Maria has taught Euskara for twenty years in the Basque Country. Now for two summers in a row she has traveled to California to participate in conversation classes to help the Basques of Chino learn Euskara.  The work of a Basque teacher is never done.

Originally published Sept. 12, 2007 by John M. Ysursa.  Neither NABO or the Basque Government is responsible for the following content. For more information, or to get on our email list, send your name & email address to: info@nabasque.org 

"EUTSI" in Euskara means to maintain or sustain. That is what we'd like to say to Maria Kaltzada. It all started with a dream of going to California, and to see for herself the Basques who lived there.  When a response came that the Chino Basque Club would host her for a series of Basque language classes, Maria went and bought her airline ticket and was off. The first trip was in the summer of 2006, and it went so well, she returned the following summer. 

Maria is from Dima, in the province of Bizkaia, where she has worked over the last twenty years teaching Euskara, currently at Ulibarri Euskaltegi (Basque language school). She is committed to this because she believes that language is a key element of a people and culture.  When asked why couldn't the Basques do like the Irish, who made a linguistic shift more-so to English from Irish, she replied that maybe "we are more stubborn."  But it was more than that she continued.  "Basques refer to themselves as Euskalduna, which if you look in the dictionary means one who speaks Basques."  It is the language of Euskara, therefore, that has served to define the Basque people for thousands of years.

Over the summer of 2006 and 2007, Maria traveled to California for three weeks at a time to participate in conversation classes for Euskara-Basque learners in Chino, California.  The Chino Basque Club (clubhouse pictured) like other Basque clubs in NABO are at work providing lessons for those who  want to learn Euskara.  To find out about possible lessons in your area click on Basque club classes

Euskara is Europe's oldest language.  What this means is that when the Romans arrived at their European homeland, they found a people there they called the "Vascones" who spoke their own language.  From the Roman Latin later derived the languages of today's neighbors of the Basques.

Maria derives great pleasure from her job when a student really learns the language, but it's not just the language.  The greatest reward for her is being able to add another speaker of Basque, thus being able to introduce someone else into the "hidden world" of the Basques.  While teaching the language she endeavors to transmit the culture and traditions of the Basques, some of which are not readily accessible to non-Basque speakers because frankly, some things just don't translate.  Her work allows people to go into the world of the Basques that is not necessarily self-evident even in the Basque Country!

Entering this Basque world, Maria stated, will surely yield many surprises.  "You'll find that as a people we are hard workers, but more importantly we're also a nice, decent people."  She's not certain of the exact origin of these cultural traits, but believes that as a people Basques have been transmitting these and other aspects continuously across the generations.

One of the more profound exhibits at the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum is one designed by Jenny Holzer (b. 1950, Gallipolis, Ohio, U.S.A.). It consists of columns of scrolling words in Spanish and English in red lights, that when first seen appear to be up against a dark wall.  But if one moves closer, you find that the nine LED light columns are actually double-sided and in front of the wall. Stepping through the light columns you turn to find scrolling words in blue lights of the Basque language (as seen in the image at left).  It is a perfect metaphor for Basque culture because in many ways the world of the Basques remains hidden from view, even in the Basque homeland!  To ultimately discover that world one needs to know Euskara or the Basque language because frankly, some things in life just don't translate. That is why people like Maria continue to make the effort to teach the language, allowing others to enter into this unique world, and to keep that world on the other side of the lights alive.

Generally optimistic in outlook, Maria confides that all is not well in the Basque world.  "We are experiencing a cultural crisis where we have lost our way in some respects" she stated, "as if we are now orphaned." In terms of the language, she has found that most "do not learn it out of a genuine desire; they don't really internalize it."  Too often, she finds, people in the Basque Country conclude that they don't need to bother learning Euskara "because they can get by in Spanish [or French]."   While the number of people who know Basque continues to grow, the actual number of people who use the language remains constant." Euskadi (the provinces of Araba, Bizkaia & Gipuzkoa) has two official languages but "a good many people are put-off by having to learn and use Euskara" she laments.

Shifting to her experience of teaching Basque at the Chino Basque Club in California, she spoke about how impressed she was by the degree of "Euskara use after 40 or 50 years among the immigrant generation.  Many have also passed Euskara on to the children."  In Chino she found some wanting to learn the Basque language even though in the Basque Diaspora (Euspora) there was even less practical use than in the Basque homeland.  Here she believed that European Basques had something to learn from the Basques living in the Diaspora.  But she admitted that most Europeans are unaware of what happens here in our Basque communities.

Euskara is Europe's oldest language.  What this means is that when the Romans arrived at their European homeland, they found a people there they called the "Vascones" who spoke their own language.  From the Roman Latin later derived the languages of today's neighbors of the Basques.

Maria continues to work to teach the language, both in Euskadi and when she can here in the U.S. (to find out about the possibility of having a Basque instructor stay with you click on Hosting visiting instructors), because she believes that there is still a window of opportunity "but we need the will and a stronger commitment."  There will continue to be "more hard work ahead if we are going to succeed in keeping Europe's oldest language alive."

Her final comment were words of congratulations and thanks to those who are working here to preserve the Basque language.  They too have understood what is at hand, as stated in an Oskorri song "Ez al dakizu Euskara dela, Euskaldun egiten gaituena" (Don't you know that it is speaking Basque that makes us Basque)?  Her final statement was EUTSI EUSKARARI!

  Eutsi Maria!