Life in the Basque Diaspora: From Basque Country to San Francisco

The Euskara program at the University of Helsinki invited my father and I to sit down for a Zoom question and answer session. We discussed many interesting topics: my father's journey from the Basque Country to immigrating to the United States, life as a sheepherder in rural Montana, how the Basque diaspora maintains Basque culture in the United States, Basque identity, and thoughts on Euskara Batua from the perspectives of a Basque language learner and a native Basque speaker.
Organized by Kayleigh Karinen and Araitz Claramunt Oregi, this session took place on March 22, 2021 between San Francisco, California and Helsinki, Finland.
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[@felipeperez2991]

I can see why my parents, especially my father, are such hard workers. My mother and father are from a very small town in Mexico with a lot of basque influence.

[@michelleg7]

are they from zacatecas?

[@longbowandwarbowcraftingbo2859]

wow Basque girls are stunning ;)

[@Darktimes17]

My family on my mother’s side are from Zarautz in Gipuzkoa. Some of them migrated to Cuba in the late 1800s and so my mom never learned to speak Euskara. I’m dying to visit Zarautz and go visit Casa Portu which is my moms maiden name and it’s linked to our family! I’m so glad I found your KZbin channel. I was born in Miami, Fl after my family in Cuba migrated due to the Castro regime. I’m fluent in English and Spanish but would love to learn Basque.

[@ronpetraqueas7075]

I absolutely love his accent...it´s like listening to my aitona speaking English. Great work Hella Basque!! Fightera!!

[@ronpetraqueas7075]

@@miketonon7946 Don´t be sorry, better you do something about it.. I found your comments on this channel highly inappropriate .Please do consider to stop .There are plenty of channels on youtube , where your sense of humour and irony will be understood.

[@vltimate-lavncher-orev]

Qué bonito que todavía haya esa ilusión por querer mantener la cultura vasca en otros lugares del mundo, por lo menos aquí en Europa los euskaldunes están demasiado infravalorados por ser una étnia minoritaria como también les ocurre a la étnia de los saami en Laponia

[@norcal0076]

So coincidental..I live in the Bay Area , grew up in Montreal for 25 years and have Basque ancestry

[@EvaLasta]

Wow he looks so Basque I could tell just from the thumbnail before reading the title lol

[@noelsamson876]

Got to know Basque culture in california then in nevada and boise idaho and found out there are some in washington state where i live now. Just found out i have basque ancestry and now it's even more interesting!

[@RobertMontano-oj8dc]

I live in New Mexico... and have 12% Basque. I find it very interesting,,, And these videos are great , learning about my ancestors.

[@michelleg7]

I do genealogy and one of my tios was a priest from Mexico and he spoke three languages, he spoke castellano, purepecha (indigenous language from Michoacan) and he spoke Euskara. They continued to speak it even after being in Mexico about a 100 years after his ancestor came from Bizkaia.

[@mariegrace7097]

Loved hearing the story of his leaving the Basque Country for Canada & then Montana. Great story. Thanks for both of you

[@zortzitaldea6519]

Agurrak Euskal herritik Anne Marie !! Merci pour la vidéo, très intéressante. Nous avons pris connaissance de ton blog, car nous avons écris une chanson sur la diaspora basque (plutôt sur le point de vue d'un jeune né en Amérique, ayant les parents venus du Pays Basque), et en sommes, naturellement, sensibilisés. Segi hola !!

[@user-lq3jr5to6e]

MY family had one the first Dairies in Los Angles but my great Grand father came though San Francisco then sent for my Great Granmother mother later from Spain. loved my Basque side better then my Irish side Basquse more fun with food and more friendlly when we had Basque family getogether.

[@memyselfandchristina]

I just learned about your channel today, and I really appreciate the content :) My dad passed in 2015; he was only 1/2 Basque but I swear he looked soooo so much like your aita. I appreciate the efforts you are making to document his life, and I'm sure you will look back on these videos fondly in the future :)

[@juhahaikio9245]

I guess I have to comment that I'm also from Helsinki and got interested in Euskera while I was living in Catalonia for many years. I've visited Euskal Herria couple of times and I really hope I get to move there at some point and learn more about the language. Agur!

