Spanish language, cultural center opened Los Angeles branch with visit from Spain's Queen Letizia

One of the world’s most significant Spanish language and cultural centers is ready to spread the magic of the motherland in the Golden State of California as it opens its doors to the state's most populated city.

The Cervantes Institute “is a non-profit organization founded by the Spanish Government. Its mission is to promote the teaching of Spanish and the co-official languages of Spain, as well as to foster knowledge of the cultures of Spanish-speaking countries… It is present in almost 90 cities in more than 40 countries on five continents,” according to the organization’s website.

The Institute opened its sixth U.S. location this month in Los Angeles, an event that was celebrated on Dec. 13 with an honored visit from Spain’s Queen, Letizia Ortíz.

The Institute was founded by the Spanish government in 1991 to further Hispanic culture and language around the world.

The new Los Angeles opening should come as no surprise since Spanish is the second-most common language spoken in the U.S. and the city of angels has a population that is 50% Hispanic or Latino.

“Given the identity of the city of Los Angeles—the film capital of the world—the Cervantes Institute will dedicate a special effort to promote the audiovisual arts in Spanish, but its purpose encompasses all manifestations of the Spanish language, which in the 21st century has undoubtedly become a language of influence: sports, music, literature, science, business, gastronomy, politics, and the visual arts,” the organization’s website says.

“There is no field of human knowledge that does not owe an important part of its progress to the Spanish language and to the people who speak it. Instituto Cervantes of Los Angeles aims to collaborate with public and private cultural institutions in California, especially those involved in the dissemination of Hispanic language and culture.”

To christen its California opening and add a little royal inspiration, the queen joined a work meeting and presided over its inaugural event, according to details outlined in an Institute press release.

Letizia, who was crowned as Queen of Spain and became wife of then Prince—now King Felipe VI—in 2004, is no stranger to the field of communication and language.

The beautiful 50-year old monarch is a veteran national television journalist broadcaster who brought news to the motherland for more than a decade after she graduated from the University of Madrid and the Institute for Studies in Audiovisual Journalism.

Letizia started her career at the Asturian daily Spanish newspaper, La Nueva España and continued her reporting career in Mexico at Siglo 21. In a bout of possible homesickness, the future queen returned to her motherland where she joined the ranks of Bloomberg to ultimately become a Spanish household name on CNN.

In 2000 Letizia moved from CNN to TVE where she worked on the news station, 24 Horas, reporting for the show, Informe Semanal. From there she rose in the ranks as the evening news anchor for Telediario 2, the highest rated news show in Spain.  

Feathers in her cap include reporting on U.S. elections from Washington, D.C. in 2000, live newscasting from New York City’s Ground Zero during the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 and covering the early days of Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq.

Letizia was previously married to a literature teacher but the two divorced in 1999. Her journalistic fame soon won her the courtship of Prince Felipe VI who would marry her and make her Princess of Asturias.

She later became queen after Philip became King of Spain upon the abdication of King Juan Carlos in 2014.

Letizia is officially the first woman without aristocratic blood to ever hold the queen’s title in Spain, and resoundingly popular, known widely as a forward thinking feminist, and not an old school monarchist. She has also been a strong voice in favor of taking steps to steer the monarchy away from corruption.

While Spain’s real executive power lies with its elected parliamentary government, the monarch still performs ceremonial roles and has a strong influential presence in the country, similar to England.

While the queen has returned home, the Cervantes Institute is ready to set its new Los Angeles location in motion for 2023. Its website describes its focus by offering the following services:

• Organizes Spanish courses at different levels and forms: general language, specific skills, etcetera. It also offers courses in Catalan, Basque and Galician. 
• Organizes DELE Spanish exams and issues official DELE Spanish certificates and diplomas to its students.
• Advises and accompanies centers dedicated to the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language (ELE) to standardize their evaluation and quality procedures. 
• Offers professional development classes for Spanish teachers. 
• Supports researchers in Hispanic languages and cultures. 
• Promotes cultural activities and events in conjunction with other organizations.

The Institute has five other U.S. locations including Albuquerque, Chicago, Harvard, New York and Seattle. Among its many programs, the Institute offers a Spanish language certification for young people between 11-17 and offer accreditation for learning centers.