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 Language Learning Forum : Multilingual Lounge |  | |
| sjheiss Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5686 days ago 100 posts - 174 votes  Speaks: English*, Basque | Message 1 of 14 21 September 2012 at 1:44pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Is anyone here interested in learning Basque?
I have been learning Basque for about two years, and I would say that I have reached basic fluency in it. I am willing to help anyone that is interested in learning it. :) Ask me any question about Basque, and I'll do my best to answer it. I hadn't been using much lately, and was starting to forget it, so now I'm trying to use it a lot more - for example, writing my posts bilingually. I speak mainly Batua, with some Gipuzkoan elements mixed in, for your information. Fun fact: the color I use for Basque is the exact same green used in the Basque flag. :D Euskara ikasiko lukeen inor dago hemen? Bi urte dira nik euskara ikasten dudala, eta oinarrizko hitzetorria lortu dudala esango nuke. Euskara ikasiko lukeen inori laguntza emango nuke. :) Galdetu edozein galdera eta zazpi ahalegin egingo dut zuen galderei eranzteko. Azken boladan ez nuen erabiltzen eta ahanzten hasten nuen, beraz, orain askoz gehiago erabiltzen saiatzen ari naiz - adibidez, nere mezuak bi hizkuntzez idatziz. Nagusian Batua mintzatzen dut, gipuzkerako elementuekin nahastuz, zuri jakinarazteko Egia dibertigarria: euskaraz erabiltzen dudan kolorea da Ikurrinean aurkitzen duzun berbera. :D Edited by sjheiss on 21 September 2012 at 1:54pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| lukbe Triglot Newbie Spain Joined 4437 days ago 6 posts - 12 votes Speaks: Basque, Spanish*, EnglishC1 Studies: Cantonese, Mandarin | Message 2 of 14 04 October 2012 at 9:36am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Kaixo!
Ni euskalduna(Donstiarra) naiz! Oso arraroa iruditzen zait edozein atzerritarrek euskara ikastea! Zer dela eta ikasi duzu euskara? Benetan arraroa da, hare gehiago gaztelaniaz hitzegiten ez badakizu! Esan behar dut zure euskera oso ona dela; badaukazu zenbait akats txiki, baina ez dago arazorik zu ulertzeko. Nire euskera orain ez da oso ona, azken bost urteotan ez dudalako ia erabili. Guzti guztia ulertzen dut, baina hitzegiterakoan eta idazterakoan kostatzen zait. Hala ere, laguntza nahi baduzu, edo edozein kezka baduzu, eskatu nazakezu. Beti uste izan dut Euskara munduko hizkuntzetatik ikasteko zailenetakoa izan behar dela; hori dela eta, zoriondu behar zaitut maila hain ona lortzeagatik! Hi! I'm Basque (from San Sebastian)! It seems strange to me for any foreigner to learn Basque. Why did you learn Basque? It's really strange, even more strange if you can't speak Spanish!. I have to say that your Basque is very good; you do have some small mistakes, but there's no problem in understanding you. My Basque is not very good now, because I have barely used it for five years. I understand absolutely everything, but I find it hard to speak and write it. Anyway, if you need any help or have any questions, you may ask me. I've always thought that Basque was one of the most difficult languages in the world; therefore I need to congratulate you for achieving such a good level! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| sjheiss Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5686 days ago 100 posts - 174 votes Speaks: English*, Basque | Message 3 of 14 04 October 2012 at 8:25pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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It makes me very happy to hear that a native speaker of Basque can understand me well. :) Thank you very much. Could you correct my errors, please? I would love to know what I did wrong.
I have been learning Basque because I just fell in love with the Basque culture and language! Oso pozten nau entzuteko euskaraz ama-hizkuntza bezela hitz egiten daukan pertsona ongi ulertzen nazake. :) Mila esker. Nere akatsak zuzenduko ditzakezu, mesedez? Jakitea oso atsegin dut zertan huts egin dudan. Euskara ikasi nuen soilik nik euskal kultura eta hizkuntzarekin maitemindu nuelako! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| lukbe Triglot Newbie Spain Joined 4437 days ago 6 posts - 12 votes Speaks: Basque, Spanish*, EnglishC1 Studies: Cantonese, Mandarin | Message 4 of 14 05 October 2012 at 12:04am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Zure akatsaz zuzentzen saiatuko naiz, baina mesedez gogoratu nire euskera pixkat oxidatuta dagoela.
I'll try to correct your mistakes, but please remember that my Basque is a bit rusty. Some of them will be suggestions rather than corrections (meaning there's no grammar mistake, but can be made to sound more natural).
"Ba al dago hemen euskara ikasi nahiko lukeen inor?" Sounds best to me. That's saying who would like to learn, instead of just, "who would learn". At any rate, I would certain put "al" before "dago" to make clear that it's a yes/no question.
