Europe Trip # 19 - San Sebastian and Basque Language?!?

[bar06]

I did go to the Basque country in Spain, and I loved it. when are you taveling again?

[AphobicSteve]

The point of this video was not to mock the language at all. It was just to point out that typical anglophones aren't able to pick out any recognizable words from a street sign such as the one in the video. Obviously, the sign makes sense to Basque-speakers, but to those who don't know any Basque, it's gibberish.

[19spain93]

lol thats funny at the end

[CrazyNative4]

dude, you are funny! if i get pissed off i'll watch this for 17 seconds and laugh my ass off! and cough hard as hell, and i'll have to put my hands in the air !!!!! :-)

[teresamugarza]

it might not make sense to you but to people who speaks the basque language it makes perfect sense and remember basque is one of the oldest language in the world they don't even know where it comes from.

[captnkid100]

north spain is beautiful. asturias,arragon also. Eta still controls all. Soon freedom will come for the basque area

[SuperPeru2009]

@captnkid100 ETA does not control it? wtf ? unfortunetly without international help the basque country will never be an independant country. so sad but true. spaniards are full of shit and they know it yet they dont care. imperialist mother fuckers.

[robertemmet04]

it is not spain its euskal herria/ basque country.

[freoltic]

linguist, say that their tongue is autochtone of europe and not indo european, and the genetic say that the male ancestor is indo european at 80% and the women ancestor are native european. so the men learn the old tongue of their wife. sorry for my english

[THEcontinanza]

LOL

[hittite1]

basque and aramaic are related?? are you kidding me? basque is a linguistic isolate only related to its distant ancestors of iberian and tartessian. aramaic is a semitic tongue related to hebrew.

[ArranoGris]

Where do you get that similarities between Euskera and Aramaic "have been found"?

[CrazyNative4]

funny ! :) but cool !

[BobMonkfish]

Oh wow, the Basques speak their own "strange" language. Like a lot of other foreigners. Get over it!

[Radha994]

lol

[swejudnih]

of course it doesn't make sense it's a different language -.-

[ukrainegirl]

Bahahaha I completely agree! I was there in August 2007 (French Basque country and San Sebastian -- beautiful!) and the language was just nuts. However I'm growing more and more curious about it...I'm thinking maybe I'll take it up! Hopefully I'll get to go back there soon and I hope you liked it in San Sebastian :)

[irrabmaralekim]

Good luck, it's very hard to learn

[Nida081]

Basque (Euskadi) Language I want to go basque country =)

[ilargitxo2]

Euskadi doesn't mean basque or basque language, Euskadi is the basque word to design the Basque Country.

[Arstim]

basque= euskara, right?

[ilargitxo2]

ya well basque = EUSKERA with E in the second vowel too.

EUSKADI = BASQUE COUNTRY

[jamesmarsdenisababe]

hahaha, I was just in Spain on an exchange I was staying in Santander and my friend was staying there in San Sebastian so I went I there.....I bought a Loreak Mendian sweater, really popular Basque brand over there....I forget what it means, something to do with flowers of the valley??? I can't remember

[itziitxu]

jajaj it's flowers in the mountain, it really doesnt have much sense xD

[xhemexx]

Ok I want an answer right now if there is an answer.

What are the origins of the Basques and their language??, and have Linguists found any relationship between it and any other language??

[shafuska]

what the sign says is: REMINDER - Pedestrians have the right of way

[toutefois1]

Americans used Basque as a coded language during WW II in the battles against Japan. Kind of a secret language through the pacific, cause many japanese knew English. There're many Basque descendants in California, Ohio, Idaho, Florida... The first man ever around the world was a Basque guy: Juan Sebastian ELKANO (XVI. century)

[bulletofdarkness]

Lol, no it wasn't, it was Magalhães, Megallean in English, a Portuguese sailor who deserted to Spain and worked for the Spanish crown.

[toutefois1]

He was killed in Argentina, so he didn't complete the trip around the world. Threre's even a place called strait of Magallanes.

[jfrd28]

who's the one killed in Argentina? Magalhaes? or Elcano?

[toutefois1]

Magalhaes was killed in Argetina. Elkano survived and completed the first trip ever around the world.

[jfrd28]

That's not right. Magalhaes was killed in the Philippine by natives. Elcano survived though.

[toutefois1]

Yeah, that's right. He was killed in the Philippines. It's Argentina where the Strait of Magallanes is. Anyway, Elkano was Basque and the first man who travelled around the world.

