The interests of language | Jorge Fondebrider, Ivo …

From Cordoba

"What is the Spanish monarch doing here, presiding over a congress attended only by philologists, linguists, lexicographers, writers, translators and language teachers?" Does the king preside at the congresses of dentists and dyers? or bakers? No, because the interests at stake are the language, it is the author and translator Jorge Fondebrider, very applauded by the public on the last day of the VIIIth International Congress of the Spanish language (CILE) , in the Jury Volpi (Mexico), Ivonne Bordelois (Argentina) and Pedro Álvarez de Miranda (Spain), under the coordination of the Spanish journalist Álex Grijelmo, participated in the round table "Political correctness and language".

Fondebrider questioned pan-Spanish language policy, which helped Spanish publishers "reject translations made by Latin Americans on the grounds that they are bad", or that Fundeu (Spanish Urgent Foundation), they call for continued pressure for the Latin American media to adopt the linguistic uses imposed by the Royal Academy. "The Argentine writer and translator, creator of the Literary Translators Club, said that in the dictionary, many words indicated" Americanism "," Argentinian "or" Mexican "," but never "Spanish", as if was spoken in Spain out of the norm and what is said on this side of the Atlantic from the defect. "He also opposed the way in which the language is named Spanish instead of Spanish. There is a political problem that filters in the field of language. I do not speak Spanish, but my variant of Castilian, which is the river plate, "said the Argentine writer and translator." The language is not just a communication instrument or a form of communication. Expression of the human spirit, but also a commodity that seeks to trade, "concluded Fondebrider.

Bordelois confessed that she was upset when they invited her to participate at the table because "politics is not my thing, and the correction less," acknowledged the linguist, l & # 39; 39, writer and essayist. "The political correctness in the language is a constant source of euphemisms, so we went from servants, maids, girls to employees, we elders, old people, grandparents to the elderly The psychiatrist became an asylum then psychiatric, "cited, among others, the author of the taste of words and silence. "Not only the politically correct, but the common sense and the conviction of the legitimacy of our inalienable rights should discourage those who freely abuse not only their opponents, but also their language and their own person," said Bordelois. "The marriage of intolerance and insensitivity in the name of democracy and freedom of expression is suspicious for me; raising elephant skin in the face of serious offenses is to give up the protection we owe to the dignity of our people and our culture, a place from which our identity is played. "

Volpi began by saying that at the only congressional table of languages ​​where we can talk about badism in the language, "it is always a bit uncomfortable that we are here with five men and one woman" , admitted the Mexican writer. "Spanish reflects the unequal distribution of power of those who have spoken in its history.Our language carries innumerable badist, patriarchal, clbadist and Eurocentric traits, among other forms of discrimination, and expresses normality set by certain groups. hegemonic, "warned the Mexican writer who spoke about inclusive language. "We have seen over these years how the attempt to use an" x "or an" @ "to eliminate the generic masculine has failed because these spellings can not be pronounced.The attempt to replace the" o " "Will the" é "work?", Asked Volpi. "We'll see if the speakers end up adopting it; but nobody should be scandalized if it happens at a given moment. "