I have experienced two very different linguistic experiences in two southern peoples in recent weeks. One at a conference organized by a public institution of a Basque people and another at a school assembly. If we were at the conference more than 80 people, I would say that 90% were Basque or understood by Basque; there was a presenter, also a Basque, and the rapporteurs were Catalan speakers. It was known that the talk was not going to be in Basque, but I did not expect the presentation to be bilingual, much more in Spanish than in Basque.

At the meeting I referred to, we were about 40 people, a lot of them who did not understand in Basque, and the assembly was held entirely in Basque, offering simultaneous translation into Spanish. A congressman performed the translation using a mobile application.

About fifteen years ago I saw at an Itsasu conference using a very simple, portable tool for simultaneous translation. I was surprised by their simplicity. He knew simultaneous translations, had long been used in meetings of various municipalities or in prestigious conferences, but there were always complex and, of course, expensive tools.

Lapurdi's tool, prepared by the group of Basque farmers organizing the conference, was a small suitcase, a terrace for use. It seemed like an unbeatable opportunity to bring.

It is enough for the city council or a community with economic resources to buy an artifact of this kind (they are not expensive) and offer free to citizens to channel their initiatives in Basque. And in the absence of suitcases, it's also possible using mobile phones.

Its advantages are spectacular. First of all, this community or people tells those who do not understand Euskera as a preferred language and, therefore, it is important to learn; it also offers a natural space to learn and practice what they have learned, to improve the level of understanding; another practical advantage is saving time, knowing how meetings are prolonged in bilingual and how boring and absurd they become absurd; it is much more comfortable for everyone, although I have not seen it. But for once, it's not bad that you feel uncomfortable in the hegemonic language, right? And the most fascinating thing is to see in the areas where there has been progress at least at the level of understanding (and there are many in Euskal Herria), how few people need a headset and, therefore, how many opportunities we lose all those initiatives in Spanish or, at best, bilingual or sasi-ele.

Someone can say they have some obstacles, like having to put a translator in. Yes, I do not yet believe that the technology of simultaneous translation without translators has been invented (perhaps not far), but there are many people in our country, besides professionals, able to translate a meeting or assembly from the Basque to Spanish. Someone will talk about it being expensive. Yes, it may be, but this time it is not because you have to translate these Basque hairs, but because in a community that wants to live in Basque some do not understand in Basque what causes disadvantages. Because who generates expenditure, who knows the two languages or who does not understand one of them?

And yet, how is it costing us so much to organize in Basque meetings, assemblies, events, etc.? Why do we say some reticence to Euskera? What scares us?