Instituto Cervantes (the Cervantes Institute) is a worldwide
nonprofit organization created by the
Spanish government in 1991. It is named after
Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), the author of ''
Don Quixote'' and perhaps the most important figure in the history of
Spanish literature. The Cervantes Institute is the largest organization in the world responsible for promoting the study and the teaching of
Spanish language and
culture.
This organization has branched out to 45 countries with 88 centres devoted to the Spanish and
Hispanic American culture and Spanish language.
Article 3 of Law 7/1991, of March 21, created the Instituto Cervantes as a government agency. The law explains that the ultimate goals of the Institute are to promote the education, the study and the use of Spanish universally as a second language; to support the methods and activities that would help the process of Spanish language education, and to contribute to the advancement of the
Spanish and
Hispanic American cultures throughout non-Spanish-speaking countries.
Functions
The functions and services of the Cervantes Institute are:
* It designs Spanish language courses, offering two kinds of courses: general and special.
* It offers the
Diplomas of Spanish as Foreign Language (DELE) examinations on behalf of the
Spanish Ministry of Education. This is an official qualification certifying levels of competence in the Spanish language, and is the only certificate for non-native Spanish speakers that is officially recognised in Spain. The diplomas are subdivided into six levels, each one corresponding to a certain proficiency level as described by the
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, abbreviated in English as CEFR or CEF or CEFRL, is a guideline used to describe achievements of learners of foreign languages across Europe and, increasing ...
: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2.
*It improves the methods of Spanish education.
**On-line Spanish language learning environment Ex) AVE (
Aula Virtual de Español
The Canadian Aviation Regulations define two types of ultralight aircraft: basic ultra-light aeroplane (BULA), and advanced ultra-light aeroplane (AULA).
Definition
Regulation of ultra-light aircraft in Canada is covered by the Canadian ...
)
**Creating a social, cultural and educational environment in each centre
**A student-centred plan, focusing on the dialogues between teacher and student over objectives and contents
*It supports
Hispanists and "
Hispanism
Hispanism (sometimes referred to as Hispanic studies or Spanish studies) is the study of the literature and culture of the Spanish-speaking world, principally that of Spain and Hispanic America. It can also entail studying Spanish language and ...
", which is the study of the culture of Spain and Hispanic America.
**Sponsors lectures, book presentations, concerts, art exhibitions, The Spain Film Festival and Festival of Flamenco. Supported by other organisations and communities.
*It organises and promotes the program to spread the Spanish language throughout the world.
**The institute works with Spain's
national radio and television to deliver Spanish language courses.
**Publications, on-line bibliographies, library holdings, the hosting of major conferences on the state of the Spanish language.
*It administers th
Constitutional and Sociocultural Knowledge of Spain(CCSE) examinations worldwide, which are a legal requirement for the acquisition of Spanish nationality.
*It establishes libraries and centres.
*It also publishes the ''Anuario del español'' to analyse and report on the situation and development of the Spanish language in different places.
*It supports the
Centro Virtual Cervantes on the internet since 1997.
Academic programme
General language courses are offered at four different levels: elementary, intermediate, advanced and high advanced.
# Improving specific language skills, such as reading, speaking, and writing
# Teaching Spanish for specific purposes, such as business, medical, legal, or translation
# Learning about the literature and cultures of the Spanish-speaking countries
# Preparation for Diplomas of Spanish as Foreign Language
The Cervantes Institute offers comprehensive Spanish language classes to:
# Develop the student's ability to use the language in a variety of contexts, paying special attention to the differences of Spanish accents.
# To provide different resources, including Spanish on-line, to improve the teaching.
# To allow the students to use any of the facilities of the Cervantes Institute around the world.
# To issue Spanish language diplomas and certificates
Administration

The administration of the Cervantes Institute is subdivided into three parts. A commitment and interest in planning the activities and direction of the Institute are managed by a high-profile membership.
# Patronato (Board of Trustees): The Cervantes Institute is overseen by its governing body, the Patronato. The Patronato normally includes the
King of Spain
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, coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain
, image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg
, incumbent = Felipe VI
, incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...
,
Felipe VI as the honorary president and the
Prime Minister of Spain, as well as representatives from the world of culture and letters in Spain and in the Americas.
