Qualifications à l’examen DALF C1 de français (niveau C1 du Cadre européen commun de référence pour les langues). Merci beaucoup à la France et au Québec !
DALF C1 qualifications in French (C1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). Thank you very much, France and Quebec!
Recent Press Appearance: RTVE.ES (February 4, 2026: in Spanish).
RTVE.ES (February 4, 2026: in Spanish). El aragonés, una lengua “que agoniza” en manos de voluntarios y activistas digitales. [Press release, extract]. Retrieved from https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20260204/aragones-lengua-agoniza-manos-voluntarios-activistas-digitales/16921925.shtml
Internet activism so that Aragonese “does not become a museum language”
Marco is from Zaragoza and holds a notable distinction: in 2006 he created Estricalla, the first blog in the Aragonese language in internet history. “It is the oldest blog in Aragonese. It is a personal project and I feel more comfortable writing in this language,” he tells RTVE Noticias. It currently has 536 posts.
In that blog, Marco mainly writes about travel. He has lived four years in Philippines, two in Brazil and one year in Vietnam, among other places. “Regarding the Philippines, I have received visits from people who do not speak Aragonese. They used it as a reference because I provided specific information about places that had not yet been published in Spanish,” he tells us proudly. In the best periods of the ‘blogosphere,’ he says, he has received between 300 and 400 visits per post; nowadays the average is about 100.
For him, the internet is very important so that “there is content in Aragonese in all spheres of life, especially on the internet.” At the same time, he is very critical of its preservation: “It cannot be relegated to a museum language and to village festivals once a year.”
He also believes that much greater political and institutional support is necessary, especially at a time when the associative movement “is very demobilized and in a very bad situation.”
Only three blogs in the Aragonese language remain active, although there used to be 20, according to Marco. “It is not that the content has disappeared, but that new creators have opted for social networks,” he says.
J’avais une prof au lycée, Felisa, prof d’espagnol, qui semblait toujours heureuse et patiente — mais d’une manière qui paraissait un peu fausse. En réalité, tout le monde pensait que cette attitude de hippie était calculée, pas sincère. Pourtant, un jour en classe, Felisa a critiqué ceux qui méprisaient les œuvres littéraires et le cinéma populaires : « Si des millions de personnes aiment ça, ce ne peut pas être si mauvais », disait-elle. En prenant position et en s’exprimant sincèrement contre le snobisme académique et intellectuel — je ne sais pas si elle avait raison ou pas — Felisa gagnait quelque chose de plus important : de la personnalité, de l’identité, de la force, du charisme.
La première fois que j’ai vu la couverture du livre The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, à Manille en 2017, j’ai pensé que ce n’était qu’un pamphlet de développement personnel bon marché, avec une couverture trop commerciale pour être sérieuse. Mes étudiants de psychologie à l’UST en parlaient beaucoup : un truc d’ados, me disais-je.
Mais après presque une décennie, avec plusieurs traductions, des dizaines d’éditions et des millions d’exemplaires vendus — et même une certaine présence dans les milieux universitaires et psychologiques — j’ai décidé de le lire. Et je dois admettre que c’était une bonne idée : avec plus de rigueur que je ne le pensais, je ne peux pas nier qu’il m’apporte, dans ma situation personnelle actuelle, quelques clés très intéressantes.
Ainsi, une œuvre initialement critiquée par les philosophes et psychologues devient un outil pratique de réflexion philosophique et psychologique, rédigé par un coach qui, à l’origine, n’était pas vraiment un spécialiste. Il avait commencé en tenant un blog largement nourri par ses expériences de joueur et de globe-trotter pendant dix ans.
L’esprit du livre et ses idées ne sont pas révolutionnaires : en réalité, le stoïcisme qu’il défend est presque aussi ancien que l’humanité. Mais le bon choix de l’auteur est de l’adapter à la société actuelle et à des profils comme le mien, esclaves d’une certaine philosophie “Manu Chao”. Le cœur du message : sois toi-même sans attendre de récompense, et ne deviens pas ce que tu penses que les autres veulent que tu sois. Sois toi, en sachant que tu n’es rien — et que c’est très bien ainsi.
