The Basque language, casually spoken | Andrew speaking Biscayan | Wikitongues

Basque, known natively as Euskera or Euskara, is spoken by over a million people, mainly in the Basque Country (Euskadi) of Spain and France. The Biscayan dialect or Bizkaiera is spoken in the coastal Biscay province.
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More from Wikipedia: "Biscayan, sometimes Bizkaian (Basque: Bizkaiera, Spanish: Vizcaíno)[1] is a dialect of the Basque language spoken mainly in Biscay, one of the provinces of the Basque Country of Spain. It is named as Western in the Basque dialects' classification drawn up by linguist Koldo Zuazo,[2] since it is not only spoken in Biscay but also extends slightly into the northern fringes of Alava and deeper in the western part of Gipuzkoa. The dialect's territory bears great similarity to that of the Caristii tribe, as described by Roman authors. While it is treated as stylish to write in Biscayan and the dialect is still spoken generally in about half of Biscay and some other municipalities, it suffers from the double pressure of Unified Basque and Spanish. Biscayan was used by Sabino Arana and his early Basque nationalist followers as one of the signs of Basqueness. Basque (; Basque: Euskara, [eus̺ˈkaɾa]) is a language spoken in the Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of Northern Spain and Southwestern France. Linguistically, Basque is unrelated to the other languages of Europe and is a language isolate in relation to any other known living language. The Basques are indigenous to, and primarily inhabit, the Basque Country. The Basque language is spoken by 28.4% (751,500) of Basques in all territories. Of these, 93.2% (700,300) are in the Spanish area of the Basque Country and the remaining 6.8% (51,200) are in the French portion. Native speakers live in a contiguous area that includes parts of four Spanish provinces and the three "ancient provinces" in France. Gipuzkoa, most of Biscay, a few municipalities of Álava, and the northern area of Navarre formed the core of the remaining Basque-speaking area before measures were introduced in the 1980s to strengthen the language. By contrast, most of Álava, the western part of Biscay, and the central and southern areas of Navarre are predominantly populated by native speakers of Spanish, either because Basque was replaced by Spanish over the centuries (as in most of Álava and central Navarre), or because it may never have been spoken there (as in parts of the Enkarterri and southeastern Navarre). In Francoist Spain, Basque language use was affected by the government’s repressive policies. In the Basque Country, "Francoist repression was not only political but also linguistic and cultural." The regime placed legal restrictions on the use of language, which was suppressed from official discourse, education, and publishing, making it illegal to register newborn babies under Basque names, and even requiring tombstone engravings in Basque to be removed. In some provinces, the public use of the language was suppressed, with people fined for speaking Basque. Public use of Basque was frowned upon by supporters of the regime, often regarded as a sign of anti-Francoism or separatism. Overall, in the 1960s and later, the trend reversed and education and publishing in Basque began to flourish. As a part of this process, a standardized form of the Basque language, called Euskara Batua, was developed by the Euskaltzaindia in the late 1960s. Besides its standardized version, the five historic Basque dialects are Biscayan, Gipuzkoan, and Upper Navarrese in Spain and Navarrese-Lapurdian and Solution in France. They take their names from the historic Basque provinces, but the dialect boundaries are not congruent with province boundaries. Euskara Batua was created so that the Basque language could be used-and easily understood by all Basque speakers-in formal situations (education, mass media, literature), and this is its main use today. In both Spain and France, the use of Basque for education varies from region to region and from school to school. A language isolate, Basque is believed to be one of the few surviving pre-Indo-European languages in Europe and is the only one in Western Europe. The origin of the Basques and of their languages is not conclusively known, though the most accepted current theory is that early forms of Basque developed before the arrival of Indo-European languages in the area, including the Romance languages that geographically surround the Basque-speaking region. Basque has adopted about 40 percent of its vocabulary from the Romance languages, and Basque speakers have in turn lent their own words to Romance speakers. The Basque alphabet uses the Latin script."
This video was self-recorded by Andrew Goiburuntza in Miami, Florida. The speaker(s) featured herein have not explicitly agreed to distribute this video for reuse. For inquiries on licensing this video, please contact [e-mail].

