You've been teaching Euskera here for 21 years in Oion.

But it's not just here. We have the office in Oyón, the Euskaltegi, and in Laguardia too, but there we teach in Euskera where the need is. Look, we do the same number of kilometers from Oyón to Navarra, and from Álava to the depths. From Mendavia to Labastida. Meanwhile, in Viana, Moreda, Oyón, Elvillar, Kripan, Laguardia, Labastida, Navaridas or Logroño.

In Logroño? Who wants to learn Basque there?

The people of Vitoria, of Bilbao, of San Sebastian, and some of them there as well. This is nothing new, even if you have been completely astonished. It is Basque that works outside the Basque Country. Others are Basques in family, raised in Logroño, which are defined as Basques. There are others who want to understand what they say in ETB1 about the pelotari Titín… There are also others who argue that the Basque country is also from Logroño.

Ten years ago Euskera classes were held. One year I had two college students. They did a job in Fontes [Linguae Vasconum] magazine, they analyzed some tombstones that were in Logroño. These were people of unknown or visigothic origin. I remember one of them who asked in school. “Andoni, what is Agirrezar?” It was of unknown origin! They started turning it around and picked up a book by José María San Sebastián Latxaga: The Basque Country in Rioja. The first intention was to build an Etxea Basque. But apparently they did not comply with the minimum standards laid down by the Basque Government. The partners have not become numerous enough, and although they have not become Basque etxea, they have formed an association, Laminiturri, and are working on doing dynamic things: web, exits, talks, Basque classes…

Hence your student quarry in Logroño…

For the past 21 years, there have always been Basque classes in Logroño, or there have been those of Logroño here, or many of the Basques living in Logroño have sent their children to the ikastola. At first, those of the Laminiturri association rented the premises we had in Logroño, but they did not keep it, and they had to go to Oion as before. Later, we had news from the Public University of Logroño. There, among many other things, they taught English and French, and they wanted to offer courses in Galician, Catalan and Basque. They came to us and we started collaborating with them. But we spent a few hours in class, from there very little students came to our usual rhythms. In about five years, they came close to a couple. In the end, we offered a young student with EGA, who was studying as a professor, and so we did. We decided that we needed more benefit and we started talking to the Official School of Languages, because we wanted to secure the learning process also in Logroño. In two words, three years ago a dozen students began to learn Basque and today they are about eight or ten.

Why does Euskera learn Bastida, Lapufog, Oion… Sopela and here are the same reasons?

In Sopela or in Oyón, so how are the same reasons going to be? The Basque was lost in Oyón for many years. There is no one in Rioja Alavesa who has had grandmothers or great-grandmothers from Euskaldunes, if not because it was from I do not know where or because he lived... The Basque Country was lost here many years ago, and it has not been 40 years since they began to recover. I'm talking about "losing." In fact, the Basque toponymy is a lot, the surnames have nothing to say, here Zabala, Gainzarain and the others! Anyone who wants to learn Basque cannot have the same reasons in Oion and Sopela. I don't think so. There, integration, identity, etc. Integration here is not the reason. Identity, on the contrary, is to be taken into account, although in recent years it is being hidden by titles. Whoever is not Euskaltzale will be very small in our Euskaltegi. The need for title, access to work… The instrumental motivation… may be similar here and in Sopela, but, I said, I do not think there is anyone here who is just for the title, or who is against his will; in any case, very little. He who brings his children to the ikastola wants to help them. It will also be out there.

Profile would change over the years.

Since I came here, ten years ago I met the largest number of students: In those years 1995-1996 we were very close to 200 students in the Rioja Alavesa. We had an amazing job of forming groups at different times. On the one hand, the farmers in Villabuena: “In September we can’t, we tend to be full of work. Not in May either. You have to be among them!” “We, in winter from seven to nine, what you want! But in autumn and spring it should be from nine and a half,” others told us. Now it's not like this: after knowing the students' wishes, we set the schedule and people lean towards it. The farmers, to tell the truth, are few. There are more people who think about the title and the linguistic profiles than those who are saying “I want to learn Basque”. Anyway, in the head there's some kind of stimulus, and he's an Euskaltzale student.

The reasons and motivations of the student are the same. And the same ways of teaching teachers?

It cannot be the same, because the motivation of the student is also different. Another reason for the difference in teaching, which has also happened to me in EGA classes: “Who is Sarrionandia? Who was Fernando de Amezketa? Who is Andoni Egaña? Where is Maule? In addition to learning Basque in the classes, we have to introduce the Basque culture, we have to do activities to start loving the Basque. In Sopela, I would like to think that they will live the Basque culture more closely, and that awareness and motivation will require less work than here.

