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Nabarralde | About Nabarra
Using
the Basque Language
Basque-speakers use
Eskuara (the Basque language) mostly during the day. With the exception
of a few areas in the Basque territories, it is almost impossible to
get by speaking only Basque. However, speaking only French or Spanish
is possible as well as frequent. The Basque-speaker must use French
or Spanish at least in part, not only because of the legal imperative
but also because Eskuara is socially marginized.
An official study in
1991 revealed that approximately half of the Basque-speaking population
speaks Basque more confortably than French or Spanish and the other
half, however, feels more confortable speaking French or Spanish. This
is the result of a greater enforcement of French and Spanish by the
respective governments.
Also, the high frequency
of switching from Basque to French or Spanish is a striking characteristic
among Basque-speakers.
These two factors in
the 1991 study help explain that only half of the Basque-speaking families
(53%) speak Basque at home and that the percentage goes down to 44%
when the Basque-speaker talks to friends, and to 37% when (s)he is in
the work place.
A 1989 study measured
the use of Basque in the streets of Basque towns with a population over
10,000. The study found that only 42% of the Basque-speakers spoke Basque
in the street and the other half or 58% spoke either French or Spanish.
These numbers refer only to Basque-speakers and not to the entire population.
If applied to the whole population, only 7.6% spoke Basque in the streets.
This study was conducted in all the Basque territories.
Many people think that
the trend in Basque is to become a research language and that it will
slowly cease to be a street language or a "living language," and that
only great coordinated efforts by its promoters could prevent it from
dying.
In summary, Basque
is not spoken in all of the Basque territories today. Neither are all
of its inhabitants Basque-speakers. Also, Basque-speakers do not use
Basque most of the time.
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