The executive presidency is held by the Secretaries of State of Education and Science, Culture, the president and vice-president of the Council of Administration, the Director of the institute, 25 elected members from cultural and language institutions. It gives general directions for the activities of the Institute and informs on its annual activities.
# The Consejo de Administración (Board of Directors) is a management body and approves the general plans and projects of the institute. It consists of representatives from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Education, Culture and Sport, Treasury, and Home Affairs, as well as from the Patronato. This is presided by the Secretary of State of International Cooperation and consists of two vice-presidents (Undersecretary of the Science and Education Department and the Undersecretary of the Department of Culture), two advisers of the Patronato, and four advisers from the Secretaries of State, Education and Science, Culture and of Economy and Treasury and the Director of the institute.
# The Director is appointed by the
Council of Ministers of Spain. The Director is in charge of guiding the management of the institute, and other pertinent executive and administrative tasks.
Virtual presence
Centro Virtual Cervantes is an online service that was created in December 1997 by the Instituto Cervantes of Spain to contribute to the diffusion of the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. It became one of the most important reference sites devoted to Spanish language and culture, having reached an average of over 100,000 visitors a month, including both professionals and the general public.
It offers resources and services to teachers, students, translators, journalists and other professionals involved with the Spanish language, and as well as to Hispanists throughout the world, who study Hispanic cultures, and to any person who is interested in the language and Hispanic cultures.
It also includes announcements of cultural events (Actos Culturales), four discussion forums, each of which focuses on a specific topic, and the language classroom, Aula de Lengua, designed for both teachers and learners of Spanish.
The Instituto Cervantes also has a virtual presence in the 3D virtual world
Second Life.
Centro de Formación de Profesores
On 13 December 2004, the Cervantes Institute formed its ''Centro de Formación de Profesores'' in its headquarters, located in
Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located to the northeast of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municipalities ...
, where Cervantes was born. This institution was founded to encourage the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language and to provide useful resources to its members. Throughout the year, it organises the specific activities and programmes for the centre, with several different goals, which include teaching, providing the resources to the teachers to use in their education field, and developing specialised knowledge of the Spanish language for educational purposes. The centre supports the future teachers of Spanish through its 'Master of Education in Spanish as a Foreign Language', in collaboration with the International University Menéndez Pelayo. For teachers already involved in teaching, the Centre provides advanced activities that produce a deeper knowledge, focusing on research or discussion in the classroom, and improving the students’ skills in Spanish language for them to become responsive in any communicational situations.
Free translator service
The Automatic Translator Service of the Cervantes Institute, "Portal de las Tecnologías Lingüisticas en España", was launched by the Cervantes Institute on 10 January 2005.
It is a free service of machine translation sponsored by Telefónica. Since its launch, demand has steadily increased monthly to 55%,
and it has performed more than 582,000 free translations.
The Cervantes Institute's purpose in creating this service was to facilitate the access of Spanish to those
information technology contents developed in other languages, and so people who speak other languages can have access to contents that are only available in Spanish.
This service permits translation of texts and text files, as well as web pages, from Spanish to Catalan, French, Galician, English or Portuguese and vice versa.
The pairs of language percentages used are as follows: English–Spanish, 23.47% of the total; Spanish–Catalan, 21.12%; Spanish–English, 13.64%; Portuguese–Spanish, 12.63%; Spanish–Portuguese, 10.39%; Catalan–Spanish, 6.48%; Spanish–French, 6.24%, and French–Spanish, 6.03%.
Publications
Since 1998, the Instituto Cervantes has published the annual ''El español en el mundo'' highlighting the state of Spanish in the world, and current trends. The Instituto has also run the
Internet-based Centro Virtual Cervantes since 1997.
Recognition
In 2005, along with the
Alliance française, the
Società Dante Alighieri, the
British Council, the
Goethe-Institut
The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...
, and the
Instituto Camões, the Instituto Cervantes was awarded the
Prince of Asturias Award for outstanding achievements in communications and humanities.
Locations

The Instituto Cervantes has developed its educational project on a system of local institutions and centres:
# Centros Cervantes (full-fledged centres)
# Aulas Cervantes (smaller "lecture halls")
# Network of Centros Acreditados and Centros Asociados
A representative list follows, the most recent and complete list can be found a
www.cervantes.es
*Centros Cervantes
**
Africa
*** (
Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
,
Oran
Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...
)
*** (
Cairo,
Alexandria)
*** (
Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
,
Fes
Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the second largest city in Morocco, with a population of 1.11 mi ...
