The Spanish Embassy donated more than 200 Spanish books to the University of Pretoria to celebrate the introduction of Spanish as a foreign language programme at the University from 2008.

UP’s Department of Modern European Languages presented the first Spanish courses through Continuing Education at UP in 2007 and the first full academic programmes will start in 2008. The Embassy of Spain played an important role in assisting the University to introduce the new language. The programme is already in proving to be very popular with UP students and people from the community alike.

Spanish is regarded as a world language, mother tongue of about 350 million people in more than 20 countries worldwide. The economic and political influence the Spanish language has in a globalised world makes it an essential asset to strengthen communication ties throughout the world. Furthermore, Spanish is also the cultural and intellectual home of many novelists and poets, from Cervantes to García Márquez.

Due to the importance of and great response to the introduction of Spanish at the University of Pretoria, the Embassy of Spain generously donated more than 200 books to the Library of UP. Amongst them students will find novels, dictionaries and encyclopaedias. The Ambassador of Spain, Mr. Ramón Gil-Casares, officially handed over the books at a function at UP on Wednesday, 22 November.

The University of Pretoria, and particularly the Department of Modern European Languages, highly appreciate this donation and the support they received from the Embassy of Spain.

For more media information, please contact:

Christian BürschenDepartment of Modern European Languages

University of Pretoria

Tel: 012 420 2352Cell: 078 492 8691