[@xabitxuto]

Wow! This was a mazing! my eyes are filling up! Eskerrik asko! i"ll share this with my family. My aitona did 2, 3 year work stints as shepherd in and around Baker's Field and my aita immigrated to Canada. For the last two years I've been learning euskera from an 80 year old euskaldun berri that also immigrated to Canada. sometimes our our lesson is watching live streamed pilota in euskara. I'm very grateful for this interview, for your stories and the work you put into your site. we hope to take your tours some time. Eskerrik asko berriro zuri eta zure aitari, eta zaindu.

[@sherrynewington1120]

Bakersfield area was sure popular. My family herded here too.

[@starshimmerministries]

Where I grew up I only knew 1 other Basque person, this is in Imperial Valley,California. I speak English,Spanish, and a tiny bit of Hebrew. My mom was Basque and Ashkenazi- her last name was Yznaga.

[@EvaLasta]

Im half ashkenazi and half spanish/portuguese basically but I didn't see any Basque, would it show on AncestryDNA or 23andme?

[@EvaLasta]

You need to learn yiddish next! Its the language my grandparents speak and theres gonna be no native European ashkenazi speakers very soon sadly 😔 only the hasidish jews in nyc are really keeping it alive but they made this standardized yivo yiddish which isnt like real galitzianer yiddish or lodzer yiddish or litvak yiddish

[@starshimmerministries]

@@EvaLasta idk from what my brother said it shows up as Iberian. The Basque we know about from my mom's family.

[@fionaokeefe1906]

@@starshimmerministries Shalom! Erev Tov!

[@michelleg7]

yes that is a spanish last name, i have seen it before

[@iratiml7433]

Kaixo! Duela gutxi aurkitu nuen zure KZbin kanala eta izugarri gustoko dut. As a proud basque from Iruñea, I am so grateful of any basque and not basque that appreciates the culture and languages and spreads awareness. As a linguistics and minorities lover, I also wanna thank you for teaching me about my language, history and culture. SEGI HORRELA!

[@allande1977]

And now, european networks call the Basque Country (Iparralde & Hegoalde) the California of Europe... A reading that I recommend: Sweet Promised Land, by Robert Laxalt. A thought for the whole diaspora.

[@Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96]

lmfao, Basque country is beautiful but is kinda far from being "the California of Europe"

[@allande1977]

@@Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96 Journalists always need to use bombastic qualifiers: the California of Europe, the Germany of Spain ... Euskal Herria is the new black ... for the media.

[@koldoascunce2706]

osasuna aita!!!!

[@barbliska6420]

Thanks so much appreciated .❤

[@terrencesauve]

Extremely interesting background and life path for your papa. I'm sure it wasn't easy to move in a country that didn't speak both of his native languages. Thanks for sharing.

[@DrAlexVasquezICHNFM]

Beautiful. Thanks.

[@GrognardJakBo]

0:56 "ça va être on Facebook ça ?" Excellent !

[@sherrynewington1120]

These videos are gems! Thanks for sharing I wasn’t able to listen to this live.

[@igorgauna6412]

Oso interesgarria!!!

[@mikelzabaleta3050]

I love your channel Ane Marie!!

[@HellaBasque]

Thank you so much!!

[@johngoad]

Thank you it’s fun learning about my heritage. Most of my relatives came through Idaho. My Grandma was totally fluent and tried to teach me so I know a tiny bit Euskara because I was a kid. One thing I noticed is all of my relatives call us Basquos like your dad… is that an English translation thing? or is that universal? Example I cook breakfast in a single pan, (i.e chorizo eggs potatoes and peppers) to me that is a Basquo Breakfast How do I spell that correctly? if you know? (not concerned if thats a proper basque breakfast) So how do you spell Basco? Is it slang? Eskerrik Asko! Animo!