"Bi urte dira euskara ikasten ari naizela,..." Not sure why but sounds better. "Galdetu edozein galdera" -> "Edozer galdetu itzazue" To avoid repetition. "zazpi ahalegin egingo ditut" -> It's the first time I hear this expression, but it would certainly be "ditut", not "dut". "eranzteko" -> "erantzuteko". "Eranzteko" comes from the verb "erantzi" which means to remove (as in remove clothing).
"Azken boladan" -> very good idiomatic usage ;) "Azken boladan ez dut asko erabili eta ahazten hasi nuen," "...nire mezuak bi hizkuntzetan idatziz.": "nere" is from Gipuzkoa dialect (which is fine), just saying Batua would be "nire". To write in two languages: "bi hizkuntzetan idatzi".
"Nagusiki Batuan [mintzatzen naiz]/[hitzegiten dut]" not mintzatzen dut. "zuri jakinarazteko" -> sounds very very strange. Maybe... "zuek jakin ezazuten".
Asko pozten nau euskaldun natiboa (this is much simpler than what you tried to write, yet means the same, in any case it would be "duen" instead of "daukan") ni ongi ulertu ahal izateak. "Nire akatsak zuzendu al ditzakezu" "Asko gustatuko litzaidake zertan huts egin dudan jakitea." "Euskara soilik kulturaz eta hizkuntzaz maitemindu nintzelako ikasten aritu naiz!" -- Orduan, Euskadin izan zarela suposatzen dut, ez al da horrela? Horrela bada, non? Nola ikasi zenuen, edo ikasten ari zara, euskera? Zenbat ulertzen duzu? Adibidez, euskaraz irratia ulertu al dezakezu? 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| hribecek Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5351 days ago 1243 posts - 1458 votes Speaks: English*, Czech, Spanish Studies: Italian, Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Toki Pona, Russian | Message 5 of 14 05 October 2012 at 2:59pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
I don't speak Basque but I am very interested in it, so I have some questions for you or anybody else that knows the answers. 1) What's the hardest thing for you to get to grips with in Basque? 2) What's the mutual intelligibility like between the different dialects? 3) How interested are young people (Basques) in the language these days? 4) How many Basques (more or less) speak Basque better than Spanish? 5) What do you think the strangest features of the language are for an English speaker? Thanks in advance! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5383 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 6 of 14 05 October 2012 at 4:12pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Apart from hribecek's excellent questions, I wonder what kind of opportunity you have, if any, to use the language orally. It must be hard to find speakers, even on Skype, so what do you do?
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| lukbe Triglot Newbie Spain Joined 4437 days ago 6 posts - 12 votes Speaks: Basque, Spanish*, EnglishC1 Studies: Cantonese, Mandarin | Message 7 of 14 05 October 2012 at 4:37pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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As far as I know, the mutual intelligibility between dialects varies a lot, but I'm pretty sure I would have problems with many of the dialects. The standard language is strongly based on the Guipuzcoan dialect, so there is virtually no problem in understanding one knowing the other. As for other dialects, I do remember a particular occasion as a kid when in Bizkaia, a couple talked to me in their dialect and with strong accent so I could barely understand anything. Dialect usage is more widespread in the smaller towns (as children inherit their language from their family), whereas in the capitals everyone speaking Basque will tend to speak in the standard language (as in the bigger cities people will usually learn Basque mostly at school, not that many parents speak the language: mine don't). The main differences between dialects are, I think, in the verb conjugations, and in some pronunciations.
Interest among young people vary greatly from region to region. I think Gipuzkoa is the province where the language is strongest. The main reason why my Basque is so rusty is that in my social circles, Basque is barely spoken. But I know there are many young people in my city who socialise in Basque as much as they can. One of the tendencies among the young people, though, is an increase in code switching, where a great deal of Spanish words and phrases are introduced in colloquial speech. Again, I would say the majority of Basque people are more comfortable with Spanish. For sure, in the bigger cities, it's like this for most of the people, and a big part of the population can't even speak Basque at all. However, in the rural areas many people use Basque as their main language, and there are even a number of people who are not comfortable at all speaking Spanish. I'm guessing that all the conjugations and inflections are what make it strangest, plus the word order may be confusing as well. I feel extremely lucky that I don't have to learn it as an adult! Luckily, I developed a great degree of automaticity, where I try to find the correct grammar usage from "how it sounds" rather than from any particular rule. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4641 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 8 of 14 05 October 2012 at 6:01pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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I don't know Basque, but at one point I did have a look at it from a more theoretical, linguistic point of view. I remember that one big difference compared to Germanic or Romance languages is that it is an "ergative-absolutive" language. It means that a subject will be in the absolutive case with an intransitive verb, but with a transitive verb the subject will be in the ergative case and the object in the absolutive case. Basque has a number of other cases and a system of postpositions.
The verb system is also very complex, and is unusual compared to most Indoeuropean languages in that very few verbs can be conjugated, most only have infinite forms, which are used in combination with auxiliary verbs to form compund finite forms. A lot more could be said, but those who are interested can find detailed descriptions of the grammar on Wikipedia. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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