Personal well-being and languages
A few days ago, before going to the medical review this year, I was sent a questionnaire about my well-being. In recent times they wanted to know if I was nervous or serious, if I was able to control my concerns, if I was humiliated ... In short, I was asked about my emotional well-being. All this in Spanish, as if the use of one language or another did not affect my well-being.
In companies, it is also becoming more and more frequent to observe people's well-being and make interventions in this regard. We are experiencing an era of crisis and uncertainty, humanitarian emergencies and many social and labour conflicts. Many times we are not able to look in the medium and long term, we don't know what brings us to the nearest future, because what we consider safe can vary from moment to moment. All this affects our well-being.
In our case, the Basque Institute of Competitiveness Orkestra and the Basque Laboratory of Civismo Telesforo Monzón have addressed issues such as welfare. In 2022, also in Enpresarean, Basque companies focused on strategies to ensure people’s well-being.
I am very clear that our well-being and the development of the territory must be linked to languages, because without that it is not possible to achieve a habitable, just and sustainable territory.
Recently, in the third cycle of the Elkar Ikasiz talks, organized by the Bai Euskarari Association, welfare in the workplace has been addressed. According to the interlocutors, well-being can be defined in a thousand ways: to do whatever you want wherever you want; to be what you need at every moment; well-being is to achieve balance between all areas of a person’s life. Well-being is a living concept that is constantly created and transformed and that allows us to continue to grow and make our own contributions. Many associate the concept of freedom with freedom, and by moving the concept into the workplace, the freedom to propose ideas, or the possibility of attending a training session, or the possibility of enjoying a holiday day or adapting the hours have to do with welfare. In short, we could say that well-being is our quality of life and the set of all the factors that influence it.
However, the linguistic variable does not usually appear in experts' mouths as a variable that influences well-being. I, however, am very clear that our well-being and territorial development must be linked to languages, because without them it is not possible to achieve a habitable, just and sustainable territory. Surprisingly, it is difficult to find linguistic and cultural variables among the elements considered as welfare factors. If we go to the researchers in this regard, at the CAPV there is a study on the perception of well-being and happiness, of 2022, developed by the Office of Sociological Prospection of the Basque Government. Factors that explain well-being have been analyzed: emotional state, perception of one's own health, perception of control of one's own life, family and social protection, evaluation of the economic situation and evaluation of the environment. EUSTAT also conducts a personal welfare survey and questions to measure satisfaction are related to personal relationships, economic situation, housing, quality of the environment, security, etc. In other words, the relationship between languages and well-being is not usually the object of study and it would be good if the cultural variable and linguistic diversity were integrated into these investigations, since the possibility or not of using a language may have an important influence on the well-being of people. For me, at least, it is an essential variable. Because my well-being is greater when I have the opportunity to comfortably use the language I want in all fields [work].
Rober Gutiérrez, Director of the Bai Euskarari Association
Bidali zure iritzi artikuluak iritzia@argia.eus helbide elektronikora
ARGIAk ez du zertan bat etorri artikuluen edukiarekin. Idatzien gehienezko luzera 4.500 karakterekoa da (espazioak barne). Idazkera aldetik gutxieneko zuzentasun bat beharrezkoa da: batetik, ARGIAk ezin du hartu zuzenketa sakona egiteko lanik; bestetik, egitekotan edukia nahi gabe aldatzeko arriskua dago. ARGIAk azaleko zuzenketak edo moldaketak egingo dizkie artikuluei, behar izanez gero.
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