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Transcript and translation by Andrew (in case anyone wants to add them as subtitles via the Amara link!): Kaixo danoi, zelan zagoze beroŕeek? Neure uzena Andrew da eta amerikaŕie naz, zehatzago California-koa. Hamentxe, euzkal amerikaŕ asko gagoz eta geure alkaŕteak dekoguz, beroŕeek zoratzen dihaŕduzue euzkariez beŕbetan jaŕduten dan amerikaŕ bat untzuteagaitik… begitandu dezaket. Ixan be, euzkaldunok mendebalde Amerikaŕera heŕiratzen hasi ziran 1.500etik auŕera eta gehien lekuttu ziran estatuetan batez be Idaho, California, Utah, Nevada, Washington eta Oregon dira baińa ziuŕ nago galdutako bat baińo gehijau auŕki daikezuela beste estatu batzuetan, hona etozan euzkaldun gehienak bizkaitaŕok eta ipaŕaldekook ziran. Usu zahaŕiek goŕde dogu, euzkal etxeok eta beste alkaŕteek ahalegińa egitten dabe bixirik kontseŕbauteko baińa neure eretxian, etenbako gauza batzuk ez jataz atsegintzen, adibidez, euzkal jaŕdueretan pizgaŕixeek eskua emoten dodaz, horidxe bai, baińa euzkalkijak kendu eta beŕbaldi bakaŕagaz haren lekuan ipinten, zalantzarik ez alde. Bestetik, neure buruaz apuŕ bat edestuz, ba beno hogeita zazpi uŕte dodaz eta Dona Monika, Aingeruetan jaio eta Bakersfield-atik hazi nintzan ume-denporan baińa gauŕkoz Florida-n bixi naz. Baskonian be nengoan neure famiĺixe nongoa zan ezaguttzen, neure aittittek eta amumak piĺo bat eskolatu eusten neuri, oroipen polittek dekodaz eta elebiduna ixateaz oso haŕo sentiduten naz. Gauza bakanie nekusanala eta nabarittu nebanala zan nola nerabeok euzkariez beŕba egitten dabela eta nora zoazen arabera, eŕdaragaz edo frantsezagaz nahastetan dabez, neiko berezkoa da. Adibidez, bizkaiera zahaŕien adeŕbak eta beŕbak euzkaratik eta keltaratik jatoŕkuz, polito-polito latińa oratu zan be eta kittu, baińa euzkara baŕixen beŕba batzuk eŕdaratik atarata dagoz, eta demontre! ...horidxe zaiĺagoa uleŕtzeko egitten jatzu, zeren eŕdariez beŕba egitten ez badozu, afoŕaute zabilz, beŕbaz beŕba. Aholku bat emon behaŕko ei baneu… ba ez uŕundu zeure euzkalkitik eta sustraijetatik, mundu honegaz konekzińoa dekogu eta euzkalkijak amaluŕagaz beŕba egitteko eta geure jenteakaz konektauteko modu bat dira, oŕduantxe ez galdu. Desbaŕdintasunak ixan aŕen eta zein luŕaldekoak garan, beŕbakuntza batek batzen dauen euzkal heŕija gara. O'intxe amaittzeko, miĺa eskeŕ ikusteagaitik, estimetan dot… bideo hauxe guztijoi gustau ixana ustea dekot eta bizkaiko euzkalkixe ikastea kuraieztatzen deutsuet. Aguŕ eta eskeŕik asko. Hi everyone, how are you? My name is Andrew and I am American, specifically from California. Here, we are many Basque Americans and we’ve got our communities, I can imagine you are just freaking out by listening to an American speaking in Basque. In fact, Basques began to immigrate to the Western America from the 1,500s and settled down in the Idaho, California, Utah, Nevada, Washington and Oregon states but I’m sure that you can find more than one (Basque) lost in other states, most Basques who came here were Biscayans and Iparraldeans. We have kept the old traditions, the Basque houses and other associations make the effort to conserve them, but in my wen, I don’t like some things, for example, I support the incentives towards Basque activities, that yes, but removing the dialects and replace them with only one speaking, markedly not in favor of. On the other hand, by telling something about me, well, I am twenty-seven years old and I was born in Santa Monica, Los Angeles and raised by Bakersfield in my childhood but nowadays I live in Florida. I also was in Baskland getting to know where my family was from, my grandpa and grandma schooled me a lot, I’ve got beautiful memories and I feel very proud to be bilingual. A curious thing I saw and noticed was how teenagers who speak Basque, depending on where you go, they mix it up with Castilian or French, it’s quite quirky. For example, verbs and words in Old Basque come to us from Basque and Celtic, little by little Latin arrived and that’s it, but in Modern Basque some words are taken out from Castilian Spanish, and dang! ...that makes it more difficult to understand, because if you don’t speak Spanish, you’re screwed to speak it, literally. If I had to give advice, then don’t move away from your dialect and roots, we’ve got a connection in this world and the dialects are a way to speak with Mother Earth and be connected with our people, so don’t lose it. Despite our differences and what country we are from, we are one Basque country united by one language. Now to finish, “a thousand thanks” for watching, I appreciate it… I hope everyone liked this video and I encourage you to learn the Biscayan dialect. Goodbye and thank you so much.

[@reinoud6377]

the link is dead unfortunately...

[@hongry-life]

CC captions think that this is Indonesian :)

[@wildberrypurple233]

As a native Basque speaker it's so amazing to see that a Basque diaspora that still speaks Basque so beatifully after so many generations exists. And how they keep the culture alive and vibrant! Definitely a lesson to learn for those of us living in the Basque country or Iparralde (the french basque country). Gure hizkuntza bizirik mantendu dezagun! Let's save the Basque language! Also super interesting and lovely accent! It blew my mind 😍 I am super curious to learn more about the Basque American diaspora.

[@jakesamuelson1352]

I just returned from study abroad in Bilbao. Many of us have family that migrated to California, Nevada, and Idaho in particular from rural parts of the Basque Country. My family last name is etxepare and was never pronounced correct here in the US. Basque Americans are so so so proud of their heritage, to the point of learning to speak euskera, arguably one of the hardest languages in the world to learn. I can’t wait to start learning when I return this June to Bilbao!

[@wildberrypurple233]

@@jakesamuelson1352 Amazing! This is again something we do not know much about in the Basque country, about the American Basque diaspora. I think it would be very nice to teach this to people, possibly in schools. And to maybe organise exchange programmes between Basque communities in the world. I would definitely be up for it :)

[@mechanicalman1068]

@@jakesamuelson1352 yes. In the late 19th and early 20th century, many Basques came to the American west to work as shepherds. California, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada. There are actually a few basque restaurants in Bakersfield of all places, more than anywhere else. Crazy. One, Noriega hotel, used to be a boarding house for shepherds when they weren’t out with the sheep. I heard it even had a Jai Alai or Basque Pelota court in the back.

[@vincentp9671]

Il y a une culture Basque au Québec également, il y a l'ile aux basques et aussi un fronton de pelote basque à Trois-pistoles, Qc

[@jah0524]

The Basque American diaspora is easy to recognize. Basque spoken in America has the F word frequently used in every sentence.

[@ilhan3506]

The lack of a Castilian accent makes it sound totally alien. Is this what Basque speakers sounded like before excessive Spanish influence?

[@noamto]

Same thing could be asked about how Castilian sounded like before excessive Basque influence.