[@suefitzke194]

Hi Anne Marie just found your web site .My mom is Basque and she knows very little about her nationality both parents died young.She has eight siblings and 4 are alive we live in O.C. California but would live to here about the culture. MY FATHER ALSO HAS BASQUE NOT SURE HOW MUCH.my moms maiden Name was Yilizaliturri her first name Jeannine Anne Rosa's her married name.

[@mikelzabaleta3050]

Oso gustora egon naiz zure aitari entzuten, ni Gipuzkoan bizi naiz ta. Benafarroa ezagutzen det, Baigorri ta Donibane Garazi gehien bat. In my opinión Batua is necesary nowadays in order to have a pattern of reference in education, literature, etc, but euskalkiak are a wealth we have. But the most important is the every day dinámic, because language is comunication.

[@damantis4412]

Hi , was wondering how much influence does Basque have in gypsy culture in Spain ? Thank you

[@fermineguidazueguen8798]

Esta. Claro. K. Le. Quiheres Mucho. Ha. Tu. Aita Y. Estas. Muy. Orgullosa De. El. Y. De. Su Descendencia Musu. Bat

[@larryorr3571]

Great Job😂😂😂😂😂

[@eu46]

Oso interesgarria hau ere. Eskerrik asko

[@cynthiaperalta5841]

My family are Urtiaga last name

[@peery_continental]

Are Basques known for any tea culture? When I learn about new countries and territories, the first thing I consider is, what the food is like and whether they have a prominent or semi-existing tea culture. Tea is important all around the world so maybe this might spark new video content for ya in the future.

[@r.artilesuriarte599]

As a Basque, the answer is no. While tea culture has certainly grown (not a lot tho) lately, it's definitely not a common or very widespread thing as let's say in Russia, for example. Coffee is far more common over here; I recall my grandmother for example talking about how her father would always drink black coffee with sugar, which seemingly was a popular thing amongst men back then.

[@peery_continental]

@@r.artilesuriarte599 eskerrik asko, personally, I love tea. In all countries I am always looking for a sort of tea culture idk why lol. I love tea so much and it often becomes a make or break issue when choosing to learn a language and is one of the reason why I had chose to learn Chinese and Japanese at one point. I even avoided Germany because their food wasn't as green and adventurous as say India and East Asian countries. Basque definitely has a unique cuisine and so I'll give them that....and who knows maybe they may develope a tea culture in the future and if not.....just like those countries, we gotta find the beauty in other things such as sights and what they DO offer in terms of food and drink. Just one of those important things to me haha

[@michelleg7]

@@r.artilesuriarte599 nope but good vino they have huh?

[@r.artilesuriarte599]

@@michelleg7 we do have some pretty decent wines nowadays, but most of it was heinous until recently (take txakolina, for example), contrary to popular believe 😅

[@bloodandrain]

Hi, I’m a Basque and from San Francisco currently residing abroad. I was wondering if you’d be willing to come on my podcast to discuss Basque diaspora in California

[@UnitedPebbles]

Soo you guys are Basque? I am Pollock Basque Asian. I need to know where you lived densely so I can blend in??

[@UnitedPebbles]

But where in Texas?

[@robertdonalaya9991]

Where are you?

[@Chankonabe69]

Where’d u go did u died 😢

[@saturday2618]

Oso interesgarria izan da elkarrizketa. Ez balitz sudurreko arandel hori gehiago irabaziko luke. Itsuzitu egin du, asko.

[@Student____2025__1]

The nose ring is repulsive.

[@saturday2618]

I'm agree with you. It`s disgusting

[@ernesstocaratiesto]

Well, I do disagree.

[@Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96]

@@ernesstocaratiesto and I agree back

[@Gabriel-vj1cf]

Imagine having such a strong opinion about it that you had to make a comment. You can barely notice it. Don't be such a weenie. I think it's pretty alright.

[@jessastephenson3260]

If you don't like it, simple don't watch the channel, she is free to wear whatever she wants in the USA!