[jfrd28]

haha... i love Basque surnames :D

[mmgoicochea]

@jfrd28  me too LOL

[robertdegiro]

yo he estado a sansebastian en la costa norte del atlantic in españa la gente muy alegre down there lots of toreros

[ilargitxo2]

What are you saying? lots of toreros in San Sebastián? are you crazy? toreros and toros are from andalucía like flamenco, sevillanas and etc. don't think that spain is the same everyway, we are a very diverse country.

[toocaran]

Ignorant fucken yank.

[caligulrlc85]

hey he could be canadian :)

[caligulrlc85]

aw damn he is an American and to make it worse he is a flippin Californian, he should probably know that the second largest Basque population is in California, I am American and a Californian and Basque and I am not as ignorant as him, :) sorry for those that make us look bad

[toocaran]

haha na i was just sayin it about this bloke, i'm sure every country has people like him, including australia : P

oh and do ya wanna teach me euskara!? i reckon it's the craziest language, so complicated.

[Cam50000]

Basque was ranked the most difficult language to learn in the world.

[bizkaya]

uhm.. i really doubt that. i know only 2 languages so far (greek and english, i m greek btw) and for the last month i m trying to learn basque. although its different from other languages, its not so hard.. you only have to try.

[caligulrlc85]

lol could you give us a link to that fact because I googled it and did not find anything that supports your claim so no offense but I think your pulling that out of your ass

[Cam50000]

I forget where I first read it, but if you google "basque most difficult language to learn", you'll probably find something.

[saturdayboy]

I liked the video, but you forgot that for basque "talibans" talking about basque language in those terms is like drawing pictures of mahomet for muslims. Don't blame all the basques for that attitude.

[wikipeixx]

soy de madrid y he aprendido un poco de euskera. suficiente pa entender gogoratu y lehentasuna. entender los carteles de la calle no es nada complicado lo dificil es hablar con un anciano de aretxabaleta

[euskaledge]

de aretxabaleta? pues vaya. yo les entiendo bastante bien.

[airoa]

How can you be an idiot in few words. Be an American.

[mbychows]

So now people are idiots because they don't understand a language that is totally unlike any language in the world? Basque/Euskara has basically no connection to any other language, so it's forgivable. I can typically read a foreign street sign in a language that uses the latin alphabet, but I didn't have a clue about this sign either. By the way, until you learn to put question marks at the end of sentences, I wouldn't go around accusing people of idiocy.

[airoa]

It's not because the guy doesn't get any word in Basque. It is the simply way he's acting.

[FarfettilLejl]

@mbychows «Przejście tylko dla pieszych» - can you read this?

[dairokutenmaoh]

And it's se-bas-TIAN, not se-BAS-chun!!! Yankee idiota!

[antidote2010]

wow, what a no-brainer. LOL.

[dajwilkinson]

What a sad American! The Latin alphabet makes Basque perfectly readable. I have Wim Jansen's book Beginner's Basque and I worked out "lehentasuna" at once ("first"+"-ness"+"the"). I find it easier than Spanish precisely because you can assume nothing - which means you take time to learn it properly. If you go to Menorca or Ibiza you will find Basque labels on products in the shops and knowing this language will fill in the gaps if, like me, your Spanish is not too good!

[nietsmmar2]

indeed my friend.. and even easier when u also know Spanish..

[ramabude]

...dude, what yu will find on labels in Minorca and Eivissa is Catalan, not Basque.

[ezzaizuinporta]

Gogoratu (Remember)

Oinezkoen (Pedestrian)

Lehentasuna (Priority)

[Martinijuseh64]

Hello, I'm Basque, my english isn't very good but i'm going to try to translate...

Gogoratu oinezkoen lehentasuna

Remember, priority to the "pieton" (or "walkers" I don't know how to say this word)

In French now if you want,

Souvenez-vous, priorité au piétons.

Gora Eukera !!!

[dairokutenmaoh]

Hablas frances tambien? Que interesante!

[Kyle359]

Basque is believed to be a language isolate; that is, a language that has not been influenced by others. In this case, it's not even in the Indo-European line of languages. Which leads me to believe the Basques were there long before anyone else. Their ancestors may very well have also been the first inhabitants of the Americas. Truly amazing people.

[datokardu]

basque language has connection only with Georgian, caucasian language tree, whch is uniqe among other langueges, it is not indo europena, it is ibero-Caucasian language tree, among which is Basque language

respect to my brother basques

Iberia, Georgia, Tbilisi

[etxebe]

those are only THEORIES, we dont know anything true right now about the origines of the euskera

[datokardu]

Man, what i wrote was not theories, Linguisticaly it is so,it is fact,check it out

[Mike10023z]

That theory was debunked.

