It was his “fascination with languages” that led the German Johannes Kabatek to study Romance philology. After attending several European universities, he is today professor of Ibero-Romance linguistics and Romance linguistics at the University of Zurich, from where he is carrying out a study aimed at analyzing the social reality of the Spanish language in Europe, in in which more than 80 experts participate, a project that earned it the first international Hispanicism prize from the Duques de Soria Foundation.
What led you to study Romance philology?
My fascination with languages. I loved them since I was little. When I arrived at university, I started studying French and met a Navarrese professor, Francisco Oroz (who died last week). He was the one who introduced me to Hispanic studies. Over the years, I discovered this Hispanic world, more and more countries, more and more cultures… And this universe that hides behind the language, which is almost endless… Spanish is like a door to the world.-His initiative of x- His social reality earned him the first International Prize for Hispanism from the Duques de Soria Foundation.
What does that mean?
A huge honor, not only for me but for the whole team. It is a project of more than 80 people.
In his speech, he called Spanish the “language of Europe” and highlighted that Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Romania and Bulgaria are Spanish-speaking countries.
This may sound a little provocative, but there are more than 42 million Spanish speakers in Europe outside of Spain, a figure almost close to the 47.5 million in that country. Obviously, these are Spanish speakers of different types, both native speakers and people who study or have studied Spanish. In Switzerland, there are more than 500,000 Spanish speakers. This is a very small percentage considering that it has eight million inhabitants. We still talk about Spanish in America, but very little about the presence of this language outside of traditionally Spanish-speaking countries. We discover a reality which, I believe, has not been seen.
What phase is the project in?
Five volumes have already been published by the Instituto Cervantes on Spanish in Germany, Switzerland and Portugal. The last concerns Bulgaria, Romania and the Moldovan Republic. The effects of the pandemic on Spanish in Germany were also discussed. There will now be others referring to Italy, France… The objective is to publish more than a dozen. If possible, we will complete the project next year. In November we have a meeting of all groups in La Rioja and then the idea is that the four directors will produce a transversal volume of the overall vision, probably in 2026.
What effects do you think the pandemic has had on the progress of Spanish?
This had a very significant impact on several issues. Migration has practically stopped, education has become digital, there has been great progress internationally in English because many young people were watching more and more Netflix series in the original version or communicating in English, but Spanish also had a lot of circulation. The pandemic has contributed to greater internationalization.
Is interest in studying Spanish continuing to grow in Europe?
In recent years, we have observed in some countries a stagnation of languages in general. We are talking about crises in the human sciences. Digital tools, automatic translation… This seems to make language teaching less necessary. This seems to me to be a fatal error.
To what extent do these digital tools affect the demand for language teaching?
A lot. There are very useful tools, but machine translation is not human knowledge. I think we really need to rehumanize society. We cannot leave everything in the hands of artificial intelligence. Languages and identities are ours, the business of the people. This is one of the great tasks of future Hispanists. Emphasize and emphasize that we humans must come first, not the machines.
“We have been fighting for years to open the first Cervantes Institute in Switzerland, but the means are lacking”
Will this be the main challenge for new generations of Hispanics?
Yes, I think this will be his most important role. Meet the challenges of digital transformation and contribute to this rehumanization of society. We are social beings and dialogue in different languages is the most beautiful thing for our experience as human beings.
How do you promote the work of the Cervantes Institute and that of the Academies, with regard to the international projection of the language?
I think the Cervantes Institute does a fantastic job internationally, not only in spreading the Spanish language but also Hispanic culture. But this has its limits. We have been fighting for many years to open the first institute in Switzerland, in Zurich, but the means are lacking. I think the Institute could do a lot more if it had it. As for the Academies, in recent decades we have witnessed a real modernization, not only of the RAE, but also of the Association of Spanish Language Academies, which acts impressively at the international level and which, in recent years , has adapted to digital challenges.
In Spain, in communities like Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, there are families who face real obstacles for their children to study in Spanish. What do you think?
This is a very complex subject. It’s understandable that communities try to take steps to promote languages, since Spanish is generally not endangered, but we also need linguistic freedom. Regulatory policies often have opposing effects. With multilingualism, you always win, you never lose, but obviously, anything that goes against the will of the people is problematic.