[@willothewispp]

@@noamto i mean not really jajaj

[@Wikitongues]

Kaixo! Daniel from Wikitongues here. From a certain point of view, yes! Standardized Basque or Euskara batua is the most widely-spoken Basque dialect, especially among younger generations, and since most are bilingual in Spanish, there is definitely more Spanish influence in pronunciation and vocabulary today. However, Andrew speaks the Bizkaiera dialect or Biscayan Basque, one of the dialects that existed before Euskara batua was developed. He's also a member of the Basque diaspora in the United States - present since the 1830s! - so there is less Spanish influence. This is a very round-about way of explaining that yes, this is a very good example of Basque less influenced by Spanish, but it is a regionally specific variety, so it's not how "Basque speakers sounded" in general. I hope this helps :)

[@ilhan3506]

@@noamto I don’t think Euskara could influence Castilian as much as the other way around. It’s true though that Castilian has somewhat of an Euskara substratum

[@noamto]

@@ilhan3506 It did influence Castilian though and I'd say to quite a large degree, considering it seems to be the reason Castilian lost the original pronunciation of "f" inherited from Latin.

[@TheCarlScharnberg]

Woah! Never heard anything like it.

[@Wikitongues]

Basque is the only Iberian language to survive Roman conquest and the rise of Latin, making it a language isolate today - so it's a truly unique expression of one of Europe's ancient cultures!

[@TheCarlScharnberg]

@@Wikitongues Wow! Very interesting and cool - especially from a historical and linguistic perspective. Thanks for the info!

[@xolang]

The automatic subtitles are in Indonesian, my father tongue, and the "translation" is quite hilarious. 😂 Anyway, thank you for showing Basque! One thing Basque and Austronesian languages have in common is that we don't distinguish genders at all linguistically. Just today I was talking to a friend about how I thought the prophet Elisa (Elia's successor) was a woman, until when I was 16 I read the story in English with "him, his, he". That's when it dusked upon I that Elisa was not a prophetess as I thought she/he was. 🙃

[@keptins]

Feels like a polish born brazilian man learned basque in an immersion school in America.

[@ViktorRotkiv98]

So specific 😅😅

[@keptins]

@@ViktorRotkiv98 I mean I heard them all! What can I do?! 😂😂

[@Jonura]

Im basque... and i speak precisely his dialect (bizkaiera- mendebaldekoa- western accent) his accent is sooooo american. For me its very strange. His nasality and some inflexions are very exaggerated

[@uniteandfight5670]

@@Jonura I agree, what he says isn't wrong, but is hard to understand st certain points, specially the vowels...

[@lisetteaimee2081]

@@Jonura Rather than he mispronounces vowels.. I'd recommend you to view the transcript in the first comment by Wikitongues, it's all written there. In fact, he uses the tt-letter much more, he differences between r and ŕ which is bizarre to do today because of the rr from Spanish, also faded words such as 'untzun' (entzun) or uzena (izena) which are no longer used in Modern Biscayan but are indeed Biscayan and you can see them in old manuscripts, for example, the word 'alkaŕteak' is more common to listen to 'komunitateak' today, or edestu (kontau), usu (tradizino). Somehow it's a clearer Biscayan with no Batua or Spanish influence and actually there's no Basque exaggeration because old people in small towns speak and overpronounce like that, obviously with exception of his American accent. Neuk be bizkaieraz berba egitten dot.

[@dylaninglis7136]

Fascinating. Very good Biscayan, and its interesting to hear some of the characteristic verb conjugations, words and phonetical aspects maintained in Andrew's speech that have mostly been replaced by Spanish, more common Biscayan or Standard Basque forms in Euskadi over the last few decades. Itzela!

[@pepitaaralartxope2304]

Pero si habla como si fuera chino, Fu Manchú

[@haitzkarakuelotsoaaspuruko7997]

Eredugarria haiz, Dylan! Euskaldun guztiek hire kemen, kontzientzia, koherentzia eta jakinduriaren hamarrena balute beste kuku batek joko liguke.

[@piroskaracz3621]

If i listen without looking at the guy...it reminds me of East Asian languages....similar to the way Cambodian sounds

[@t.c.bramblett617]

This is the sound of Old Europe. Old OLD Europe. I wonder if there is any truth in the possibility of a Caucasian-Basque or even a Sumerian-Basque connection in the past.

[@Gus2828]

I come from a Basque family that emigrated to Argentina. Unfortunately, I never learned the language. Anyway, what is he talking about ?

[@lasmontanassonmivida9144]

sounds almost baltic doesn't it? such a fascinating language. bilbao is such a beautiful city

[@hardver8855]

Sounds like a fairytale language. Really. To me i imagine that this is what spanish aggressors heard when they came to south america, when they met Aztecs. I dont know why? But like i would fit it to Aztec Olmec Toltec Inca language hahah Great language.

[@SP_3333]

I wonder if Etruscan sounded like this.

[@anawkwardsweetpotato4728]

This is the first time Basque doesn't seem to have a heavy Castellano accent xD

[@Wikitongues]

There's a reason for that! Check out our response to Ilhan below :)

[@keptins]

But instead it seems to have american, portuguese and polish accents all at once 😂

[@Itziar_hay_yan]

That's because he's from USA, he doesn't have basque accent, he speaks very well but some vowels sound like American English

[@xalima8101]

Porque no es vasco, genio

[@marcelbas]

Indeed! I even hear some nasalised vowels!

[@chestersakamoto6843]

To think that this language could be a remnant left over from Prehistoric Europe just fascinates me. This is an old language, and has been spoken long before the Indo-European tongues arrived on the continent.

[@nathanmerritt1581]

When the Neanderthals were still alive, this language was spoken.

