Viva el español!

By Ángel Gurría-Quintana
fredag maj 18 2007 13:45
Ur: Financial Times
http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto051820071356236781

There were scenes of chaos on the streets of Cartagena this spring. The usually serene Colombian port, with its famous fortified walls and colonial buildings, had probably not seen such throngs since the days when the Inquisition's public executions packed the squares. More than 2,000 policemen brought in for the occasion could do little to restore order. Around the convention centre in the Getsemani district, where African slaves once settled, push came to shove. "This is worse than a Shakira concert," someone grumbled.

It was an auspicious start for the fourth International Congress of the Spanish Language, the world's largest gathering of specialists on the history, grammar, usage and teaching of Spanish. Since the first meeting took place in the Mexican city of Zacatecas in 1997, they have been held every three years, more or less. This year, for four days at the end of March, members of the world's 22 Spanish-language academies - the institutions that adjudicate on linguistic issues within their respective countries - met for earnest discussions. The theme was weighty and wide-ranging: "The present and future of the Spanish language: unity within diversity."
But the academicians attending the congress, often thought of as fusty, dictionary-wielding zealots, were not the reason the crowds came to Cartagena. Nor had they come to see the VIPs - Colombia's president, the Spanish royal family, Bill Clinton - being ushered into the hall. What the thousands of ticket-buyers were waiting for was a glimpse of the show's true star.

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