Luisa Fernanda Garrido Ramos is the first director of the Insituto Cervantes in Bulgaria. She has been in the country since autumn 2005, to prepare for the cultural centre’s opening on February 10 2006, in the presence of Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Spain, and Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov, among others.
A translator by profession, she was born in Madrid in 1959 and obtained her degree in geography and history, specialising in medieval history of the Balkans, from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. In 2005, she received the National Award for Translation for her version of Serbian writer Aleksandar Tisma’s novel Kapo. Garrido is considered one of the few Spanish experts in Slavic literature. Her first contact with Bulgaria came in 1981, while a student in Madrid.
What is your role at the Cervantes Institute? How do you work to realise the institute’s goals?
I am the director of the Instituto Cervantes and lead a team of outstanding Spanish and Bulgarian professionals. We are all very enthusiastic about the work we are doing promoting the Spanish language and culture. The possibility to learn all the time is one of the most appreciated values for us.
The Instituto Cervantes is a part of the embassy of the Kingdom of Spain and in that sense, we rely on the invaluable support of the ambassador, Fernando Arias, as well as all the members of the embassy with whom we work to carry out our task successfully.
You studied Balkan medieval history. Could it be said that the Balkans were part of the Middle Ages? This was my major as well – medieval history – but the Balkans were only mentioned very rarely, mostly related to Serbia, or as a route of the Crusades. Does having studied that help you look at/understand the present situation here? Also, are there any Spanish influences in Bulgaria now that are a remnant of the Middle Ages?
I was born in Madrid in a family related to the books, the second girl of three brothers and sisters and we all learned to read and write at home, before starting school. When, as a child, I started thinking about what to do when grown up, I decided that I wanted to be a ballet dancer or an historian, and finally history won and led me to language studies. Now I believe that these fields, history and philology, complement each other very well.
You asked me why I chose history of the Balkans. Well, when I studied at the faculty, Eastern European history was studied in a very superficial way. This is why when I had to specialise, I decided to get in-depth knowledge in an area that was unknown to me and which, however, was essential to understanding the sociocultural changes in Europe. Because of their geographic situation in the south of Europe, the Balkans seemed to me a very interesting area, a crossroads that united various civilisations.
To carry out my position as director of the Cervantes Institute, it helps that I had already had valuable experience in the area of cultural management and language learning, since my profession is translator of literature. It turned out that 2005 was a very important year for me. First of all, I was nominated director of the Instituto Cervantes in Sofia and that gave me the opportunity to do a fantastic work, and second, once in Sofia, I received the news that I had won the National Award for Translation, the most important one in Spain in that field.
In Madrid I had studied medieval history, specialising in medieval history of the Balkans, with the support of some Bulgarian professors, such as Bistra Cvetkova. To get a better understanding of the history, I started studying Slavic languages, where I received the assistance of a fantastic professor, Nedka Garibova. Later on I studied Yugoslav languages and literature in the University of Zagreb (Croatia) and this is how I ended up specialising in translation.
It is doubtless that knowing the development of the history of the region helps a lot to understand the situation in the country. Historian Arnold J Toynbee used to say that to understand the present, it is necessary to know the past, and the past of Bulgaria is very rich. Travelling around the country and seeing the remains of so many cultures that have marked the European civilisation to which we belong is a real pleasure.
There are numerous language schools and teachers offering private lessons around the country, many of whom have lived in Spain. Why would someone choose to learn Spanish at the Instituto Cervantes instead of elsewhere?
Because at the Instituto Cervantes, Spanish language teaching is done according to an extensive programme of courses that try to adapt to the specific needs of the geographic, linguistic and sociocultural areas where the instituto has its centres, and during the past decade in particular, by applying state-of-the-art information and communication technologies.
In order to be able to give lessons following the specific methodology of the Instituto Cervantes, teachers receive special training of the highest level and work constantly to keep their knowledge up-to-date.
The prestige of the Instituto Cervantes validates that the certificates it issues are important documents certifying their holder’s knowledge of the Spanish language, which often is essential to improve professional opportunities. We should not forget that Spanish is a language of communication, a language of dialogue and a language that is an important working tool.
This is why there are more and more people interested in getting a Diploma in Spanish as a Foreign Language, the so-called DELE, which is recognised worldwide. The Instituto Cervantes organises the exams and also offers courses to prepare the candidates to pass them. It is due to the importance of DELE that we intend to set up exam centres around Bulgaria. The first exam centre for DELE that we opened in Bulgaria outside Sofia is in Varna at the FJ Curie College; in the years to come, we hope to be able to open more centres in other cities.
What other type of activities does the institute offer?
Its excellent facilities for teaching activity are supported by many other activities that make possible the practice of Spanish and direct contact with native speakers of this language. For example, we have a library that is updated every year and is connected in a network with the rest of the libraries of all the Instituto Cervantes around the world, which means that our users have access to more than 700 000 volumes.
Our conference hall with its capacity for 90 people has the latest technical equipment such as a simultaneous interpretation booth, a screen, cinema projector or a videoconference. The institute organises numerous cultural activities, among which the literature evenings and conferences are always attended by many people interested in our culture.
All those activities are presented both in Spanish and Bulgarian because we would like to get closer to Bulgarian people and make them get closer to us. For this reason we always try to gather together Spanish and Bulgarian writers, scientists or researchers, so that they can exchange their experiences and support each other within the framework of a mutual cooperation. It is worth mentioning some of those cultural events such as The Spanish-Bulgarian Scientific Meetings between famous Spanish and Bulgarian palaeontologists, or The International Polar Year with the participation of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute.
We give special importance to the exhibitions that take place in our exhibition hall where the Bulgarian public has the possibility to see the latest trends in the Spanish plastic arts.
Many people have confirmed that we have become a point of reference in terms of modern art in Sofia, and we have observed the ever growing interest in our contribution in the intellectual area. It is important to point out that the Instituto Cervantes is a house open to the public, a house full of light, and we are happy to know that Bulgarians like it very much.
Spain is reported to be the third destination of choice for Bulgarian immigrants after the US and the UK. What type of Bulgarian community is there?
There is a big Bulgarian community spread around Spain. In Madrid, more than a year ago the Spanish-Bulgarian Centre was created, supported by the Community of Madrid. The head of the department of communication and external relations is Guergana Tsenova, a great professional who is as enthusiastic about her work as we are.
What does Spain’s National Day mean to you? What significance does it hold?
October 12, Spain’s National Day, or as we call it “El d?a de la Hispanidad”, is very important to me. This is the day we celebrate the exchange of ideas and feelings between the continents united by one language, a multiple exchange between many countries, a day when we celebrate the diversity that we all share by expressing ourselves in the same language, while this language offers its own characteristics in every single country.
It is really nice to share this holiday having in common the language spoken by more than 400 million people, to feel this link that unites us through the ocean and makes it possible for Spain in the European continent to become a bridge that promotes dialogue between Europe and America.
