Nicolás Unanue, worker of the automation department of Fagor Arrasate in Markina (Bizkaia), was selected as an Basque by the Basque company. His job was to speak in Basque for two months to all the staff of the department. He is pleased to have participated in the Eusle method: “The system is very simple, it has no sophistication. We often talk too much and do nothing. The dynamic is pretty and short. In a couple of months it gives you the opportunity to know how you are. Among us, a good atmosphere was created, ‘if you fail to bring lunch’, we have been in that tone.” But not everything is that easy. “We use a lot of technical words and you start talking and oyster! we are changing’, and again we have to translate it into Euskera. Sometimes it gets hard, but you just have to get used to it.” The department of automatism, with the excuse of participating in the Eusle method, is about to make a meal; a sign that it has been a very good experience.

They have been assisted by the Emun consultant, Josune Urbieta. In their view, they were desiring to participate in such an experience. They realized that the company reviewed the objectives corresponding to the Basque country and increased the tendency to do so in Spanish, especially when it came to technical issues. There are 15 workers who work in the area of automation, all of them are Euskaldunes, except one who does not speak but who understands it well. In the first month they had three tenants and in the second, three more. Two questions were asked each week to the participating workers: Does Eusle comply with the standard, that is, always does it in Euskera? And will we continue with the experience? The results of the use of Euskera among the workers were as follows: Before participating in the Eusle method, the use was 71.5%. After two months of experience, it rose to 83% and after three months of rest, to 80%. After a good evaluation of the 2014 edition, it is taking place in the second edition since September 2015, this time in a period of five months. Soon they will end at once.

From skepticism to illusion in JMA

Oihana Garcia, advisor to Elhuyar, was the partner of the company JMA in Arrasate. The company manufactures keys and García himself says that they sought the keys for the Basque country to be more used. 15 years since the Basque plan was launched. 10% of workers do not know Euskera, 40% to 45% use, and 63% use Euskaldunes. They said yes to the possibility of using the Basque method, but they had many doubts, as they made many other efforts and the results were not always the desired. After two months of attempts, “the results began to arrive, and as the results arrived, the environment began to warm up. We go from skepticism to illusion.” Instead of two months, the execution period was ten months and all but one of them alternately exercised the support function. The evolution of use is as follows: 74% in February 2013, 85% in May, 88% in July and 87% in December 2013. After the end of the intervention, in November 2015 the use of the Basque Country stood at 86%.

Only one of the workers was the one who did not perform Eusle tasks, since he did not want because in his opinion the level of Euskera is low. Oihana Garcia admits that the work of Eusle was not taken, but in practice it was she who managed to maintain the Basque country. Although in years before the Eusle method did not make the leap to the Basque, this time the worker has made a change. He is Jesús Santa Cristina, director of the quality department and we have asked him about the intervention of Eusle: “I’m happy. My mother tongue is not Basque, I do not use it so much on a daily basis and it has been a very positive experience. More and more is being talked about in Basque in the quality department and in the technical office, and this project has been a boost. I don't do everything in Basque, it's hard for me, but I'm going slowly. The project is over and we have taken some customs to do it in Basque.” He says that it is difficult to use the technical dictionary in Basque, but that it is more difficult to change habits: “If you’re excited about labor issues, you get started by the genius and you drop into Spanish, at least I do.” We asked him what attitude the workers who work easily in Euskera have had with him, to see if they spoke to him in Euskera: “I have had a lot of help, I have had patience, I have repeated things, I have corrected mistakes. They have made everything available to me. It’s been a great opportunity for me.”

The consultant Oihana García, at the end of the intervention, has highlighted some of the assessments made by the workers. An employee said he thought he was speaking in Basque with everybody, and he realized that he wasn't. It has changed the chip and it realizes more of who and where it does it in Basque or Spanish. One of those who did the work of Eusle commented that it was difficult for him to speak in Basque about the work, since until then he had studied in Spanish and worked in Spanish. Another person who has changed the most has been talking in Basque with people who had not previously expressed themselves in Basque. In the opinion of García, the biggest change was that of Jesús Santa Cristina, who had the lowest level of Euskera, who went from not talking in Euskera to being Basque in practice.