[@dayalasingh5853]

@@nathanmerritt1581 there is no proof for this

[@Goddessღ]

Finnish itself is an old language as well. It isn't indo european either and came from elsewhere. It isn't european but rather east asian or from the urals. Still interesting though as it is obviously different than the other langauges of europe. Estonian has similar roots and hungarian too but hungarian has changed greatly, estonian has changed some and Finnish has not changed much compared to its older version.

[@clouds-rb9xt]

@@nathanmerritt1581 While it's true that Paleo-European languages existed long before Paleo-European languages, there's no evidence that it reaches back 40,000 years.... Plus, Basque wasn't even a language, it was part of the atlantic substrate. Who knows how long Paleo-Europeans existed. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4SqpHSorpaaZqs

[@animalswin2105]

@@dayalasingh5853 there is. The words for metal are pre metal age... Isaure Gratacos, the French anthropologist has show how old Basque is. At least 30 000 years old

[@olegabbatini7015]

Fun fact: the auto-generated subtitles on KZbin say he is speaking Indonesian.

[@lisetteaimee2081]

That actually depends on whom uploaded the video, I think they must pay for each language if they want those subtitles.

[@alvinkoeswanto8622]

I'm Indonesian and I'm too perplexed by this. Because I can speak both Indonesian and Spanish and I can't understand a word he says.

[@raediaufar5003]

And it doesn't sounds like Indonesian at all

[@OsScratchMaker]

Translate it to english

[@HawaiiDEEPS]

@@alvinkoeswanto8622 Out of curiosity what compelled you to learn Spanish?

[@pisos95]

Alright, I'm Basque from the Biscayan province and this blew my mind. He speaks fair Biscayan Basque (better than me, since I'm a proud ascendant of "maquetos" or "non Basque" and Basque people alike), but the accent is something like I never heard before 😱😱 It's like a mixture of Basque and American, but in a way I would've never expected. Benetan, inpresionatute geatu na 🤯 This really shocked me 🤯

[@Annnto]

So what you're saying is you're not a Basque.

[@pisos95]

@@Annnto what do you mean? Where are you from?

[@danielalzate7456]

@@Annnto he was born in Basque country and some of his ancestors aren't from there but some others are. So he's very basque.

[@tatianak.5213]

Hello. Could you please tell me how to pronounce "zilarra" in the Basque language?

[@Rolando_Cueva]

@@tatianak.5213 Like Spanish but the Z is different.

[@jackemmakem]

This is one of my favorite languages to learn about. Language isolates are so damn cool

[@ultramet]

I spent 3 months living in the Basque Region in the late 70s. This is the first time that I have heard this language since then. Amazing memories. I stayed in Oñati (Gizpukoa), Pamplona, Bilbao (Vizcaya). This is such a beautiful region of the world and the language is amazing. The Basque people treated me so nicely too-eskerrik asko.

[@nickfifteen]

Apparently I speak Basque! I recognized "California", "Nevada", "Utah", "Washington"... 😂😋

[@PerfectAlibi1]

Because there is no word for those names in Basque, he used the English versions XD

[@Made0nEarth]

@@PerfectAlibi1 hahah very good ! tell me the name in basque for Cristiano Ronaldo!

[@PerfectAlibi1]

@@Made0nEarth Oh, I'm not Basque. But it makes sense that there is no word for names that weren't around for when it was mainly spoken... XD

[@Nehauon]

@@PerfectAlibi1I think he’s making fun of you not understanding that it was a joke.

[@frankpatraziebe5515]

You could be a substitute Basque teacher like Peggy Hill is for Spanish.

[@StrawberryMilkkTeaa]

It sounds so interesting! Nothing I’ve ever heard before, it’s almost otherworldly, like an invented language made-up specifically for fictional beings like the elf language. It’s fascinating and curious. I really like it.

[@masterjunky863]

Sounds like a fantasy or sci-fi fictional language. Very fascinating!

[@Goddessღ]

Listen to finnish you'll get the same vibe lol

[@animalswin2105]

@@Goddessღ your comment doesn't make any sense, did you forger some words ?

[@Fatasha776]

@@animalswin2105 it does make sense

[@ilovesparky13]

What a bizarre sounding language. Not bad, just very different.

[@bingbonghafu]

That’s because it’s a language isolate

[@ializarg]

Yes, sounds very bizarre... even for a Basque native like me.

[@Ethan-qo9rx]

bizarre sounding language. haha Southeast Asian languages must be alien to you then

[@namitajimmy6737]

It's not Indo-European, also he doesn't has any Spanish accent when speaking

[@Awakeningspirit20]

Iberia is a linguistic hotbed. I have attacked Spanish and Portuguese, tried Catalan... then there's THIS... imagine learning this. I'd be happy!

[@Nehauon]

Damn right, brother!

[@taffypyth]

Completely different language. Basque origins are unknown, its not Iberian

[@landofw56]

It is so beautiful not to understand anything

[@edstar83]

He said he has come for our women and will be taking them all back to his planet.

[@JMarieCAlove]

I live in Bakersfield, California, in the central San Joaquin valley.. we have several Basque restaurants here in town, they’ve been around for several decades and still popular here in town. This is the first time I’ve heard the Basque language spoken. Very cool! 😁

[@coolguywithshades34]

I’m basque from Sacramento but my grandfather immigrated from French Basque Country to bakersfield

[@anissapicard8682]

Woolgrowers!!

[@long_dan]

Andrew’s Basque sounds quite “nasal” to me. I’d never heard the Biscayan variety, so I don’t know whether this is characteristic of the Basque spoken in this region. Anyway, I’d never have thought he’s American if he hadn’t said “Utah”, “Nevada” and “Washington” the way he did, all the more when he pronounces the vibrating “rr” quite well (as for example in “aurrera” 0:40 and “eskerrik” 4:18), which is usually hard to pronounce for English speakers. Fun fact: speaking of the Basque influence on Castilian, “izquierda” the Spanish word for left, comes from the Basque “ezkerra”, with the same meaning.