Ironiquement, Dale Carnegie disait que pour améliorer ses relations, il fallait s’intéresser aux autres, les écouter, suivre leurs intérêts. Mark Manson, lui, affirme que pour avancer vers le bonheur, il faut être sincère et se recentrer sur soi. Mais loin d’être incompatibles, ces deux idées sont complémentaires : notre manière d’être au monde doit s’ancrer dans notre authenticité, sans peur des autres et en acceptant qu’on n’est qu’une personne parmi des milliards. Et, au quotidien, l’une des meilleures stratégies reste de s’intéresser sincèrement aux autres.
Bien sûr, la frontière entre « eux » et « nous » est floue, difficile à tracer. Mais c’est justement une affaire de pratique continue — en somme, c’est ça, la vie.
Manson, M. (2016). The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. HarperOne
Warren Buffet, probablement le meilleur investisseur de l’histoire et l’un des hommes les plus riches du monde, a dit plusieurs fois que le cours qui avait changé sa vie était celui donné par Dale Carnegie, sur la psychologie sociale pratique. Et ce cours est résumé dans un livre publié en 1936, qui est devenu l’un des ouvrages les plus importants du XXᵉ siècle, et une véritable référence pour le traitement des relations sociales ainsi que pour le développement de tactiques économiques. Je parle de Comment faire des amis.
Et si Warren Buffet recommande cette œuvre, un tas d’investisseurs et d’économistes, même presque un siècle après sa publication, parlent encore de ce livre, qui a aussi une très bonne note sur les sites de livres, de vente et dans les librairies. Donc, après avoir terminé mes examens de mathématiques pour devenir fonctionnaire, j’ai décidé que Comment faire des amis serait la première de mes lectures d’été.
Tout d’abord, l’écriture de l’auteur est si amène et facile, pleine d’exemples et de situations quotidiennes amusantes, que même en français, je n’ai eu besoin que de trois jours pour le lire et écrire cette critique. Mais cette simplicité se traduit aussi par une simplicité des arguments et des conseils : dès la première page, les enseignements de l’auteur semblent très simples, rien de nouveau, et très centrés sur le fait de flatter l’interlocuteur : on sait tous que cela n’est pas possible dans beaucoup d’occasions, comme lorsqu’il y a des conflits.
En plus, une partie des enseignements écrits là et des situations correspondent au début du XXᵉ siècle, voire au XIXᵉ siècle, et les contextes et mentalités des personnes aujourd’hui ne permettent pas toujours de les appliquer. Cela devient particulièrement délicat lorsqu’il s’agit des relations sentimentales et de la galanterie dans les derniers chapitres du livre. Mais en même temps, le fait que ce livre ait été écrit dans un contexte de crise, après une guerre mondiale, et par un membre d’une génération très marquée par les événements et les générations précédentes, fait que certains aspects de l’esprit du livre gardent des similitudes avec la situation des milléniaux d’aujourd’hui.
D’un autre côté, même si l’œuvre est simple, elle présente quelques conseils encore très utiles, que j’ai notés dans mon téléphone portable pour les lire le matin : soyez plus intéressé par les autres, laissez-les parler au moins autant que vous ou plus, et d’autres recommandations. Je suis déjà en train d’appliquer ces conseils et j’ai déjà noté des différences, même si souvent il n’est pas facile de faire en sorte que les autres s’ouvrent.
On peut dire que Comment faire des amis est une des références majeures en psychologie sociale pratique et en économie, que son importance pour comprendre la société du XXᵉ siècle est indéniable, et que même aujourd’hui, il fournit encore quelques conseils valables. Mais je trouve que, dans notre société, il est plus important et efficace de parler directement, sans détours, même lorsqu’il faut exprimer des mécontentements et des désaccords, sans flatteries ni mesures palliatives — bien sûr avec politesse, et surtout, avec honnêteté. Et en plus, j’ai toujours aimé pouvoir dire “je te l’avais dit” quand j’ai raison, et je ne veux pas arrêter de faire ça.
Carnegie, D. (1936). How to Win Friends and Influence People. Simon & Schuster.
Manila, 2017. I am excited about my new job at the University of Santo Tomas and the new experiences I am having in the Philippines. I find a new surprise every day, a new intellectual or physical stimulus, and it took me nine months to feel routine. Joining a jeepney means losing the control of your body to become part of a communal body, no matter your age of gender, and everyone accepts it. And never say no to a karaoke, because singing alone makes no sense, and singing together is the best of enjoyment, even if you don’t have the right pitch, because there is no “right pitch” or “the best pitch”. And if you think you have it, the group will allow you to sing the same number of songs as the rest, and everybody happily accepts it.
