Is Basque language use diminishing?
Hello!
Is the use of Basque as a natural language diminishing?
By that I mean as a language you use in a natural way in everyday life, not something you learn at school yet not use colloquially.
By the way, is it Euskara or Euskera or Eskuara or Eüskara???
Thank you!
Ian
PS: Podís también responder en castellano, francés, o alemán. =)
What does Podís mean?
I think that the usage of Basque remains the same.
Podís means "you can". The infinitive is "poder". =)
It's a form of voseo used, among others, in Chile.
Ian,
Let's see, Ian. You have Indonesian, Portuguese, Russian, some Spanish and English, right? Have you looked at the tape of Ziad Fazah on the Chilean talk show?
There is also a conversation with him that you can access at the end. He's the Guinness Book of World Records Record holder for most languages or something like that.
He speaks and teaches Indonesian, I think.
Right up your alley, right?
@K. T.
Wow. I haven't seen him yet. Amazing.
Btw, I'm fluent only in three languages: Indonesian, English, and German.
My Spanish is okay.
In Portuguese I have a certain passive knowledge, and my Russian is not that good at all.
I'll look for Ziad Fazah's tape. =)
Now anybody knows the situation of Basque? =)
It's on the thread about the Polyglot on this page.
I guess I misunderstood something you wrote comparing Portuguese and Russian, my bad.
What does fluency mean to you?
@ K. T.
Fluent basically means flowing.
I can only speak those three languages fluently, without thinking much.
<<Now anybody knows the situation of Basque? >>
Basque is not important around here (northeast US) compared to English and Spanish, but the situation may be different over in Europe.
<< Basque is not important around here (northeast US) compared to English and Spanish >>
Thank you captain obvious.
IMO small isolated languages (like Basque) that are surrounded by larger, popular languages (like Spanish and French), will gradually diminish as time goes on, especially in the world that we are living in now. I'm sure most people in Basque speak other languages that are more useful and this will only increase in time.
¿Creen ustedes que es posible que un español aprenda el idioma vasco? Es bastante distinto a los idiomas indoeuropeos por eso quizá sea imposible. También he oído que a los vascos no les gusta asociar con los españoles, que los consideran opresivos.
<< Querido Ian por qué no aprendes mejor el castellano antes de usar esas formas verbales tan raras como podis? >>
Can't we just delete this idiot's posts? I'm sick of them.
<< ¿Creen ustedes que es posible que un español aprenda el idioma vasco? Es bastante distinto a los idiomas indoeuropeos por eso quizá sea imposible. >>
Creo que es más difícil que un americano aprenda japonés que un español aprenda el idioma vasco. Y todavía lo intento...
Pues, el japonés sería bien fácil si no fuese por los puñeteros jeroglíficos... Pero igual me gusta euskera, me encanta que hay tantos consonantes.
tantos consonantes. TantAS consonantes These English speaking people will never learn the gender of nouns
<< ¿Creen ustedes que es posible que un español aprenda el idioma vasco? Es bastante distinto a los idiomas indoeuropeos por eso quizá sea imposible. >>
"Creo que es más difícil que un americano aprenda japonés que un español aprenda el idioma vasco. Y todavía lo intento..."
No creo que los espanoles sean mas tontos que los americanos... Si un americano puede aprender japonés, por qué los espanoles no podrian aprender el idioma vasco?