[Melkotz]

En Donosti los letreros están bilingües. Seguro que había otro letrero cerca en castellano.

[ao4930]

hey im basque, but i agree i have no clue what it says but im trying to learn :-)

[ao4930]

hey im basque, but i agree i have no clue what it says but im trying to learn :-)

[timv17]

It is possible you don't understand it, but that doesn't mean it makes no sense whatsoever.

[gorkalopez]

basque country IS NOT SPAINNNNNNNNNN

[achavez78]

Catalunya is not Spain!!! Fuck Madird!

[nojisumire]

jajaaa, no me sorprenderia en absoluto si en madrid todos dijeran "a la mierda con españa, que somos madrileños"

[marineengine]

And it's not in the the north central part of the peninsula...

[gorkalopez]

peninsula geografia

españa politica

[drchepa]

preference to the walkers, but not rangers, dear american fellow!...

[zirauna]

"absolutely impossible to read" kar kar kar zer diño honek!

[vordmeils]

Freedom for the basque country

[uwemuelle]

Actually and politically South Basque Country still is in Spain.

But a lot of Basque don´t feel their selves Spanish, it´s another culture.

Remember that Basque are the main attention of  politicals to avoid real hard nation problems

[Chio2981]

yo daría lo que fuera por estar en esa bella cuidad!!!

[goragutagutarrok]

viciosillok dio herrialde desberdinetako euskaldunok ez dugula elkar ulertzen. oker dabil, ni bizkaitarra naiz eta iparraldeko batekin ere mintza naiteke euskeraz, bai bizkaieraz zein batueraz. hala ere ez nau harritzen hori entzuteak, hedabide espainiarrek heien lana ondo bete dutela esango nikek.

[viciosillo]

the language of this sign is unified basque, this language make it does little because in many places of basque country the people speaked differents dialects of basque and the basque people didn't understand between them...

Thank you because you are american and you travel, the american people are not in the habit of travelling, the majority they believe that spain this one in south america!!!

[ladyhalcon111]

You are wrong, there are vasc dialects a bit differents but we can understand between us is only that they thougt that is more easy for a person that wants to learn vasc, to unificate the languaje to learn it betteran and the same thing for the documents. Now the unificated vasc is teached in all the vasc schools but all the town have their little different point of vasc.

[tyler860509]

when i was in the basque country, i never actually HEARD anyone speaking basque. sort of dissapointing...

[kokonus]

where were you then?

[ladyhalcon111]

If you are in a San Sebastian or in Bilbao is more difficult to see people speaking vasc but there is peolple that speaks vasc specially in the towns of Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya.

[bertakola]

este chaval esta tonto o que le pasa!! Como que tendriamos que escribirselo todo en ingles para que no se moleste en nada anda hombre tira pa tu casa!!

KartelaK Euskeraz nozki baietz!! Ze uste du honek!! Gainera beste herrialde batera etorri ta dena bere gustura jarri beharko, hau bai marka!! Mesedez txo gitxienez lotsa apur bat!! Gainera ze uste du eske mekauen la ostia!!

[viciosillo]

Simplemente se ha extrañado el chaval, no llevaba mala intención, seguro que hasta que no viajo al País Vasco no sabia lo del Euskera y la sensibilidad que habia con el tema, demasiado que no es el típico yankee y le ha dado por viajar y ver otras culturas, y no como la mayoría de ellos que creen que Estados Unidos es el centro...

[perenetre]

Basque Country IS in Spain

[bertakola]

perenrtre Basque country in not in spain even another place is not spain is just if you feel that is spain!! And as we dont feel spanish basque country is not in spain!! Come here and you will how many people feels Basque or spanish!!

[perenetre]

No creo que la geografía, el actual mapa político de España dependa de sentimientos.

Respeto tu postura y tu sentimiento (soy español, por suerte o por desgracia). Pero de momento, hasta que el País Vasco no se independice (cosa que espero y deseo) seguirá estando dentro de España.

[bragollach]

Estais ya pesaditos con el tema. Cualkiera q lea mierdas de este estilo pensara que el 90% de los vascos somos independentistas. Soy vasco amante de mi tierra y amo euskadi pero no entiendo esa necesidad de insultar/picar/joder/menosprec­iar a los "españoles", termino despectivo con el que os referis a cualquier español que no sea vasco. Que hablamos el mismo idioma coño!

