The Statute of Autonomy is 44 years old in December and the Basque language does not move as fast as it was believed. Despite significant progress in education, particularly thanks to the public sector, at the social level it seems that it is falling in the last few years. In order to understand why this is happening, and to resolve it as far as possible, we must highlight the causes that may exist. I am going to launch here some ideas, not because I am an expert on this subject, but because the path and experience I have made from Spanish to Basque can be helpful. And since we are talking about the Basque Country, we cannot ignore the different situations that exist in the three provinces. But above all we have to look at those who are in the worst situation (Bizkaia and Araba). I believe that what is done and can be done is the key to the survival of Euskera.

Euskera is a difficult language. Catalan and Galician are, for example, relatives in Spanish, much easier to learn or at least to understand. Therefore, the first step would be, and would be, to facilitate the Basque country.

To achieve this, it is a great obstacle to want to keep the dialects in the common language, that is, in conversations between friends, as some are engaged. What we need to save is the Basque, not the local dialect. And the same can be said of the Hitan. Both can be maintained between Basque native speakers, but not with those who learn or learn Basque. They can be easily recovered when the majority of the population speaks Basque.

As with any learning, it is easier to learn when you like than when you feel imposed. And I'm not talking about schools and institutes, where all the subjects are imposed, but about the Basque demand for a job. The Basque Country is not lost or won to access certain jobs (also only in the public sphere) for requesting or not the Euskera title, although some, without evidence, do so. Aldrebes is often an instrument of segregation and opposition to the Basque people. How many are those who get the Basque title but rarely use it in their work? We have to be executives.

As tilitis progresses, the Basque Country recovers. And it is not difficult to understand why: the HABE courses are not designed to disseminate the Basque language, but for those who register to obtain the degrees. He turns around one of the classrooms in that organization and asks the people that they learn there, why they are, what and how they teach them… You can soon know what doesn’t work. The institution created by adults to learn Basque has become a filter and many of those who start the courses demoralize them.

A language that is endangered cannot be recovered without taking account of society as a whole. While most efforts have focused on teaching, adults have been forgotten. How will the student be able to use the Basque language if parents and most adults do not know? And how will you get adults to learn Basque if they have to pay a lot for it? Among workers and immigrants, who can pay today more than 300 euros in HABE to learn Basque? And where can most adults get the time to learn Basque?

The results of the tests for obtaining the Basque degree indicate that the number of approved students is very high. It may be a number of causes, but many years ago I went to a conference in Xabier Quintana, where Xabier talked about the effort made to regain his language in Israel. From the data I have mentioned, I have kept in my memory two: one, that the Israelis wagered on a simpler and more common language for all, and two, that those who knew the language had a collaborative attitude with those they did not know, and that, contrary to what is happening here, if someone noticed some error when they heard someone else's speech, he explained how he would have to say it.

We would also need such correctors, that is, those who give more importance to the effort and the desire to learn than to morphological and syntactic cleansing.

Julen Goñi. Former Professor of Philosophy.