Greeks embrace the language and culture of Spain
Spain is making its presence felt all the more in Greece. Language, education, tourism, archaeology and literature are only a few of the major armaments being used in this peaceful invasion of Greek territory by Spanish culture. In the past few years, there has been a move away from the climate of the postwar period. The Spanish language is attracting Greeks, while behind the modernizing image of a European Spain lies Latin America, boundless and eclectic. It is inviting both as a market and also as a cultural entity. The reduction in the wave of Greek students going to Italy (which reached its peak in the 1960s and 1970s), the Spanish boom after 1985, the end of the Cold War, the growth of the «culture market» in Athens, the increasing number of works being translated by Greek publishing houses, the rise in the number of Greek tourists visiting Spain (and vice versa), as well as the establishment of cultural studies, have created a climate in which Spain’s foreign cultural policy finds much fertile territory. All this, in combination with the open collaboration between Spain and Greece, even in the organization of large exhibitions and Olympic facilities (El Greco and Santiago Calatrava), create a positive environment for further cooperation. The Spanish penetration of Greece began (and continues) with the Spanish language as a driving force. Until the 1980s, very few Greeks learned Spanish and the facilities available in Greece were limited. The impressive turnaround is already noticeable in the small «Spains» of Athens: The Cervantes Institute at 31 Skoufa Street and the Spanish Embassy, a neoclassical mansion on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street. The feeling of a dynamic thrust forward comes primarily from those Spaniards working in the field of Greek-Spanish relations. «There has been a spectacular change in Spain in the last few years which was mainly caused by a change in mentality, not just among the young people but among older people too,» says Alvaro Castillo, educational attache at the Spanish Embassy in Athens. Spain has been transformed in the past 20 years. And this dynamic – expressed in the country’s stable political scene, the cultural life of its large cities, its architectural achievements, the high standards of tourism – is being channeled through a series of activities. The new director of the Cervantes Institute has plans and dreams. «I want to work to create a bridge of mutual understanding between Greece and Spain,» says Natividad Galvez, who has lived in Athens since 1979. «For Spaniards to come to Greece, for Greeks to go to Spain, to build relations between the two countries’ arts and culture scenes.» For thousands of Greeks, their first contact with the Spanish language is through the 140 language schools throughout Greece that provide Spanish lessons. Some pursue the language still further. Others even inquire as to the possibilities of postgraduate studies in Spain. Few, however, go so far as to take such a step. «The minister of education, Mr Petros Efthymiou, recently announced that he is examining the possibility of offering Spanish and Italian as foreign language choices at the level of secondary education. And this is very important,» comments Raul Maestro, an education consultant with the Spanish Ministry of Education. So far, Spanish is offered as a foreign language choice at six private schools in Athens. Of course, nothing can happen unless there are teachers capable of satisfying such a need in the schools. Spanish studies were only recently introduced into Greek universities, and, to a certain extent, broke through the isolation which prevented the Western world’s second language from making headway at the universities. «Until five years ago there was nothing on Spanish culture, apart from a department of foreign cultures at the University of Athens,» Raul Maestro tells us. «A great effort was then made to establish a Department of Spanish Studies.» A department was opened at the Ionian University in 1998 (but only as part of their degree in translation and interpretation), and in 1999 the Department of Italian and Spanish Studies opened at the University of Athens, with two autonomous sub-departments. «The students are already in their third year,» says Raul Maestro, «and in a year’s time they will have their degrees.» Significant efforts have been made to establish a degree in Spanish language and culture at the Open University, while Spanish is taught in the Department of Mediterranean Studies at the University of the Aegean on Rhodes (180 students have already registered). The issue of literature, as a form of mutual exchange, is of great interest to Natividad Galvez. Her office, in the atmospheric building of the Cervantes Institute, is a small «embassy» in which she communicates with publishing houses in Spain and Greece. Galvez has herself translated Greek literature into Spanish. Thanks to her, «The Third Wedding Wreath» (To Trito Stefani) by Costas Tachtsis and, more recently, «Eleni or Nobody» by Rea Galanaki have found their way into Spanish. Of the younger authors, it was Galvez who proposed the translation of Lena Divani’s novel «The Women of Her Life,» which has been published by the influential Spanish publishing house Alfaguera. «I hope that this book will open the door for other Greek books,» says Galvez. «The Golden Age of Spain, from the mid-17th to the mid-18th century, is still unknown in Greece. Everyone knows Cervantes, but only ‘Don Quixote.’ There are other important books, masterpieces, which have yet to be translated.» The recent publication in Greek of the classic 19th-century Spanish novel «La Regenta» by Clarin (the Spanish «Madame Bovary») by the publishing house Aiolis, paves the way for other classic Spanish novels. Another area in which the Spanish presence in Greece is being felt is in archaeology. A few years ago, the Spanish government bought a neoclassical building on Kalisperi Street, near the Spanish Embassy, in which the Spanish Archaeological School is to be housed. The idea is still in the planning stage, but «the general plan is to create something with a broader scope, a study center, for example, which will also highlight Spain’s contribution to Greek culture,» notes Alvaro Castillo. The restoration work on the neoclassical embassy building on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street is itself a sign of respect for Athenian history. We are still at the beginning of a multifaceted journey which looks as though it will bear much fruit.
