Spanish in Africa: football, pop and television for 1.5 million students forgotten by all

• Spanish, a global language: the government ignores the language

• Spanish and French: the fight to be the second global language

The Spanish language has 30 years of demographic expansion left;

there are not so many.

According to the Cervantes Institute, in 2050 the countries of Latin America will enter a phase of population stagnation and the number of Spanish speakers will stop growing at the dizzying speed of recent years.

Some data: during this decade, the language has increased its number of speakers at the rate of five million annually, reaching 585 million users (489 million native speakers).

Spanish will have 700 million speakers

And it will stop in its growth. What will depend on the fact that Spanish continues to be a global language and, therefore, an advantage for the economy of its speakers?

Among other factors, its implementation in Africa,

France, one of the region's former colonial metropolises, launched three years ago

a diplomatic policy aimed at strengthening the use of French as a lingua franca in 31 countries

of the continent of which it was a metropolis.

In 2020, 140 million Africans speak your language;

France trusts that

in 2050. In exchange, who speaks Spanish today in Africa?

In principle (and apart from Canaries, Melilla and Ceuta), about six million people: 1.1 million Equatoguineans, 10% of the population of Morocco (more than three million speakers) and someone else?

Yes though

.

That year emerged in the

from the Instituto Cervantes the figure of 1.5 million students taking Spanish classes in East African countries: 566,000 in Ivory Coast, 412,000 in Benin, 205,000 in Senegal, 193,000 in Cameroon, 167,000 in Gabon ... a scale:

.

Only four countries have more Spanish students than Côte d'Ivoire, with just 25 million inhabitants and a per capita income of $ 3,841.

Actually,

... How to explain that success of the Spanish, ignored for so many years?

"We owe a coffee to France", explains Javier Serrano Avilés, author of

(edited by Catarata), the first study that detected that million and a half students.

The other café has to do with football, series and pop music that made the language attractive to Africans. Anyone can find the common thread: Ivory Coast, Benin, Senegal, Gabon ... all are countries with a colonial past French.

«France brought to its territories

and that included the optional study of Spanish.

I cannot say if it is at the same level as English, but it did become a consolidated option.

There are Spanish departments in universities [41 in 28 countries] and there is a tradition of native Spanish teachers.

There are Spanish teachers who are the children of Spanish teachers, although most of them have never had a full immersion experience in the language. ”The competence of these 1.5 million speakers ranges from the level of the university professor to the highest level. basic, but

.

The African population is young and naturally polyglot: “The African uses French to purchase insurance, a language in the market and another at home.

He may not have complete competence in any of them, but he relates naturally to all of them, ”explains Serrano Avilés.

“Besides, people are very young and they know they have to get ahead.

It is something that draws attention as soon as you go out on the street.

And that means that there is a vitality, that life springs up everywhere and that people learn languages ​​with incredible ease, "he explains.

of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs There is another piece of information:

, which even removed Spanish from its Constitution and declared it a non grato language in the 1970s, has reversed the forecasts that not so many years ago predicted that French would become its lingua franca.

The last Cervantes Yearbook records the increase in the number of speakers in the only Spanish-speaking African country. Well: also in Spain you can study French in many institutes but that does not say anything special about the future of that language.

The difference is that the incentives of African Spanish students are much more powerful. An immigration door to Europe?

«In many regions of Africa,

It is not the first option for those who want to emigrate », Serrano Avilés responds.

If we were Senegalese and studied a language in the hope of prospering, we would surely choose German first.

«The profitability of learning Spanish may be more in the country itself.

Take Cape Verde, for example,

.

An employee who speaks Spanish can aspire to a better position ”, adds Juan Jaime. Actually, the reason for learning Spanish is more cultural than economic and more pop than academic.

"The

of the Spanish in Africa

, in 2010. In Europe they do not realize but that was

And Spain won it and it stayed in the hearts of the people.

Go to any town in Africa and there will be someone who will recite the alignment for you: Casillas, Puyol, Piqué ... Afterwards, the years of Messi and Cristiano have been very important.

Everywhere there are Real Madrid shirts and, above all, Barcelona shirts ”, explains Néstor Nongo Sala, a Congolese Hispanic player.

«Before there were already attractions.

Latin American soap operas have been seen in Africa for many years.

Y

He has come here like all over the world. "" In reality, Julio Iglesias was already very important to the previous generation.

Parents listen to Julio and children to Enrique ", adds Javier Serrano Avilés, adding another reason that makes Africans see Spanish as an attractive language:"

.

It is not like French, Portuguese or English, which sound like oppressive languages.

Many people don't even know that Spain was the metropolis of Equatorial Guinea. ”So far the good news.

The bad ones have to do with the very limited interest in Spanish that occurs in English-speaking countries

where Spanish only appears in the offer of international colleges and universities. Even more urgent is the neglect of that huge community of Spanish-speaking West Africa.

"The key is in the teachers," explains Carmen Pastor, academic director of the Instituto Cervantes.

“The conditions in which they teach are very precarious.

They do not have continuous training

.

Their work is very complicated. ”Since its discovery in 2014, Cervantes has made the rescue of this community of Spanish-speaking teachers and students a priority.

The official symbol of that commitment will be

directed by Néstor Nongo Sala and who is still looking for a building in Senegal's capital.

Until now, Spain has only taught its language in Africa through

In groups that often met in the gardens of their embassies. In the absence of Cervantes finding a home for its headquarters in West Africa, its technicians have been launching "pedagogical missions", as defined by Carmen Pastor, for two years. the region.

It is a modest first step but with real consequences. “But much remains to be done.

In Cameroon, there are also

at the Goethe Institute who know that they have a real chance of receiving a scholarship and being invited to spend a few months in Germany.

In Spain we are very far from that, "explains Juan Jaime, from Casa África. In case anyone had any doubts:

“The benefit has to do with the doors it opens to trade and the climate of trust generated by a shared language on political issues.

Africa is going to be a very important continent in the future and our security depends on its development ", explains Pastor.

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