But at some point, I needed an (individualistic) break, I needed to walk calmly alone in the park, breathe deeply, and relax. It is not easy when there is virtually only one large park in the city, Luneta, but luckily, I lived relatively close to it. I went there, but during the few hours I stayed, many nice people came up to me wanting to talk about anything or offering to street-dance cheesy songs. I deeply appreciated it, but I just wanted to be alone! Some days later, after discussing this experience with a young independent illustrated upper-class colleague, she recommended that I use headphones or pretend to read a book, even if I weren’t listening to or reading anything at all, and she was right. But after half an hour, I needed to feel pinoy social hearts warmth. And all that reminded me of my childhood in Venezuela.
Manila, 2024. After a bunch of bad experiences, especially in Vietnam, I came back to the Philippines, and I came back to my trips around the country, to my walks around the barangays, and to my chilling moments in Luneta. However, I found crowds looking at their smartphones -bought thanks to the economic development of the country especially after Covid-, more foreigners than before, and no one coming to greet me and wanting to have a small conversation. I found, as “El individuo flotante” states, people living together alone. And I felt sad and even desperate.
Still in Manila, strolling around the disappearing traditional lower-class barangays and markets, the cemeteries, or the cockpits makes you feel like you are in the Middle Ages. And “El individuo flotante” accurately adds this kind of communal society, based on social habitudes in which there are very few means for individualism, is the society that existed until the Renaissance. So yes, it seems the disappearing Manila takes you back to the Middle Ages even in the deepest unrealizable touches. However, here’s one of the challenges the book faces: it is always suspicious to establish the first moment for something, and even though Marino Pérez Álvarez strongly defends the birth of modern individualist societies after the Middle Ages, he also opens the door to some kind of individualism during the evolution of the ancient Greek polis.
Back to 2017’s Manila, many people -among them my colleagues at Miguel de Benavides Library- sadly looked at me when I said I lived alone. For them, it was like the most depressing fact on Earth for a human, but I internally thought that I would never live together with anyone, except for a couple or a family maybe, because I would not want to deal with anyone, and I wanted to be always free. Interestingly, one of the people who looked at me with compassion when I said I was living alone got a nice opportunity to develop an individualistic life in Madrid, and it seems she doesn’t want to return to the social Filipino life anymore. And this is one of the other weak points of “El individuo flotante”: it doesn’t focus enough on the economic conditions that enables and enhances individualism, although it mentions them. In my case, I enjoyed -and I miss- the communal societies like 2017’s Manila, but I did so from the individualistic side: I did not live in a room with other five or more people and a bunch of mosquitoes, cockroaches and rats, but just alone, with all the possible amenities and services, and with a nice salary. They -the social Philippines- were a psychological and philosophical relief to my needs and wrongs derived from my excessive individualism, and I took advantage of it when I needed without renouncing to the advantages of the individualistic way of life, which makes such a hypocrite illusion even more individualistic.
The rise of individualism after the Middle Ages made humans abandon their traditional references -God, family, king, and later nation- to gradually make themselves their own reference points, and finally to get totally lost in their individualism, as they need to find some meaning inside themselves. Ironically, these meanings are chosen from external “markets of meanings”, and simultaneously, the buyers find others as entities to “conveniently use”. Even though this analysis has been present for more than a century, Pérez Álvarez clearly explains and structures it, considering the idea of “salvific communities” as substitutes for the traditional references. Nowadays, individuals substitute God or family for bachata, Aragonese language, new religious options, or CrossFit communities, even when they do not have any traditional -e.g. Family, village- or other substantial reason to adopt them. Or even worse, they try to solve individualism self-exploiting -taking a Master, then another Master, and then a PhD, and then another PhD, and then a BA in Mathematics- generating more stress and more individualism. This process becomes even more pernicious with the spread of smartphones and social networks, plenty of easy-to-access “salvific communities”, developed following colorful addictive individualistic patterns like the “like culture” and the “selfie culture”, with the final goal of the profit of a few global corporations that sell an image of freedom while enhancing addictive slavery.
The previous analysis is not original, but it is accurate and well-founded in Pérez Álvarez’s piece. However, the draft solutions the author suggests -e.g., controlling spaces, timings, or swimming- are weak and detract from the overall power of the piece. Pérez Álvarez also defends a progressive limitation of social networks, while from my own experience, it might be total -as with many other addictions. While criticizing mindfulness and other cheap -often individualistic- psychologies, what he does in his book is not so different, but more formal, refined, and, from my experience, useful. In this sense, his veiled reluctance to scientific and analytical psychologies and philosophies, in favor of rigorous humanistic options, is too radical.
