Celebrating the Spanish language in the global MSIF movement

With over 500 million people across the world who speak Spanish there is an obvious need for access to MS information in Spanish.

Last updated: 22nd December 2021

What’s on this page?

World Spanish Language Day

Spanish is the fourth most spoken language in the world and is the official language of 20 countries.

World Spanish Language Day takes place annually on 23April, the date paying homage to the great Spanish novelist, poet and playwright Don Miguel Cervantes Saavedra, who passed away on 23 April , 1616.

Raising MS awareness in Spanish on World MS Day

World MS Day is marked on May 30. You can start getting ready with the free World MS Day toolkit available in Spanish, Arabic, English, French and Portuguese. There are posters, graphics, and much more… Ready for you to advocate for change across the Spanish-speaking world and further afield, to shine a spotlight on MS. Check out the tools here: https://worldmsday.org/es/herramientas/

In 2020 World MS Day made a splash with the ‘Tune in for MS’ event. The live show featured a very special performance from Latin American star Pablo Milanés. In 2021 stars of the show, the global MS choir who performed ‘Beautiful Day’ for the movement, with verses in English, Spanish and Arabic.

Spanish resources for anyone, anywhere

With over 500 million people across the world who speak Spanish there is an obvious need for access to MS information in Spanish. Organisations across the global MSIF movement produce fantastic resources and MS information in Spanish.

The MS Resource Hub has collated some of these resources to enable other MS organisations see what’s available and help information reach Spanish speaking people with MS in countries where Spanish is not the primary language.

This platform features more than 300 resources from MSIF and our members, and it is a great source for finding information in Spanish and 31 other languages. With more than 90 Spanish resources on the Hub, you can browse a variety of videos, booklets and infographics published and translated by more than ten MSIF member organisations. The resources span across a variety of topics, including healthy living resources such as a guide on ‘MS Yoga & Meditation’ by Esclerosis Multiple Argentina (EMA), and ‘¿Qué le pasa a mamá?’ – a booklet published by Asociación Española de Esclerosis Múltiple to help explain a parents MS to children.

Explore the #MSResourceHub and find out what’s there for you: https://www.msif.org/resources/

Translating information into Spanish for the global MS movement

Although the MSIF website is mainly in English, we also translate sections into Spanish and Arabic. This approach supports our capacity-building programmes in Spanish-speaking countries where MSIF works with around 25 organisations across 20 Latin American countries.

To keep the global MSIF movement up to date with MS organisation news from across the world, the majority of our news is translated into Spanish and Arabic. Keep up with the latest news here: https://www.msif.org/news-and-events/

MSIF member organisations work incredibly hard to translate important information into their language to help make it accessible everywhere. Most recently we have seen the rapid translation of the updated global COVID-19 and vaccine advice translated into Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, Icelandic, Japanese, Portuguese and Serbian. Read the advice here.

We have also seen some excellent collaborations between MS organisations, to translate resources and share information. The Spanish translation of MSIF’s most recent information resource ‘Fatigue: an invisible symptom of MS’ was achieved by EMA and Esclerosis Multiple Uruguay (EMUR) coming together to work on the translation and share this vital information across the Spanish-speaking world. Last year for World MS Day, EMA teamed up again, this time with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of India, translating their ‘Yoga for self-care’ video into Spanish, to raise awareness of self-care techniques for Spanish speaking people with MS.

Translating resources internationally helps MS organisations to build better connections and avoid the duplication of work. If you are a member organisation and come across a resource on the #MSResourceHub that would be useful for your organisation, do not hesitate to get in touch!