Santiago Muñoz Machado (Pozoblanco, Córdoba, 1949) celebrates eight years as director of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE). In December there will be elections in the institution and it could be repeated with a third term. He has revitalized the House. It has resisted attacks inside and outside. He is the first jurist at the helm after Antonio Maura, 100 years ago. Also member of the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and of Moral Sciences. Sagacious, ironic, cautious and powerful, he displays projects, merits, goals and pending debts here. A few weeks ago he published Power and Administrative Law in our time (Iustel publishing house).
At what point is the RAE after a last year of internal and external riots?
I don't know what he says. This is a house that is maintained in terms of remarkable peace and tranquility, in harmony of operation. There are no tensions and there are no conflicts. Another thing is if an academic disagrees with any of the institution's policies. These things usually coincide with the election periods for a vacancy, since there is not always consensus in the election of the new academic. Everyone has their opinions or differences, but most of them are resolved within the Academy plenary session. He who externalizes the disagreement gives the impression of a tension and crisis that does not exist.
The skirmish with the director of the Cervantes Institute.
But that crash was not caused by us. They look at us a lot. They watch us to imitate us and sometimes we make people talk. It's natural.
What prompted this disagreement?
I don't know it. The character who put this together [Luis García Montero] is someone who is very politicized, so some political reason could have existed in his attitude. I don't know more. I don't know the character, I don't know who he is beyond the position he holds. I haven't talked to him for more than two minutes in my life. What we could see is that it was nonsense.
And is there something else behind it?
Don't know. What was visible, I insist, is the nonsense. And in the presence of the King. And in an important act for Spain. If there was someone else behind that matter, I don't know. The truth is that from the Government level, no one asked for calm or came out to correct that. It seemed like a clumsy gesture to me, since this is a solid democratic institution. The succession of the director is not directed from outside. It is the 46 academics who decide.
But there can be some influence, like anywhere.
Maybe, to the extent that we are all human, someone can convince us of something, but not everyone at the same time. Government interference has no chance.
When he comes to the leadership of the RAE, in 2018, the economy of this House is bankrupt.
We had great difficulty paying the workers' salaries at that time. The situation was dramatic. There was no money. We only had very little public help. Traditional sources of income, such as the Dictionary, had dried up. My desire was to revitalize public contribution. For this reason, I let Pedro Sánchez know, when he came to the Government, that the RAE is a State issue. We have nothing better in cultural matters than language and this is the institution that cares for and ensures the unity of the two shores of the Atlantic where Spanish is our link.
Did it help?
A lot. The Government took pity on us and increased the subsidy to what I asked: five million euros. From then on we were able to come back. The pro RAE Foundation was also dying and since management became more effective, the number of patrons and their contributions has increased. We have obtained a reserve fund that we can divide into two parts: the ordinary operating expenses of the Academy, which are met with the General State Budgets, and the projects, which we attend to with the help of the pro RAE Foundation.
And since the rescue?
We have been in a reasonable economic position for eight years.
They almost sank with Mariano Rajoy and recovered their air with Pedro Sánchez.
The thing is that Rajoy never took care of the RAE, even though the director at the time took care to draw his attention.
Does the fact that there are no General State Budgets affect you?
The Government has to approve a decree every year in which it ratifies and re-establishes subsidies to an institution like ours. It is a decree that covers all aid to social or cultural institutions. So it doesn't affect our operation too much, although we charge late.
"It is not true that it is enough for four 'youtubers' to insist on a word for us to register it in the dictionary"
What was the first mission you set as director?
Fulfill my commitment well. And I remember the meeting in Seville, in 2019, of the Association of Spanish Language Academies, which brings together 23 Spanish language corporations between Spain, America, the Philippines and Equatorial Guinea. There we established a statement of possible problems and the issue of AI already appeared. We realized that the RAE must mobilize in the face of a revolution that is inexorable and that cannot be stopped. In the history of humanity, no one has stopped technology. So you had to adapt.
As?
Working so that AI does not destroy the language.
How?
So that speaking machines would not create their own digital dialects capable of establishing intercommunication between them that leaves humans out. And, at the same time, use AI to improve our services. We have achieved both things with the Leia program, which aims to defend, project and good use of the Spanish language in the digital universe. We have spoken with the multinationals that develop AI to make our tools available to them and to train the machines in the proper use of Spanish.