“El individuo flotante” is a piece that deserves to be widely read and spread, not only because of its analysis on how smartphones and social networks are making us increasingly unhappy, but because of its reflections on how we are becoming increasingly individualistic, with no references, with no paths, considering the others as entities to “properly use”: as a result, loneliness is filling our souls, being the base for many of our current psychological pathologies. Interestingly and ironically, I read “El individuo flotante” a week I had three cancelled dates by different people in different places, always at the last minute: trying to overcome my individualism and set commitments after my Manila’s experiences, what I am finding is more and more individualism.
Before finishing, I would like to apologize for writing an individualistic review of a book that offers clues for solving individualism, but I could not have done it another way. I find “El individuo flotante” an excellent self-help and social analysis book, even though the author tends to criticize the former. In fact, it helps me as much as writing my blogs.
“He feels overwhelmed with exhaustion and can no longer bear his doctoral thesis, his mother, his house and his street, the hypocritical people he has to greet or who greet him. So, he decides to move to another city, one that is there, waiting for him—empty and brand new—where he will have a different job, a different woman, see a different landscape when he opens the windows, spend his nights on different hobbies, friendships, gossip. And so, his life is renewed, move after move…” (adaptation from “Invisible Cities”, Calvino, 1972, mentioned in page 165 of “El individuo flotante”).
Pérez Álvarez, Marino (2023). El individuo flotante: la muchedumbre solitaria en los tiempos de las redes sociales. Deusto.
Las definiciones lingüísticas de “leonés” en los Diccionarios de la Lengua Española. My last article at Lletres Asturianes.
Joven Romero, M. A. (2024). Las definiciones lingüísticas de “leonés” en los Diccionarios de la Lengua Española. Lletres Asturianes, (131), 124-132.
Resumen en español
La Real Academia Española (RAE) ha regulado el idioma español desde 1713 e incorpora términos relacionados con fenómenos lingüísticos en sus diccionarios, incluyendo el leonés, aunque no sin controversia. En el siglo XX, la lengua leonesa experimentó un renacer en el interés académico, social y cultural. Este resurgimiento condujo a que las primeras definiciones de ‘leonés’ aparecieran en los diccionarios de la RAE en la década de 1980. Este artículo explora de manera analítica la evolución histórica de las entradas ‘leonés’, abordando su contenido y lógica interna. El análisis abarca todas las instancias del término ‘leonés’ en los Diccionarios de la Lengua Española (DLE), abordando términos relacionados como ‘asturleonés’, ‘dialecto’ y ‘romance’.
Abstract in English
The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) has regulated the Spanish language since 1713, and it has included terms related to linguistic phenomena in its dictionaries, including Leonese, though not without debate. In the 20th century, the Leonese language experienced a resurgence in academic, social, and cultural interest. This resurgence led to the first definitions of ‘Leonese’ appearing in RAE dictionaries in the 1980s. This article analytically explores the historical evolution of ‘Leonese’ entries, addressing their content and internal logic. The analysis covers all instances of the term ‘Leonese’ in the Dictionaries of the Spanish Language (DLE), addressing related terms: ‘Astur-Leonese,’ ‘dialect,’ and ‘romance.’
In 2021, the 17th-century Ecce Homo painting was rediscovered. Initially attributed to Jusepe de Ribera, a second-line painter, it was valued in 1500 euro. However, further research demonstrated it was painted by Caravaggio, subsequently raising a value of 36 million euro. Furthermore, if we dig deep into the object, it is just a piece of canvas and paints that cost less than 100 dollars. Why such value differences?
Every object and service may have three different values: a material value -the canvas and the paints-, a social value -which explains the difference between Caravaggio’s and Ribera’s painting-, and a personal value.
Let’s consider a 1$ bill. Its social value is 1$, as we make transactions considering such value for that object. The value is given by some public institutions and international conditions that at the very end are nothing but groups of people. However, what we really hold in our hands is just a piece of paper and ink with a value of a few cents. Let’s imagine the 1$ dollar was given as a present by my father just before he died: then his personal value to me would be infinite.
