Ignacio Buqueras, full academician and president of the Humanities Section of the Royal Academy of Doctors of Spain and regular contributor of the Royal European Academy of Doctors-Barcelona 1914 (RAED), entered as a full member at the Academy of Diplomacy of the Kingdom of Spain during a solemn session that was held on January 18 at the Casino of Madrid. As president of the Executive Committee of the Universal Tribute to the Spanish Language, Buqueras dedicated his speech of admission to the Spanish like basic element of projection of Spain in the world.
“Spanish is the language of 474 million people, who represent 6.7% of the world’s population -said the new academician-. If we add those that have it as a second language and those that study it, the figure it elevates to more than 560 million, 7.9% of the population. More than 20 million students in the United States are studying Spanish as a foreign language. The students enrolled in Spanish courses in the mentioned country surpass the sum of the other and the Hispanic population is over 50 million, it’s estimated that by 2050 the United States will be the first Spanish-speaking country in the world.”
Buqueras claimed English-Spanish bilingualism in scientific culture, arguing that Spanish is already the second language in Wikipedia and that scientific publications in Spanish already account for 3% of the total. Likewise, he argued, it advances as one of the most used languages in diplomatic relations, displacing French. The academician reviewed the main events that have taken place around the Universal Tribute to the Spanish Language since the book that served as a manifesto appeared in 2015 and encouraged those present to join the initiative.
