Real Academia Española institutional initiatives

The Real Academia Española (RAE) has undertaken several major linguistic initiatives. In early October, the organization announced the creation of a new Ibero-American Network during a convention in Argentina. This network, formalized through the La Plata Declaration, seeks to unite Spanish and Portuguese-speaking institutions to improve communication accessibility in sectors such as justice, health, and science.

Later in the month, the RAE unveiled the 24th edition of its Dictionary of the Spanish Language (DLE). Developed over 12 years in collaboration with the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language (ASALE), this edition includes nearly 100,000 entries. The update incorporates over 6,000 new terms, including modern words like “influencer” and “metaverso,” while increasing the representation of regional Americanisms.

Director Santiago Muñoz Machado described this edition as the first “native digital” dictionary, noting it was constructed from a digital database rather than the reverse. The update features 99,990 articles and approximately 209,000 definitions. New vocabulary reflects contemporary social, technological, and environmental shifts, adding terms such as “pódcast,” “gordofobia,” “ecoansiedad,” and “inteligencia artificial.” The edition also features an increased presence of regional terms, such as “chepibe” from Argentina, “guámbito” from Colombia, “cocotaxi” from Cuba, and “motoconcho” from the Dominican Republic. The presentation, attended by directors from 23 academies, included a minute of silence for victims of a recent railway accident in Urda, Toledo.