[koroezkurdia]

perdona pero yo hablo ingles y no por eso soy inglesa.

si me siento vasca me siento vasca porque he nacido y crecido en una tierra que no reconozco como España. No es por joder/insultar/menospreciar a nadie, simplemente deseo que se respete nuestro derecho de defender y reconocer nuestra tierra como un lugar unico e independiente.

[perenetre]

Antiguamente no suponía ningún problema para los vascos decir que primero se era tal y luego español. Pero ahora que el nacionalismo es la doctrina impuesta y la única respetada...

Me quedo con la idea de Bernardo Atxaga de Euskal Iria, la ciudad vasca en que todo cabe, todas las opciones.

[bertakola]

Tienes razon los vascos decian que eran españoles y lo dirian con orgullo seguramente.A que se deve eso? A que existian los fueros, que daban privilegios a los vascos! tales como el no hacer la mili, autonomia propia para gestionar la economia, aduanas en la mar...etc. Ademas los fueros vascos duraron hasta 1876 y desde entonces lo unico que conservamos es el concierto economico. Cuando abolieron los fueros empezo el sentimiento nacionalista en Euskadi aunqe haya gente q s sienta española

[balearri]

And France also! BAsque Country is not Spain nor France

[Antitodo2889]

Hey Dude! Just For The Record: Basque Country IS NOT In spain.

[PABLOSAIZ]

¡Haiba! ha dicho que el Pais Vasco esta en ``Spain´´ eso es pecado mortal ....

[rb373]

my last nam is Basque yet i have nothing to do with the basqe heritage, not even my ancestors, wierd

[Biscaine]

what can I say? Maybe you or one of your ancestors were adopted by Basques?

Also you must remember there is 4 million people in Spain ( outside of Euskal-Herria...) who claim Basque decent.

Are you from Hispanic America? Remember in that part of the world much of the same went on. The evidence is clear with names as Bolibar, Gebara, Mendoza, Aguirre, Garcia etc, etc,.....

[rb373]

yes thats very true, my origin from long ago is somewhat Argentinian, and no-one knew my great great grandfather very well at all, I bet your right

[astivicente]

what is your last name?

[rb373]

astivicente, my last name is Basque just like the region

[ozetabosio]

mas ignorante no podia ser este gringo...

[ilargitxo2]

pues si, pero porq lo dices?

[ozetabosio]

Entendes lo que dice el gringo? Fue a San Sebastian y no puede entender la señales porque estan en una lengua que no se puede entender...¿que las queres en ingles o que?  O sea, andate a japon y espera que todo este en ingles...por eso es ignorante porque el ingles no es el unico idioma que deberias de tomarte la molestia de aprender...Hasta la proxima..

[ilargitxo2]

pero a mi no me lo digas si yo no soy americana

[ozetabosio]

no te lo digo a vos...se lo digo al imbecil del video....Hasta luego...

[ilargitxo2]

pero el no se ríe de nadie ni exige o se queja o hace burla de que los carteles estén en basco y no en inglés o español y de que él no los pueda entender, es más una broma graciosa y inocente que otra cosa como diciendo joder los bascos tienen su lengua propia que es casi imposible de entender.

[ozetabosio]

ta bien pue....

[astivicente]

Yo te doy la razón, creo que lo que hace es más bien burlarse de la lengua de los vascos.

[nojisumire]

ozetabosio: "no puede entender la señales porque estan en una lengua que no se puede entender"

pero...eso es logico, no?

y eso no quiere decir que el tio queria que los señales estuvieran en ingles.

joder, la mayoria de los vascos no puede entender euskera tampoco.

[dontbeakakke]

It is not the most like Aramaic, the Basque language is considered to be a language isolate. Please do some research.

[ilargitxo2]

to who are you saying this?

[dontbeakakke]

Ez zuri, estatu batuetako gizon honi

[ilargitxo2]

I'm not basque only my nickname

[dontbeakakke]

Sorry, I said I was not talking to you, I was talking to the poster of the video.

[ilargitxo2]

ah oks :)

[ilargitxo2]

Hey guys! are you from USA? what did you think about tha Basque Contry (Euskadi)? did you like it? what did you think about Spain?

[astivicente]

Venga yankis, hacedme la pelota!!!

[ilargitxo2]

si yo no soy yanquiiii

[ilargitxo2]

yo no soy yanki, soy española

[PABLOSAIZ]

se refiere al del video bobos

[mantzyvid]

"remember

pedestrian

priority"

Is not so difficult... jejeje