Director-General/Executive Director
Excelencias,
Señoras y señores,
Estoy encantada de celebrar hoy con ustedes el Día del Idioma Español.
Agradezco mucho al Grupo de Amigos del Español, y a Chile en particular, por organizar este evento que nos brinda la oportunidad de festejar juntos la riqueza cultural, la vivacidad y la historia de la lengua española.
With its roots tracing back to the Iberian Peninsula in the third century BC, the Spanish language has had a profound impact in shaping modern civilization.
From the iconic tale of Don Quixote, one of the most translated Spanish novels in the world, written by the renowned author, Miguel de Cervantes, to the works of Pablo Neruda and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, both recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature, and many more. They have truly captured readers worldwide.
The language has since evolved and adapted over time according to cultural, social, and historical developments, taking influences from various cultures, including my own mother tongue, Arabic.
I was fascinated to learn that nearly 4,000 Spanish words have traces of Arabic influence – that’s almost 8% of the Spanish dictionary. This reflects the continued relevance of cultural exchange and mutual learning in our increasingly interconnected world, and maybe it also explains my personal affinity to this beautiful language.
Today, Spanish is spoken by over 480 million native speakers across more than 20 countries and three continents, making it the second most spoken language worldwide.
Here in Vienna, we are proud to embrace the Spanish language across all areas of our work.
Our team of Spanish translators and interpreters are a crucial piece of the puzzle, often unseen but never unheard.
They issue over 4.5 million words of Spanish text every year, and last year they interpreted more than 2,200 hours of meetings.
Yet they do so much more than just translate words on a page. They convey complex cultural and linguistic nuances, they build a bridge between speaker and listener, and they keep languages alive for us all.
Today is an opportunity to recognise their hard work and dedication, so please join me in giving them a big round of applause.
At the UN, we are committed to recruiting top-tier candidates from across the world to join our team of language specialists, especially Spanish-speaking candidates, through public outreach and training opportunities.
We are also investing in our staff to help them learn and develop their skills in learning the different languages of the UN.
For the first time, during the 67th session of the CND earlier this year, our Spanish social media content outperformed all other languages, including English, reaching more than 12,000 Spanish speakers, a testament to the work of our Spanish-speaking staff.
And many of our flagship reports are translated and promoted on our Spanish social media platforms and website.
Señoras y señores,
Me agrada mucho poder hablar y comprender el idioma español el cual aprendí en mis años de estudiante.
El dominio de este idioma me ha otorgado una perspectiva nueva para contemplar el mundo, experimentar culturas y establecer conexiones.
Como dijo una vez el escritor Mario Vargas Llosa, “Una lengua es, sobre todo, una manera de ser y de pensar, de soñar e imaginar, de sentir y de amar”.
Continuemos abrazando este hermoso idioma y empoderando a la gente para que piense, sueñe y se comunique en español.
Muchas gracias.