,
Rabat
Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...
,
Tangier,
Tétouan,
Marrakesh
Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...
)
*** (
Tunis)
**
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
*** (
Rio de Janeiro,
São Paulo,
Brasília,
Salvador
Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to:
* Salvador (name)
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
*Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music
** ''Salvador'' ( ...
,
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...
,
Porto Alegre,
Recife,
Curitiba)
*** (
Albuquerque,
Boston –
Boston University,
Chicago,
Los Angeles,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
,
Seattle –
University of Washington)
**
Asia
*** (
Beijing,
Shanghai)
*** (
New Delhi)
*** (
Tokyo)
*** (
Manila,
Makati)
*** (
Seoul)
**
Europe
*** (
Vienna)
*** (
Brussels)
*** (
Sofia)
*** (
Prague)
*** (
Bordeaux,
Lyon,
Paris,
Toulouse)
*** (
Berlin,
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
,
Frankfurt am Main,
Hamburg,
Munich)
*** (
Athens) – the original Athens Cervantes Institute opened in 1992; in March 2010, Greek-born
Queen Sofía of Spain
Sofía of Greece and Denmark ( el, Σοφία; born 2 November 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who was List of Spanish royal consorts, Queen of Spain from 1975 to 2014 as the wife of King Juan Carlos I. She is the first child of ...
opened its new building.
*** (
Budapest)
*** (
Dublin) –
*** (
Milan,
Naples,
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
,
Rome)
*** (
Utrecht)
*** (
Warsaw,
Kraków)
*** (
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
)
*** (
Bucharest)
*** (
Moscow)
*** (
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
)
*** (
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
)
*** (
Leeds,
London,
Manchester)
**
Middle East
*** (
Nicosia
Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...
)
*** (
Tel Aviv)
*** (
Amman
Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...
)
*** (
Beirut,
Kaslik,
Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
*Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in t ...
)
*** (
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
)
*** (
Istanbul)
**
Oceania
*** (
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
–
Instituto Cervantes Sydney
The Instituto Cervantes in Sydney, Australia is a branch of the Instituto Cervantes, the institution created by Spain in 1991.
The Instituto Cervantes in Sydney is also the Spanish Cultural Centre. It was inaugurated by the King and Queen of Spa ...
)
*Aulas Cervantes
**
Africa
*** (
Annaba,
Tlemcen)
*** (
Nador)
**
Asia
*** (
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
)
*** (
Kuala Lumpur)
*** (
Hanoi)
**
Europe
*** (
Sofia)
*** (
Zagreb)
*** (
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...
)
*** (
Liubliana)
*Centros Acreditados
**
**
Asia
***
***
*Centros Asociados
**
Europe
*** (
Cork) – see
University College Cork, Department of Hispanic Studies
See also
* Alliance française
* British Council
* Cultural diplomacy
Cultural diplomacy is a type of public diplomacy and soft power that includes the "exchange of ideas, information, art, language and other aspects of culture among nations and their peoples in order to foster mutual understanding". The purpose ...
* Dante Alighieri Society
The Dante Alighieri Society ( Italian: ''Società Dante Alighieri'') is a society that promotes Italian culture and language around the world. Today this society is present in more than 60 countries.
It was formed in Italy in July 1889. The ...
* Dutch Language Union (Taalunie)
* Goethe-Institut
The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...
* Hispanism
Hispanism (sometimes referred to as Hispanic studies or Spanish studies) is the study of the literature and culture of the Spanish-speaking world, principally that of Spain and Hispanic America. It can also entail studying Spanish language and ...
* Instituto Camões
* Miguel de Cervantes Prize
* Panhispanism
* Public diplomacy
In international relations, public diplomacy or people's diplomacy, broadly speaking, is any of the various government-sponsored efforts aimed at communicating directly with foreign publics to establish a dialogue designed to inform and influen ...
* Queen Sofía Spanish Institute
* Viva Festival
References
External links
*
Cervantes Institute on ''Encyclopædia Britannica''
''Spanish and Empire''
Journals
'' A review of Centro Virtual Cervantes''
{{Authority control
1991 establishments in Spain
Cultural promotion organizations
Miguel de Cervantes
Non-profit organisations based in Spain
Spanish culture
Spanish-language education
Organizations established in 1991
Calle de Alcalá