Cristiano Ronaldo was a successful Real Madrid player. He was appreciated by the fans (social value) as a consequence of his good performances (material value). However, as he was getting older and his performance was decreasing, he was losing material value and the club decided to sell him before he also lost social -and transfer market- value. It is likely to be a difficult decision for the head staff of the club, who may have developed a personal attachment (personal value).
Apple began as a small company that produced high quality computers -and later, mobile phones. That material value (high quality computers) evolved into a social value (brand), which made their products more expensive. Other brands like Xiaomi, initially cheap alternatives, are experiencing the same process in the last five years.
Ultimately, our system of values, that is, how we chose and distribute among social, material, and personal value in our daily life, determine our identities. Consequently, our identity also explains our system of values. I prefer to go hiking in the mountain and having some Spanish soft meal like fried eggs with Spanish ham and bread, while other people prefer going to exclusive social events wearing expensive elitist brands. No one is better here: it is just that the system the values and the identities of persons are different.
However, analyzing the concept of value and how we distribute its material, social, and personal aspects can help us to design and reach our goals.
Toponimia hispánica de Manila y su aplicación al análisis del español en Filipinas. My last article at BAFLE: Boletín de la Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española.
Joven Romero, M. A. (2024). Toponimia hispánica de Manila y su aplicación al análisis del español en Filipinas. Boletín de la Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española (BAFLE), (2) 24-33.
Resumen en español
La toponimia describe la geografía, la historia, la lingüística y las sociedades de territorios en todo el mundo, y los topónimos urbanos suelen centrarse en las dimensiones sociales: reflejan la sociedad y las personalidades de diferentes épocas y comunidades, sus distribuciones, luchas políticas, intereses económicos y estrategias de dominación. El 15 de diciembre de 2021 defendí una tesis doctoral bajo el título Toponimia Hispánica de Manila, en la que estudio la toponimia de la capital filipina, dirigida por los profesores José Ramón Carriazo Ruiz (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, España) y Jorge Mojarro Romero (University of Santo Tomas, Filipinas). Aprovecho estas líneas para valorar y agradecer su trabajo preciso y su apoyo continuo.
Los topónimos de Metro Manila atestiguan la presencia histórica de tagalos y otros pueblos nativos, comunidades procedentes de China, Indonesia y Borneo, y colonizadores procedentes de España y de Estados Unidos de América. Hoy, estos topónimos se mezclan con otros de diferentes raíces lingüísticas debido a modas globales. Esto ocurre en zonas recientemente urbanizadas, pero también en nuevos topónimos que reemplazan a otros previos, como ocurre, por ejemplo, en la Mahatma Gandhi Street, anteriormente llamada Calle Looban.
La evolución de la toponimia de Metro Manila muestra las tensiones y el desarrollo de las comunidades que se han establecido en los límites de la región, y también refleja la formación política de la nación filipina desde finales del siglo XIX y durante el siglo XX: políticos, intelectuales, artistas y otras personalidades relevantes para el nuevo estado independiente ocupan la mayoría de los nombres del mapa actual de Manila.
Abstract in English
Toponymy describes the geography, history, linguistics, and societies of territories worldwide, and urban toponyms often focus on social dimensions: they reflect the society and personalities of different epochs and communities, their distributions, political struggles, economic interests, and domination strategies. On December 15, 2021, I defended a doctoral thesis entitled Hispanic Place Names of Manila, in which I study the toponymy of the Philippine capital, under the guidance of Professors José Ramón Carriazo Ruiz (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain) and Jorge Mojarro Romero (University of Santo Tomas, Philippines). I take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank them for their precise work and continuous support.
The toponyms of Metro Manila attest to the historical presence of Tagalogs and other indigenous peoples, communities from China, Indonesia, and Borneo, and colonizers from Spain and the United States of America. Today, these toponyms mix with others of different linguistic roots due to global trends. This occurs in recently urbanized areas but also in new toponyms that replace previous ones, as is the case, for example, with Mahatma Gandhi Street, formerly known as Calle Looban.
The evolution of the toponymy of Metro Manila shows the tensions and development of the communities that have settled within the region’s boundaries, and it also reflects the political formation of the Philippine nation since the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century: politicians, intellectuals, artists, and other relevant personalities for the new independent state occupy most of the names on the current map of Manila.
Las definiciones lingüísticas de ‘aragonés’ en los Diccionarios de Lengua Española. My last article at EPOS, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia.
