Mikel Iturbe: "Keith Johnson 'Wall Street Journal'-eko kazetariari bidalitako e-posta"

1- "it is an ancient language little suited to contemporary life" Well Mr. Johnson, I speak to my relatives, friends, classmates... in Basque. I even study Physics in Basque. Nowadays, scientific articles, newspapers, essays, books... are written in Basque language, and it has nothing to envy to Spanish, French or English versions in terms of accuracy, preciseness and comprehensibility.

2-"Airport, science, Renaissance, democracy, government, and independence, for example, are all newly minted words with no roots in traditional Euskera: aireportu, zientzia, errenazimentu, demokrazia, gobernu, independentzia." Asuming that all the words you have put have never existed before in Basque (which is a wrong assumtion) In all languages new words are created as the society grows and develops and so does the register or vocabulary. So does in English, as Shakespeare never wrote in Hamlet words as nanotechnology, internet or football.

3-"Euskera use has also allowed separatists to control the curriculum" The Basque languages is an heritage for -and of- ALL the Basque people, it has nothing to do with politics.

4-" Many Basque speakers still feel discriminated against because of the pervasiveness of Spanish." Well, I still feel discriminated, because every time I have to go to the doctor or having any other conversation with a civil servant (which is a civil servant ALL of the Basque people, Basque speakers and non-Basque speakers) I have to switch to Spanish, a language that maybe I do not speak as well as Basque, that is why we feel discriminated, because we can not speak in Basque in much of everyday situations. Thus, that discrimination exists.

5- "But back in the classroom, most of the frustration seems to be with the dense grammar, forthcoming exams, and the difficulty of finding quality shows on Basque TV." All language grammar is dense to deal with. Basque is as difficult to learn for adults as Spanish, English or Swahili, there are no difficult or easy languages, they are just different.

I apologize for mistakes or harsh language I have might used unconsciously due to my lack of English language mastering.

I look forward to hearing from you soon,
Yours sincerely,

Mikel Iturbe