pasa con los Erasmus, España es el país que recibe más estudiantes y no es tanto por la calidad de su enseñanza, como por el idioma, el clima y la gente. Nosotros estamos en la lista de las mejores escuelas de negocios del mundo y el castellano es un aliciente más”.
Brasil es desde 2006 un foco de atención primordial. Está rodeado de países hispanoparlantes y para sus negociaciones con sus socios de Mercosur compartir la lengua facilita las cosas. Comenzó ese año a aplicarse la llamada Ley del Español, que obliga a que todos los centros de enseñanzas medias a ofrecerlo. Ya lo practican seis millones, aunque su llegada a las aulas está siendo lenta. Se necesitarían 25.000 profesores y hay tan solo 6.000 y mal pagados. “Es desigual su implantación. En Estados del sur de Brasil, con frontera con Argentina, incluso se estudia más que el inglés. São Paulo, con 5.300 alumnos, es después de Moscú el Cervantes con más gente. El tercero, Manila”, sostiene Moreno Fernández.
España es receptor de muchos estudiantes europeos –.000 este año– y su fuerza por todo el continente es imparable, aunque retrocede en las instituciones. “Treinta millones de europeos se comunican así fuera de España. En Italia hay muchos italianos y uruguayos, en los países nórdicos, chilenos y colombianos…”, explica el director académico del Cervantes. El campo de la investigación es uno de los puntos débiles del español. “Tiene sentido que las publicaciones sean en inglés, pero se puede hacer un trabajo de difusión científica en nuestro idioma”, argumenta. Hoy, según un estudio realizado por la Royal Society británica, el 35% de los artículos publicados en las revistas son de colaboraciones científicas de varios países, por lo que es evidente que la lengua vehicular seguirá siendo en inglés. Lo que ha supuesto un gran palo ha sido la patente única europea, que solo registra en inglés, francés o alemán. Italia y España han recurrido la decisión ante el Tribunal de Justicia de Luxemburgo.
En plena crisis el Cervantes, que ha cumplido 20 años, ha llegado a acuerdos de colaboración con México (primer país en número de parlantes). “Ellos tienen consulados en casi todas las ciudades de Estados Unidos y a su vez ellos pueden usar nuestras sedes por todo el mundo”, explica Moreno Fernández. Y aspiran a ocupar más espacios propios en las universidades extranjeras, un formato más rentable que el de la apertura de centros.
Las palabras de columnista de The New York Times Nicholas D. Kristoff, ganador de dos Pulitzer, resumen muy bien la situación: “El estudio del chino permite acceder a una de las grandes civilizaciones del mundo y abre muchísimas oportunidades. Así que animad a vuestros hijos a que se adentren en el glamoroso mundo del mandarín, pero no olvidéis algo que probablemente será fundamental en su vida: ¡el idioma más importante es el español!”. Ahora el propósito de los gobernantes es hacerlo entender, porque como dice el director de la Real Academia Española, Víctor García de la Concha, “si tardamos 15 años en llegar, el campo estará tomado”.