LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

 On 30 and 31 July 2026, the Spanish city of Ceuta was overwhelmed by the sudden and unprecedented arrival of more than 70,000 migrants from Morocco. Most have since returned, but thousands remain in the city, placing enormous pressure on its already limited resources and public services. The Spanish Government itself has acknowledged that the crisis has affected the normal functioning of public services, including social services, healthcare, the protection of minors, transport and public security. Ceuta has a population of barely 83,000. For more than a month, its inhabitants have had to endure the consequences of an extraordinary situation which has disrupted their ordinary lives and generated widespread anxiety about security, public order and the provision of essential services. Local authorities have repeatedly complained that they have been left without the resources necessary to cope with the scale of the crisis. Whatever one's views on immigration, the first duty of any go...

  “… la nación española está ya reconocida en el siglo XVI, mucho antes de que fuera reconocida la nación inglesa o la nación francesa –o, por supuesto, la nación catalana o la nación vasca…”  Gustavo Bueno, España no es un mito , 2005.

  I have finally decided to take a few days´vacation on the beach, near Valencia, in Mare Nostrum, with its warm waters. We have rented an AirB&B house. First thing I noticed, everything (warnings, directions, etc.) were written in English. No Spanish, which is fine with me. Next day I noticed that all houses in this old part of the village were B&B... I mean all. And probably the customers came from the UK. But the Brits are not here, the streets are empty, and restaurants and bars, deserted. The result of the Covid pandemic.  Driving back from supper, all villages appeared as ghost towns. An eerie feeling overtook me.  This new way of life, of living, will also affect the English language in Spain. Why try and learn a language nobody speaks? Language schools and English-language teachers will have to figure out what to do.  Mare Nostrum will be the winner. It will recuperate a bit from years of maltreatment by tourists and locals. Every cloud has a silver l...

We tend to think that marketing is a way of selling a product, to make it known and to convince customers of its good qualities. In his BBC interview, Alfonso Dastis, Spanish Foreign Minister, was unable to deliver a coherent and truthful version of the so-called violence in Barcelona recently. His English is halting and poor. His command of the English language is mediocre at best and, so he made a poor show. He was unable to market his government's stand forcibly and convincingly . The audience went away with the impression that he was not telling the truth, when in fact he was. People thought he was a fake. For a government to market its own policies well, profesionals are needed. And Mr. Dastis is not one, I am sorry to say.  Here is the link to the BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41713190