[@zlo8389]

Languages and perspectives are so interesting. As someone who is American and Spanish, I thought I recognized a North American accent until he said the state names. The way he pronounced the "A" did not sound North American at all to me...it almost sounded like when a British person imitates the American accent and forces an American "A" vowel sound hahaha

[@andrewwg.6892]

@@zlo8389 I highly doubt you are American and say something like that, where are you actually from? In the USA, the American English accent varies from state to state, north to south, east to west and even from county to county. Let me tell you that in California we've even got phonetical variations from LA to SF and even more in the countryside, btw I currently live in Florida and here is even crazier when you go to Miami Dade County to Broward or even the Tampa Bay area and this happens all over the country, go to Boston a meet a couple Irish-Americans and freak out. In fact, I am Californian born and raised as I explained in the video and it's posted in the transcript, my heritage is indeed Basque, you can't expect me to speak Basque as I speak English because it's hella different and both languages follow a different rhythm, most native Basque speakers will find it weird because they're used to only hearing Spanish and French accents but they'd be shocked by meeting old Basque farmers living in the rural areas of Nevada or Utah. Somehow, the main problem with first listeners towards the Basque language is that they try to link it up with the actual European Basque society which has little to do with true Basque culture or identity and not because of their fault, but because of historical oppressions in general.

[@zlo8389]

@@andrewwg.6892 Dude I wrote a whole post in Spanish defending you because people were saying "he isn't really Basque." My point was that when you said the state names it sounded full Euskera, not the American pronunciation. I also said a lot of Basque people were forced to leave their homeland for political reasons so nationality and birth place aren't the only things that define a person's identity. My point is that if someone feels Basque then people should have no problem calling them Basque. People try to call out Americans all the time for our pronunciation when in reality you pronounced the entire video in Euskera. People want to discredit you because of your nationality and pretend like you had some super noticeable American accent when the reality is that you pronounced the states the same way someone from Guernica would. But I disagree that Basques in Spain have lost their culture. Yeah Bilbao is all castellano but if you go to rural areas of Euskadi, especially Guipuzkoa, you'll still find older people that don't speak much castellano and have preserved the Basque culture. Northern Nafarroa is heavily Basque. Huntza is a Basque band mostly from Guipozkoa and they are all under 30 and use Euskera in all of their songs, communications etc. Also, kids have to learn Basque now in school in Euskadi and a lot more jobs in Euskadi require you to have at least a basic knowledge of Euskera.

[@andrewwg.6892]

@@egoi1955 The transcript is written in Biscayan Basque and there's a literal translation in English, that means the translation is based on how every word coming out of my mouth is said from the Basque perspective and not as it oughta be said in English. Unfortunately, Wikitongues didn't specify as I handed it to them but I do respect your ignorance, thanks for watching though.

[@andrewwg.6892]

@@zlo8389 True that! I couldn't agree more with you, there are haters everywhere. You should also join Wikitongues and make a video in Castilian Spanish, let's show the world how real we keep our ancestors' folklore in America!

[@Jonura]

Basque with american accent... ze arraroa!!! Karkarkar. Baina berdin da. Euskara entzutea beti da inportantiena.

[@Made0nEarth]

humm so the first Iberian language was not GALAICO? Then the Portuguese part of HISPANIA start to speak "GALAICO PORTUGUESE"! and the rest of HISPANIA keep the GAILAICO and later on they start to call it CASTELLANO and now SPANISH?

[@AmicusAdastra]

So everyone is going to sit here and act like they don't know it could be the language that peoples in Atlantis spoken with Tamazigh if it may have existed ?

[@MrRaevsky]

For me sounds like a mix of armenian/geogrian and baltic languages

[@ander4368]

Eskerrik asko atzerrian egonda be, euskara ikasteko egiten dozuen esfortzuagatik! Aupa zuek!

[@cemprotecta]

Sounds strange, euskara with a heavy English accent, this is not how it sounds in the Basque Country.

[@ygorcoelhos]

I listen nothing typical from the English phonology in his speech. Actually this seems like less foreign-influenced than modern urban Basque, the overwhelming majority of the speakers of which are bilingual and even often use more Spanish than Basque.

[@cemprotecta]

@@ygorcoelhos As a spaniard his accent is not from the Basque country neither from other parts of Spain, his phonetics are foreign, not from Spain.

[@Ethan-qo9rx]

Youre right, in Basque Country they have a ridiculous Spanish accent

[@rar5617]

Its because more than 90% of basque speakers use a spanish accent

[@cemprotecta]

@@rar5617 Nope, the guy talking on the video has a clear English accent which is not what 90% of Spaniards have 🙂

[@Kim-il4gk]

I Heard that most of the population are RH negative blood. I am negative so this is interesting to me

[@pierovasquez8450]

Phonetically it sounds a lot like Georgian, specially when it is spoken without Spanish/Castilian accent. There is actually a hypothesis that proposes Basque and Georgian have shared common roots; they both would be part of a same family language, according to this hypothesis.

[@am74343]

It really is amazing how thoroughly *ancient* Basque sounds. The limited phonemes, the rigid pronunciations of those limited phonemes, the rigid stresses, the rigid lengths of the morae. Absolutely fascinating! It's as though the language has undergone very few changes in its intire history!

[@jonasHM]

Limited phonemes?? Compared to what?

[@surfboarding5058]

Send me a Webster please

[@GaiusCaligula234]

​@@surfboarding5058because you don't speak English? Go to school fam

[@surfboarding5058]

school is brainwash prison you slave @@GaiusCaligula234

[@terdragontra8900]

No, it has changed just like every language does

[@landofw56]

Let's save this language!