Joven Romero, M. A. (2023). Las definiciones lingüísticas de ‘aragonés’ en los Diccionarios de la Lengua Española. Epos : Revista De filología, (39), 121–135. https://doi.org/10.5944/epos.39.2023.38224
For this article, I attach a video-pill explaining it, accessible in this post or this link.
(Resumen en español) La Real Academia Española (RAE) regula el español desde el año 1713, y ha incluido términos referentes a hechos lingüísticos en sus diccionarios, incluyendo al aragonés, no sin debate. En el siglo XX, el aragonés resurgió en interés académico, social y cultural, y, en consecuencia, las primeras definiciones de ‘aragonés’ en los diccionarios de la RAE aparecieron en los años 80. Este artículo explora analíticamente la evolución histórica de las definiciones de ‘aragonés’, tratando su contenido y su lógica interna. El análisis abarca todas las definiciones de ‘aragonés’ en los Diccionarios de la lengua española (DLE), tratando también los términos apuntados en las mismas: ‘navarroaragonés’, ‘dialecto’, ‘romance’ y ‘altoaragonés’.
(Abstract in English) The Royal Spanish Academy of Language (RAE) has regulated the Spanish language since 1713, and it has included terms related to linguistic phenomena in its dictionaries, including ‘Aragonese,’ not without debate. In the 20th century, Aragonese experienced a resurgence in academic, social, and cultural interest, leading to the first definitions of ‘Aragonese’ in the RAE dictionaries appearing in the 1980s. This article analytically explores the historical evolution of ‘Aragonese’ definitions, addressing their content and internal logic. The analysis encompasses all definitions of ‘Aragonese’ in the Dictionaries of the Spanish Language (DLE), also addressing the related terms: ‘Navarro-Aragonese,’ ‘dialect,’ ‘romance,’ and ‘Altoaragonese.’
Major Place Names of Spain in Metro Manila. My last article at Moenia.
Joven-Romero, M.A. (2021). Major Place Names of Spain in Metro Manila. Moenia: Revista Lucense de Lingüística y Literatura, 27.
Spanish place names are common in the Philippines due to historical reasons. Here I offer a comprehensive list of stable major place names of Spain in the National Capital Region of the Philippines (Metro Manila) and I analyze the results according to social, geographical, historical, and linguistic views. I finally defend that place names are coined and evolve according to historical, social, political, and economic reasons. Colonial past, population growth, and globalization are the leading causes for place names in Metro Manila.
https://revistas.usc.gal/index.php/moenia/article/view/7108/11844
New Viejo Bridge, Manila, Philippines
In the 15th century, the kingdom of Aragon experienced a language switch: the Aragonese language used by medieval institutions -mainly notaries and court scribes- was changed into Castilian -currently Spanish- as ordered by the newly arrived dynasty of the Trastámara. Little by little, nobility and higher classes changed their language following the fashion introduced by the new kings, and then the middle classes. In the 16th century, almost every text in the kingdom was written in Castilian, and the old -and now vulgar- Aragonese language was used and preserved just by lower classes, mainly farmers at that time.
This is the basic linguistic history of Aragon usually referred to, and even if it is not false, it is not totally accurate (Tomás, 2020): the Spanish elements in the Aragonese texts appear some centuries before, under the influence of external cultural and political trends like the one offered by the Toledo School of Translators and Alfonso X “The Wise”. In the 14th century and even before, higher classes in Aragon spoke and wrote Aragonese language, but Spanish elements were popular, and that helped the fast language switch that occurred during the following century.
Back to the present, on May 29, 2022, Professor David Fernández Vítores offered a provocative interview about the current role and the future of the Spanish language, plenty of points rare to find out in the academic literature. According to professor Fernández Vítores, Spanish is not that powerful language that will menace the hegemony of English, but rather a declining language that needs to seek out a kind of agreement with English in the international linguistic market. Spanish is almost disappeared in the Philippines, its influence has dramatically decreased in Morocco, and the Hispanic community of the USA, even if proud of being Hispanic, do not always transmit the language to the new generations. And people who state they speak Spanish sometimes do not properly handle the language. In these and other cases, Spanish is residually used as a folk element at specific moments, as the Aragonese language is used in traditional festivities in many Aragonese villages where the settlers hardly use it.
