When I started my BA in Basque Studies I did not have a speaker community. Of course, as a Basque speaker, I belonged to the community in a passive way, however, I never found people I could speak Basque to. At college, I met people from all around the Southern Basque Country who shared the same passion as me and that was the first time I felt like I could belong to the community. The BA not only introduced me to linguistics, but it also provided me a (lovely) Basque-speaking group of friends, which seemed impossible before.💖
Today, after many years, we met as we tend to do every Summer. We all come from very different linguistic backgrounds, which makes our friendship special and VERY necessary. Some of them come from highly Basque speaking towns or families, whereas others (we) do not. All of them (but one) are Basque high school teachers now, and some have been shocked with the terrible attitude that students from Spanish-speaking towns have towards Basque. Obviously, the ideal workplace would be a high school in the middle of the map, where Basque is the Queen. Nevertheless, some had to experience working with students who thought Basque was useless or just hated it. Well, welcome to the ugly side of the BC. ⛈️
We always meet in a different point. Whenever we meet, I feel extremely powerful, because I do not fear to talk in Basque to any bartender, or local. Our presence activates us and whoever surrounds us, which is just an incredible feeling. As I always tell to you all, it is extremely important to find a community that shares your linguistic values and objectives.✨ Having a group you can relate to not only provides you the space to socialize in your minority language(s), but it also makes it possible to be without "linguistic stress" for a second. That is, the anxiety of not knowing in which language you should speak due to the fear of rejection.📝
In short, take care and never stop the fight for yourselves ✊
Do you all have a speaker community close to you?
🫂Eskerrik asko to: @irantzuoiartzabal @leireuntzuetazurmendi @torre97 @sararanburu @hiart__ #Amaia (and @maitedelalamo we missed you 🌺)
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