Astero
Euskaldunak Quebec Euskara Success Story
As a continuation of our Euskera success stories, this month's story comes to us from the Euskaldunak Quebec Basque club in Montreal. Euskaldunak has had great success and growth in their Euskera program going from a class of 5 or so students, to currently having three separate classes at three different levels with 22 students in all. These students also include some who were unable to learn Basque in the homeland due to the repression that took place there. Some have even attended Barnetegis, or intensive Basque programs, in the Basque Country. Their teacher situation has also improved going from students from the Basque Country that were only there for a year, to more established teachers that are able to continue and provide students more continuity. Currently there are three Basque teachers at the club. Classes meet for two hours every week with beginners meeting on Tuesdays and more advanced classes on Wednesdays. Besides meeting for classes, these students also participate in other club events and contribute with their language skills as they did at this year's Korrika celebration in March. Zorionak Euskaldunak!
Gauden Bat of Chino Basque Club
We heard from our friends at the Chino Basque Club that a special happening took place at its May fundraiser with several members, past and present, of Gauden Bat gathering to reminisce about their experiences in the dance group that began in the 1930s. The consensus was "to be a part of the dance group is not only to learn the dances but more importantly to make lifelong and lasting friendships." The evening concluded with a dance off between former and current dance members and a great time was had by all! Biba ziek!
.Eus and Twitter
The Basque domain .Eus that strives to promote Basque language and culture, has been working with Twitter so that Basque will also be a recognized language on this social media. In response to requests by Twitter users, a Basque version was produced in 2012, however, Basque is still not always recognized despite having that interface. This prompted .Eus to get involved to find a solution to this problem creating Twitter.eus which will soon understand Basque. According to their statistics, there were 7,569 active Tweeters in Basque in April who sent a total of 653,108 tweets 50.70% of which were in Basque, or averaging 10,8652 Tweets a day in Basque. For more information visit their website.