Nowadays, English is the language of science, research, and technicalities, and higher classes handle English, educating their children in the international language: even if most of the peoples speak other languages, English is the language of powers and intellectuals, and the middle classes are imitating the trend. English is also the lingua franca, the one speakers of different languages use at encounters, at short and middle migrations, or to give foreigners basic instructions. In the Aragonese Middle Ages, the powerful language was Latin, and lingua franca was rarely a concern as Romance languages were close enough to allow communication.
Nowadays, Spanish is the language of leisure. The language of Despacito song, Shakira, J.Lo, Becky G, Daddy Yankee, or Maluma, the language of songs talking about sex, drugs, and alcohol. It is the language to be listened to while drinking cocktails and twerking at ‘Spanish’ night, after an exhausting researching and working serious ‘English’ day. Interestingly, between the 17th and 20th centuries, farm tales called pastoradas were popular in some Aragonese areas, and they were often dramatized in festivities. These tales represented the society at that time, with its powers and peoples, and the mocking and rude dialogs between the mairal and the rapatán (head shepherd and trainee shepherd) were the only ones written and represented in Aragonese (Benítez & Latas, 2022).
Spanish is not experiencing the language switch Aragonese language experienced in the 15th century. Not yet. But powers and peoples are developing the breeding ground to allow such a switch if there is political pressure in the close future, as happened to the Aragonese language. And even if there is not such a political effect in the Spanish case, such a future might be inevitable anyway.
References
Benítez, M.P., & Latas, Ó. (2022). Sobre la pastorada aragonesa: Estudio filológico de las pastoradas en aragonés del siglo XVII. Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza.
Tomás, G. (2020). El aragonés medieval: lengua y Estado en el reino de Aragón. Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza.
Villarino, Á. (May 29, 2022). ¿El español va a desbancar al inglés? En realidad está en retirada en todos estos países. ElConfidencial.
On May 5th, 2017, I defended my first Ph. D., in Philosophy, at the Department of Logic, History and Philosophy of Science (Spanish acronym: LHFC) of the National University of Distance Education (Spanish acronym: UNED), after four years of work thanks to a grant given by the Aragonese Government. Five years later, with much more life experience, I would like to express my views about my stay there.
First, I feel I could have done more at LHFC. Honestly, I did not arrive at my best personal moment, but personal reasons are hardly an excuse. With my current experience and in my present moment, things could have been different.
But at the same time, I did not receive proper support there. My advisor, Doctor Jesús Zamora Bonilla, was absent from his duties during the four years. I was lost, he gave me no path to follow -or better said, he gave me a different one every time we talked during the first year- and he was just trying to find a co-advisor to do his job. I only realized he was following my updates when he used them in a SEFA Congress presentation. And he seemed to be much more worried about political and writing development and promotion, than about researching, teaching, and advising. Luckily, he posed no trouble when I deposited the thesis. Honestly, I do not understand why to accept a Ph. D. student if you will not dedicate him time enough.
A different opinion deserves Doctor David Teira Serrano, the Head of Department at that time, with a bad reputation that I could experience in my first department meeting, when another professor and he told each other to “fuck off”. However, he was always helpful to me, he helped me so much with my first publication, and he gave me some pieces of advice that I considered useless at that time, but that turned out to be astonishingly useful over time.
I was also lucky of meeting great researchers at the department, and one of them, Cristian Saborido admitted twice that “they could have done more with me” -honestly, if you are going to say that and then you will do nothing, it is better to shut up and leave hypocrisy away. It was also sad to meet great researchers and people that could not flourish in such a negative context.
One day I was talking to a Galician predoc colleague about how difficult was to live in Madrid with a salary of 1,000 euros. Last two years I decided to live in Zaragoza, and I went to Madrid once or twice a week. There was no other option: something people from Madrid did not take always into account in informal discussion. And UNED is a state university, not a Madrid university -the same university in which I pursued my second Ph. D., in Philology, as an on-line student, in a better personal moment and with two better advisors, Doctor José Ramón Carriazo Ruiz (UNED) and Doctor Jorge Mojarro Romero (UST, Manila).
In short, after five years of amazing professional and vital experience in much better contexts (2017-2022), now I feel I arrived in a bad place at a bad moment when I did my Ph. D. in Philosophy at the Department of Logic, History and Philosophy of Science at UNED. I feel I could have done more there. I feel they did not help me as they could. But far from being a trauma, it was another life experience to acquire both personal and research skills, to learn to differentiate among friends, enemies, and -the trickiest ones- false friends.
Note: Someday I will talk about the selection procedures there at LHFC.