[@dandstuff]

It's recognized as a language by Spain, and has 900.000 speakers

[@anZestral]

Well... you speak SO SO strange basque, but don't worry it's understandable what you say.

[@benoitvadeboncoeur3473]

I’m from Québec and I have Québécois father and a Newfoundlander mother from the area region of Port aux Basque (west Coast). I’ve recently found out that I have partial Basque ethnicity on my father’s side. Ironically I’ve discovered that a large proportion of French Canadians (be they Québécois or Acadien) are of partially Basque heritage! Kind of makes sense since the majority of military and sailors would be recruited from Atlantic ports. There you go I’m part of this group that I never knew!

[@TheTudoor]

It sounds like he is trying to start a sentence in romanian for a second and then russian and then portuguese and then idk.Interesting language!

[@mechanicalman1068]

I love this. So many of the languages we’re accustomed to in the west descend from the same root, indo-European. Romance, Germanic, Slavic, the Celtic tongues and more. This is one of the few that doesn’t, and my understanding of a that it shares no root with any other languages the Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian are Uralic. As English speakers (or French, German, Russian, etc.) if we don’t speak other Eurasian languages, they are still somehow recognizable as language, with reasonably familiar sounds and structure. It sounds so wonderfully alien. I just love it.

[@carlosdumbratzen6332]

Yeah, It is similar to hearing some east-asian languages, like Indonesian. With most other european languages you have atleast some familiarity with the inflection and certain words, but this sounds so wonderfully alien

[@mysteriousDSF]

I'm Hungarian and I feel strongly for the Basque, they're our brothers in trouble, being native Europeans but non-Indo-European. (Although Uralic might have its root in Asia, today's European Russia territory is more likely.)

[@zoeg8303]

Basque is technically Proto Indo-European meaning it predates the beginning of that language family. It is not related to any other language that is spoken today.

[@mysteriousDSF]

@@zoeg8303 we use "proto" in a different context in linguistics.

[@Otrebor0707]

Philippines had a fairly large Basque immigration. Some of the most influential families are Basque in origin. Jai Alai was a very popular sports in Philippines also. I met a Basque hotel owner in Spain who traveled to Philippines for Jai Alai tournaments.

[@philipmendisco6656]

Lets not forget that, despite its relatively small size geographically, there are FIVE distinctly different Basque dialects. I am fluent in the Lower Navarrese-Lapurdian dialect, but can understand and converse in all 5. Basque was a unified single language until the middle ages

[@CPlusPlusOpenGLMan]

The true original European language. ❤

[@AdvancedbyPM]

Sounds like either Thai or Vietnamese

[@patriotka63]

I'm fascinated to hear this old language still going strong and protected. ❤

[@pyrenaea3019]

I'm basque :D

[@Wikitongues]

Ongi etorri! Have you thought about making a Wikitongues video of your Basque? 😄

[@pyrenaea3019]

@@Wikitongues Maybe I'm still too young, I'm 16

[@annalisette5897]

Good heavens! To an untrained ear this sounds like an Asian tonal language. Interesting.

[@uniteandfight5670]

I would say that's mainly because of his american influence. While what he's saying is correct, the pronounciation is sometimes weird, especially the vowels, where he makes a lot of nasal sounds... I think that's what makes it sound asian. However, as a proud Basque speaker, I really admire the effort the people living in other countries make to maintain the language, really glad I found this video!

[@DoreenBellDotan]

I heard the same thing. Elements of Arabic too - the guttural k sound.

[@JTomas96]

He speaks REALLY REALLY AWFUL(His consonants are good tho) This is real basque: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nGbOq3yQd7qcf9k His pitch is TOO HIGH.

[@kellyrtillson]

Captain, the universal translator is unable to interpret this language. It appears to have no relationship to any other language spoken in this quadrant.

[@aislingsibeallyons3416]

I thought he was speaking Tagalog. He doesn't sound anything like Spanish , french, or anything you would expect

[@bingbonghafu]

It sounds like Iranian man trying to speak Greenlandic

[@LadyO_333]

I think your language is beautiful, an ancient extraterrestrial language that has survived on our planet. Thank you.

[@Goddessღ]

Listen to finnish it's beautiful too hehe

[@cuttingmotions3636]

A lot of rh negative bloodlines there. The royal blood, they are definitely aliens in a good way. Very very unique genetics and history

[@Fatasha776]

@@Goddessღ stop telling people to listen to Finnish no one cares

[@stevenavielgato]

Not gonna lie, as a persian speaker, this sounds a bit like a persian speaking gibberish

[@kaia8535]

Kaixo, pilo bat gustatu zait bideoa. Kalifornian non hitz egiten duzu euskara? :)

[@redl1ner170]

From the video description: "This video was self-recorded by Andrew Goiburuntza in Miami, Florida." If this fella speak with native basque accent, I speak old valyrian with native valyrian accent. lol I'm laughing my ass of at all the comments in this video. Speacilly all the people saying that "basque sounds like portuguese".

[@henriquealejandro7247]

This language is insane. How is it possible to have a language that is completely unrelated to its geographical surroundings??

[@angellover02171]

It makes sense when your realize how many different groups of people came Spain since prehistoric times.

[@Winterascent]

Impressive. Now, if we could only hear Etruscan spoken.

[@gojkosimovljevic]

It's easy, just listen Serbian and you can imagine how Etruscan was.

[@Blublod]

This is Vizcaíno. You would be hard pressed to hear this in most of Euskadi.

[@Blublod]

@@asiersanz8941 - I’m talking about most people, not just a few people, so in the whole of Euskadi this version of basque is not as common / Jende gehienaz ari naiz, ez jende gutxi, beraz, Euskadi osoan euskararen bertsio hau ez da hain ohikoa.

