Peru President stresses Quechua, Andean cosmovision contribution to Spanish

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala visited the Madrid-based Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) and stressed the language is a clearly objective contribution of the Western and Andean convergence.


Upon his arrival, the Head of State was welcomed by the RAE Director Dario Villanueva as well as by other members including, among others, Peruvian writer and Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. 


After leaving his signature on the RAE Book of Honor, Humala Tasso gave a brief speech, which highlighted the Andean cosmovision and Quechua contribution to the Spanish language.


“Peru is a multilingual country; we have cultivated a group of languages, and one of the clearly objective contributions from the Western and Andean convergence is the language, which unites Latin America and Ibero-America,” he pointed out.


He said each Latin American country makes a contribution to the language, and the Royal Spanish Academy has to enrich it with words that “add magic to it.”


“The total number of Spanish native speakers is 500 million, making it the second most widely spoken language. One of the contributions resulting from this cultural mixture has to do with the Andean cosmovision and the Quechua language,” he pointed out.


In this sense, he expressed his commitments to the government of Peru to continue strengthening the language, which is the mother tongue of most Peruvian nationals.


While in there, Humala Tasso took advantage to visit a RAE display of books by Peruvian writer Ricardo Palma.


The Peruvian leader was accompanied by Peru’s Primer Minister Pedro Cateriano, Foreign Affairs Minister Ana Maria Sanchez and Peruvian Ambassador to Spain Rafael Roncagliolo.


The RAE dedicates itself to the linguistic planning by enacting legislation aimed at promoting linguistic unity within and between the various territories.


It also guarantees a common standard in accordance with its founding charter, and ensures the changes that it undergoes do not break the essential unity that maintains the entire Hispanic sphere.