Leire Ventas is a Basque journalist working from London for the Latin American service of the BBC. She just made us jump for joy when she shared this magnificent video explaining what Basque is for the Spanish-language version of British public television.
We’ve brought you many BBC articles on Basque subjects, and regarding Basques, in July 1997, they published a magnificent article titled “The mysterious origins of Europe’s oldest language”, in which they also covered the language of the Basques.
But Leire Ventas’ video has something special. It’s been made by a Basque person who speaks the language and once to share it with the world. And you can tell she does so with passion and affection.
At the end of the video, she comments that if those watching want to know more about the history of the Basques, they should say so in the comments. We tell her here: we do. Moreover, we’d love it if this video, and all the videos she does on these topics, were translated into English, even if just with subtitles.
This small people that, as Voltaire described, lives and dances at the feet of the Pyrenees, needs to be known for what it is, and not for what others say it is (or isn’t). The intensity of our mark on the world is a small miracle if we remember how small the Basque population is and always has been. And it’s hard for anyone to find that mark, which is so important in the Americas, if we’re not recognized for what we are: Basques.
But the authentic miracle of this people, just like its language, is that it has survived for thousands of years, despite all the buffeting it has had to endure in this corner of Europe on the shores of the Bay of Biscay.
By the way, the comments to the YouTube video are full of people from all over the New World asking for more information about the Basques.
Leire Ventas, eskerrik asko!!!
BBC Mundo – 30/8/2021 – Great Britain
El enigma del origen (y otras curiosidades) del euskera, la singular lengua de los vascos
Vivo y diferente, es motivo de orgullo para los vascos y se calcula que unos 700.000 lo hablan actualmente. Usado en las regiones de Navarra y País Vasco, en el norte de España, y el suroeste de Francia, el euskera es un misterio.
No tiene origen conocido ni relación con otro idioma, una anomalía que ha mantenido confundidos a los expertos en lingüística durante mucho tiempo.
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Last Updated on Aug 31, 2021 by About Basque Country