[@asiersanz8941]

@@Blublod Erratuta zaude. You are not right. It is widely spoken in many areas, where basque speakers are over 80% of the population. Ondarroa, Lekeitio, Markina, Gernika, Bermeo, Durango, Eibar, Bergara, Arrasate, Oñati, Aramaio, Igorre, Bedia, Gatika, Mungia, ... just to say a few important towns.

[@asiersanz8941]

@@Blublod It's not a few people, it has between 200.000 and 300.000 native speakers. With its classical literature (Mogel, Txomin Agirre,...), some TV and radio stations, many local magazines... and it is the most spoken basque dialect. Go to euskalkiak.eus/ and have a look to the videos you'll find there. Euskal Herrian hiztun gehien duen euskalkia da, ni neu barne. Hala ere, formalki elkar komunikatzeko nahiago dut batua erabiltzea.

[@lisetteaimee2081]

@@asiersanz8941 I agree with Rick, you're also right about the Biscayan dialect being so widely spoken but not as close as this way. Most native Biscayans speak the remains of their parents or grandparents which generation after generation has been more and more influenced by Batua and Castilian. In fact, teenagers and young adults easily conjugate verbs and use borrowings from Batua which is based on Central dialects because that's what we learn in school, we also learn the Spanish alphabet, Batua writing and it's nothing like what it's in the transcript. He even writes the phonetical difference between the r-letter and ŕ-letter, the Biscayan (-ińo-) endings instead of (-io-) or the Biscayan (-ala) instead of (-ela) which are Batua influence. Thus, if you did a research about Old Biscayan writings and old documents or even heard elder people speak, this would be quite close and not what modern Biscayan is today.

[@asiersanz8941]

@@lisetteaimee2081 I think you don't know anybody who speak biscayan. First of all, when a linguistic variant pr a language are alive, of course, they change, they are not ecstatic. As to the biscayan dialect is concerned, it is alive and very well described by academics. The suffixes yoj mention are used on a daily basis with normality. So much thta when biscayan batua speakers speak basque they use also those terminations. By the way, as you may know the dialects of a language that are geographically in its boundaries are the most influenced by the language in contact but at the same time they keep the OLDEST forms of the language, and thisi is a universal law. So, there is no a kind of creole between biscayan and batua. We know when we speak biscayan ( it is better to say western dialect) and when we speak batua. The batua or biscayan have not take any spanish alphabet, as ig does not exist, but the latin alphabet takin into account the phonetic sound universally acceptes. An advantage of being quite new. You have ahotsak.eus ti hear actual biscayan/western speakers. Hear them and you'll tell me if they speak a kind of batua

[@Destinyxoxo]

If aztec words are spoken it might sound like this.. i heard lots of z and x

[@shining7733]

Sounds very native american, like something an inca would speak

[@asturiasceltic3183]

This guy does not look like a Basque

[@akatxupowell4431]

Aupa txo, gorantzixek bizkaiko kostaldetik..

[@giovitagiuffrida1785]

Come sottotitoli mi spunta Indonesiano. 🤔.

[@b_simrace]

I'm having a really good time turning on the auto generated indonesia subs

[@Realivangarcia]

I found I actually am partial Basque when I took a DNA test. Crazy how this culture is subverted from the mainstream but has managed to survive for thousands of years.

[@AmicusAdastra]

Ah yes. The language of Atlantis.

[@seand6482]

Ok, I can see why some people thought Basque was related to Georgian 😂

[@Daveena1008]

I don't think they are related. People think they are related because both languages are isolates but when you look at the grammar and the vocabulary, it is very different.

[@monsieurlemon]

yeah they're both pre-indo-european languages, they were probably related before the indo-european languages split them apart.

[@edstar83]

@@monsieurlemon Genetically Basque are predominantly R1b just like the rest of Iberia and Western Europe.

[@ldubt4494]

@@edstar83 because they all intermixed over the last 3000 years.

[@joeldiaz7416]

1:58 I heard the word Bakersfield I think. Thats where I'm from and there's a community of Basque people here :)

[@redl1ner170]

This sound like a vietnamese trying to speak euskara.

[@ayzmalo5553]

someone compare this to Dagestani or Chechen and Georgian

[@ExplorerOfTheGalaxy]

It seems a little bit Korean/Japanese to my ears.. but mixed with some Russian.. and ALIEN!! :) Loved it.

[@nathanmerritt1581]

Lol

[@dasappman9321]

This is the language I speak whenever I try to make up my own.

[@macart5429]

Speaking of this: For some time now, I have believed that the Vilane Languages of the Red Zora Valley(located in Minecraft nation of Novekia) are related to Basque. They simultaneously developed from the sounds of a certain villager tribe in the area. I speak one of Vilane languages fluently.

[@Schwarzkald]

It sounds like Finno-Ugaric.

[@volvagianintendo6465]

Why is his tonguefall so nosened?

[@Xiodeminsa]

Really good accent man, i live in Berriatua and used to live in Lekeitio and people around here doesnt have that kind of accent but it sure is from Bizkaia. Agur eta ondo izan.

[@EnglishWithBlake]

Thank you for posting this! I've spent a long time trying to find a video of Basque being spoken without a thick Spanish accent. It sounds beautiful.

[@MrMikkyn]

This language sounds so cool. Its sounds like Russian, Moroccan Darija, Mongolian, Greenlandic, European Portuguese

[@tigran1982]

It sounds like a Semitic language that has been isolated from others in its group and has had a tremendous influence from Romance languages over a long period of time. I think it might be a Semitic-Romance hybrid much like the Maltese language.