You mentioned earlier the titles of Euskera. Do students come to order degrees in Oion?

A lot of yes. In fact, despite not needing titles, when passing a level, much of the money that has been spent on learning Euskera is returned to the students, and in these times… Due to the demand for qualifications, for example, whoever wants to teach it at the ikastola or at the school will want the EGA. Most are people who study in Magisterium and, above all, intend to do so in the EGA groups. But otherwise, the will for title has increased a lot in society. We also have youth groups from ikastolas and schools. The parents wanted the training process to end with their children's qualifications. In this area, the highest level is achieved by students attending second high school in Lapubs. In the meantime, it is not easy to improve the Basque level they have achieved.

Why not?

Then, many will go to Logroño, to Zaragoza, or they will stop studying. Getting EGA while studying Baccalaureate is a lot to ask, they need more time. So a few years ago, we thought that, instead of just trying last year, we started four years earlier. So we started preparing those interested in getting the title, outside school hours, two hours a week. We started the experience in Lapufoggia, in collaboration with the Euskera professor at ikastola Assa. Outside school hours, two hours a week, working in the Basque Country, enjoying the Basque Country, speaking in the Basque Country… many things in a short time. The groups have been in Lapuzomes and Oion, and the groups in Viana, Labastida and others have also been in Lapuzomes. In total, we have 30 students/year in EGA courses.

Whoever does half of the subjects in Basque will not need any degree, will be “exempt”…

The students brought the news and the question: “Is it true that if we do Magisterium in Basque we do not need the EGA certificate?” We could only say “we will see!”. That is what the decree says, but is it true? Only one-third of the students at the ikastolas who have been preparing with us this level in the last three years have exceeded the level 2 accreditation level. I thought people would go back, they would grab the rumor of that decree and they wouldn't do any courses, but then 27 students have gathered in Lapubs, sixteen in Oion and twelve in the Laguardia institute. They have made us the best propaganda! Decrees, documents, titles… Even when students have asked the professor, “Is it true…?”, the professor replies: “We don’t know yet, but it’s always safer if you have the title in your hand!” And surely the students have come together every Friday to study. Students over 14 years of age, learning to stop.

What is Euskera used in Oyón and Rioja Alavesa?

First of all, it has to be said that the level of knowledge has also increased here, but those who have learned, those who know, young people and young people, do not have the habit of speaking in Basque. Of course, children usually go to the ikastola sent by parents, it's not their choice. What stimulus do these boys and girls have to speak in Basque? When they saw us, the parents approached the child: “Talk to Andoni in Basque, which he knows!” And the boy was embarrassed and mute, with his head gacha. It's hard for that child to value Euskera. Although in the classroom we speak in Basque – in the best of cases – in the patio we will do it in Spanish, and let us not say anything outside school, because parents also do it and parents are the reference of children… Someone will say: “But that’s as a child! That changes when you are young!” I would tell him if he would change, if not worse, fourteen or fifteen years, and where will the young man of Oion, from juerga, go to tie. To Vitoria-Gasteiz, one hour away, or to Logroño, five kilometers away? Where do we adults go to the movies, to the restaurants, to buy? A Logroño! Where he resides in Spanish.

On the right and left is the refrain that is always said: “A lot has been done in these 25 years.”

As far as the quantity is concerned, we have achieved a great deal in 25 years. And I think for the future, we're also going to do a lot. The people who work around the Basque country – the Ttiki-tttaka association, the Basque Advisory Council and the rest – have agreed that the individual will is not enough, that more is needed to reach the bilingualism that society approves, that young people speak in Basque… We are spreading the message: in each sector we have to analyze what to do for the Basque to advance. Certainly, the institutions have to face up to the situation, it is time to take responsibility. But still, many municipalities think that if the ikastola and the Euskaltegi are open, it is enough. The fact that they are open guarantees all the rights of the Basque, that there is nothing else to do… It is a heavy job to change those views. But we have no other choice but to do it: to ask for citizenship, to sensitize the citizens to learn, to organize activities to promote the use of the Basque… Sometimes, when we have to walk like this, we have descent, but when we hear that someone who has learned Euskera with us is speaking in Basque, or when the adult who has committed to speak in Basque to the newborn, or when two young people from the ikastsolaris signed. That's what I want to stick to.