Did they get it?
There is the result so far. The AI uses Spanish correctly. The translations are good. Voice assistants are good. This is the path we must walk.
In recent years the number of female academics has increased, but the imbalance is still great.
We must increase the number of female academics, but we have difficulties in doing so. Difficulties that arise from very specific situations: you have to wait for some to die so that others can enter. But positive discrimination can lead to blatant negative discrimination. You have to be careful. This House has singularities that should be taken into account before launching complaints wrapped in topics such as its alleged machismo.
But there is decompensation.
The history of machismo at the Academy dates back to the end of the 19th century. In which institution were there women then.
That the RAE receives attention is good, also to correct.
Definitely. We feel comfortable with these types of observations and they help us improve. When I say that we are a matter of State, it implies that we also have responsibility in this matter, so go ahead.
"Here we do not persecute anyone nor are we the language police"
Do you think the Academy has street authority?
Yes. And more so in the Spanish-speaking area. Our language is a confederated collective. He can't imagine what it means to travel around America as director of the RAE. Communication with them is now more agile and constant than ever in this House.
In days of polarization and certain hysteria, does language also degrade?
It is true that there is a use of the worst of the language, but I do not think that this can produce a variation with respect to the standardized contents.
Does what some call "cultural war" reach language?
To the extent that there are politicians who perform functions in cultural institutions, the political use of some concepts becomes more noticeable. Language is the main tool of politics, but supervising it in that sense is not our function. Our skills are what they are. We do not have educational powers. It is not up to us to determine why the results of the PISA Report, for example, are so negative. We make reports with our reflections. But that's it. The RAE neither fines nor sanctions. Establish the rules and whoever breaks them will be illiterate. But we are not persecuting anyone nor are we the language police.
But they set the rules for the use of Spanish.
We publish the rules and these are binding for the proper use of the language. That's all.
The debate on inclusive language caused tension in the RAE. At any point did you feel interference from the Government or did you have the feeling of neglecting a reality?
Direct pressure, no.
Hint?
They asked us to say that the Constitution is poorly written because it is masculinist and it had to be rewritten taking into account inclusive language. We answer that it is perfectly well written and, in that sense, there is nothing to touch there. It was a strong pressure on this House, but it did not make a dent. The worst thing a politician can do is set conditions for us. The independence of the RAE is strong.
The language is mutating in the face of digital reality, how is it possible to record with rigor and not in a fashionable way?
The RAE is little follower of fashions. We create corpora, large deposits of words that are also consulted when deciding to include a new word in the Dictionary or for the grammatical variants of a given use in Latin America. We have very complete and updated information on the language. Despite what is said in some newspapers or what some people spread, it is not true that it is enough for four YouTubers to insist on a word for us to register it in the dictionary. We observe them, but they are not a source for us.
At the end of the month they present a new printed edition of the Dictionary. Will the digital evolution be appreciated in the use of the language?
Definitely. Language varies very slowly, but at some moments in history revolutions in words occur. An interesting moment in this sense was the abandonment of the Ancien Regime with the arrival of the French Revolution. The principle of constitutionalism. Many new words appeared that had to be added to the dictionaries: sovereignty, freedom, fraternity... And until the end of the 20th century there has not been a moment like this. Words have appeared that we have had to incorporate because they are in use.
All in Spanish?
Some inevitably in English, without letting the rings fall off. Words that are difficult to translate into Spanish. No problem. Ours is a mixed language. Each year we only include eight or 10 English words. Almost nothing in a dictionary that has 95,000 entries and 189,000 meanings.
In December there are elections in the RAE to choose a director, will he present himself?
I have been director for eight years and before that another three as secretary. I have provided services that are generally valued positively, so I am satisfied. I don't know if there will be candidates for the leadership now, no one has told me, but it is likely. It will be the plenary session that decides. And if he decides that I should continue, I will continue. Although if there are other candidates, I will ask that they not present me.
The name of Juan Luis Cebrián appears.
You'll have to ask him.
How many vacant seats are there in the plenary session?
Now three. We must continue working to strengthen the presence of women and incorporate people with management capacity. At this moment there is no one who can manage this. The Academy, before I arrived, functioned by publishing a dictionary every 12 years and a grammar every 50. Now there are dozens of projects and an American universe to attend to. This House is today a huge cultural institution.