[@Fatasha776]

It’s defo not Semitic

[@ДимитърМитов-ш6ю]

omg, this is fucking interesting, you can hear how he pronounces J as ZH

[@andrewwg.6892]

Hi, I actually used the j-letter which is a beautiful way to represent it using the Latin influence, however, the [ʒ] sound is also represented with dx-letter from the Basque root, that's how I personally like it but it might've seemed kinda weird for many people because that letter has unfortunately faded away a lot.

[@ToutCQJM]

I’m learning Euskera. Little by little.

[@igor3601]

Meritua dezu, bejon deizula!!!

[@ricosuave7102]

I wonder if the early basque people could understand you? The language seems to have some influence by Latin and possibly some other languages but I am just speculating.

[@Someone-ym1ny]

Gosh it almost sounds Southeast Asian! Super cool to hear how the language sounds without the Spanish influence

[@bustavonnutz]

His accent is flawless for his region compared to old clips/interviews I've seen of the dialect, I've never heard Basque spoken by anyone his age without a super thick Spanish accent, so it's funny seeing so-called Basque speakers in the comments nitpicking his pronunciation as "American". I'm convinced most Spainiards haven't heard a legitimate Euskara accent in their entire lives.

[@Gens324]

Lol is It me or he has a strong English accent?

[@DoraEmon-xf8br]

I can’t decide if he is an American speaking Euskara, a Basque American or a native speaker of the Biscayan dialect. Especially around 0:13. I’m quite used to hearing French Basque speakers and people around the Guipuzkoa area but I never heard other accents.

[@keptins]

Most definitely

[@Terrus_38]

@@DoraEmon-xf8br He's a Basque from America.

[@xalima8101]

No lo dudes

[@xalima8101]

@@zlo8389 Es cierto que no tiene el típico acento norteamericano pero tampoco lo puedo asegurar porque no hablo vasco. Eso sí, reconozco perfectamente el sonido de esa lengua y si no apareciera escrito que está hablando vasco, jamás lo diría. Solo hay que leer lo que comentan las personas que han oído el vídeo: que si suena como persa, que si es como chino, que si parece un polaco o un brasileño hablando vasco... Con eso te digo todo.

[@MrAllmightyCornholioz]

Sounds like a Spaniard speaking a language they've learned from outer space.

[@pyrenaea3019]

Jesus, zenbat euskaldun!!

[@alquime8846]

I am from Euzkadi and it doesn't sound right,,,,,,the tonation is wrong,,,,,if you think just reading euzkera is easy,,,,you need to practices mate

[@DoraEmon-xf8br]

He has a very foreign pronounciation. This is disturbing.

[@alquime8846]

@@DoraEmon-xf8br,,,,well "disturbing " is too strong word,,,,,I didn't critize him,,( he does an amazing work),,,,my desire was to clarify than it does not sound like that the tonation,,,thats all

[@DavitBarbakadze]

Sounds Caucasian.

[@MojaKravica1985]

This is inaccurate he has a gayccent.

[@beefcakepantiehoes]

Am I hearing him actually using the “‘Ayn” and “ṣād” sounds that are in Arabic?

[@zumett1114]

Gora euskara 💪💪 eta gora Euskal Herria💪💪

[@tholian_web]

Euskara is so fascinating. It is a very ancient language, possibly tens of thousands of years old. It existed before the Indo-European languages came into Europe. My ancestry DNA showed me to be 2% Basque. Whoopee!

[@IsenoAlpha]

So even though this isn't what typical Basque that you're likely to find sounds like I've yet to hear any Basque spoken by people in the French part of the region. Since some people are saying that Basque may have influenced Spanish and not the other way around, it may not be as different as I'm imagining but considering how hard France was on the language through its history I'd be surprised if there wasn't at least some French influence on it.

[@GeorgiosB]

I'm interested to know where the sibilance comes from as Castilian Spanish (which is the other official language of the Basque region) as lisped "s" sounds to avid sibilance.

[@swish043]

I've heard of this language but never imagined it sounded like this! It sounds like a strange mixture (to me) of Hindi, Thai, and Arabic (?). What on earth? My boyfriend said it sounds like Arabic mixed with aliens 😆 He has misophonia and did not have a good time with me playing this on full volume (with all the uvular consonants and heavily rolled R's).

[@JTomas96]

He speaks REALLY REALLY AWFUL(His consonants are good tho) This is real basque: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nGbOq3yQd7qcf9k His pitch is TOO HIGH.

[@Rolando_Cueva]

There are no uvular consonants.

[@OffGridInvestor]

It sounds like that high pitch Russian singer Vitas trying to sing arabic.

[@OffGridInvestor]

It sounds like that high pitch Russian singer Vitas trying to sing arabic.

[@cen80]

It sounds like a mix of old turkish, spanish and a slavic language.

[@nathanmerritt1581]

Spanish sounds nothing like this language.

[@DoreenBellDotan]

Is there a connection between the Basque People and the far East? Your intonation and cadence sounds far Eastern to my ear.

[@DoreenBellDotan]

I hear elements of Arabic in it too.

[@ellobo3175]

This is the very first time I'm hearing this language. I heard it's the only language based on no linguistic family. Sounds like nothing I've ever heard. So interesting! So cool!

[@dayalasingh5853]

There are other languages that don't have a language family. Haida is one spoken on the islands of British Columbia

[@jzaar7483]

There are plenty of examples of language isolates, but Basque is the only one in Europe.

[@reinoud6377]

Oddly enough the KZbins captions algorithm suggested Indonesian?

[@miklosdavid7627]

I was curious to find out what Basque would sound like and it was a terrific experience. I expected lots of influence of Spanish but could not detect much of that. Interestingly I captured some remarkably similar accentuation to Japanese. Well, I'll give it another try sometime, it is fascinating knowing the background of Basque.