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Blanka, is from Hungary and is 25 years old.  She heard her first words of Basque working as a nanny in Plentzia, (Bizkaia).  Christian is also 25 and is from Germany and he started learning Basque because he knew in Germany a teacher native of Leketiio.  The two have spent this summer at a Barnetegi in Amorebieta - Zornotza.  Interview by Yolanda Veiga, published by El Correo. 

Yolanda Veiga/Amorebieta, Bizkaia. It was a coincidence, and she didn’t yet know the idiosyncrasies of the country, because A'gota Blanka Krizsàn (Hungary, 25) chose Seville and Plentzia as destinations to improve her Spanish.  “The first day I arrived to Andalucía I call my mom: “Hi, I’m somewhere where they are Spanish but they don’t speak Spanish!”  And for the first month, I couldn’t understand a word they said.  After nearly six months of studying I came to spend the summer in Plentzia, to work as a nanny, and I called my mom again: “Now it seems I’m in another place where they aren’t Spanish but they speak Spanish (laughing).”

Blanka tells the story in above average Castilian, although she has a degree in German Philology.  Now she is giving Basque a try, fighting “with demonstratives,” and “nork.” She is one of the foreign students in a group of 80 that spend the summer studying Basque at the Barnetegi (boarding school) in Zornotza. There is also a girl from Italy and Christian Hahne, who is 26 and German that can speak almost perfect Spanish.  He could do the same in Basque since he already has a pretty good level.  He studied English Philology and some Spanish, he speaks “a little” Portuguese, Catalan and Basque.  He began Basque with Unai Lauzirika, who is from Lekeitio and who teaches Basque at a University in Germany where Christian studies and now does translation.  “There, there are classes in Galician, Catalan and Euskera.  I began with Catalan but the professor that taught me let it go to become a monk.  During his going-away party, I met Unai who was passing out pamphlets for an intensive Basque course in February.  Since February and March in Germany are school breaks, I enrolled.” Now i can recognize a Gatibu song from the first chords.

A'GOTA BLANKA KRIZSÀN

From: Hungary
Studies: German Philology
Connection to Euskadi: «I watched “Vaya Semanita” online on ETB and I used to find Basque music on YouTube.  I love Su Ta Gar and Basaki”

CHRISTIAN HAHNE

From: Germany
Studies: Degree in English Philology. Is now studying translation from Spanish to German
“Similarities”: «We have a similar log chopping sport.  The difference is that here they are more dedicated to it (laugh) »
Music: «I like Gatibu, Ruper Ordorika...»

You can hear (Gatibu) during the break that they have mid-morning at the barnetegi in Amorebieta, among them is a boy from Valladolid who has been here before.  During July and August the center organizes intensive courses that are two weeks long, 8 hours a day, with only a half-hour break at 11:30am and an hour for lunch at midday.  They finish at 6:30pm and then they go to town (a good 10 minutes’ walk) or they participate in activities organized at the barnetegi, from Zumba to self-defense to bertsolaritza “I have to confess that I miss the nap after class.  I share a room with three other boys and they snore so I don’t sleep well at night,” Christian jokes.

Blanka doesn’t have this problem.  Nor another problem that she does have in the summer in Hungary…the heat.  “There, it is 38 degrees, and too hot.  So I will miss the rain from here.”  “Sirimiri,” her colleague corrects her, pointing to the window.  A fine rain is falling that won’t last more than 15 minutes and is enough to lower the temperature to 20 degrees that would have been more at noon with the sun.

This is the first barnetegi experience for them both (they began on the 1^st and will end tomorrow) and they have come with a scholarship from the Etxepare Basque Institute.  “They cover tuition, and lodging (they stay at the euskaltegi) so all we have to pay for is getting here.”

Both were already familiar with the area. Blanka because she was a nanny three summers ago at a house in Plentzia “the family was looking for a nanny that would speak German to the kids, and since I studied German Philology…” and Christian because he was on the Erasmus Program in Bilbao.  “At first I had chosen Portugal as my destination, but I changed it at the last minute and came and studied at the University of Deusto for six months.  I live in the neighborhood of San Francisco and when the weather was nice I would escape to the beach in Sopelana.  I am really going to miss the ocean when I go back to Gemany…Well, I’ll also miss the pintxos, of course.”

In regards to Portugal, and Portuguese, he tells a funny story.  “I had studied a little Portuguese at the University, and that coincided with a trip to Barcelona.  When I got there, I was really surprised and I thought ‘How strange for so many people to speak Portuguese here!  They weren’t speaking Portuguese, obviously.  It was Catalan but I was confused because the pronunciation is similar, nothing like the sound of Spanish or Basque.”

Both of them love the musicality of Euskera, a language that they didn’t have much prior knowledge of.  “What I like the most are the ‘false friends’ words that are spelled the same in Hungarian and in Basque but that have very distinct meaning.  Like “erre” that means to smoke in Basque, or burn, and in Hungarian we use it to say “this way.” It is really funny.”

Kalimotxo, the connection between Euskadi, Germany and Hungary

They were looking for something in common, a connection between Euskadi, Hungary and Germany, and they found it in the Kalimotxo!  Blanka says that she prefers cider because she gets tired of Kalimotxo.  They used to drink it as kids in Hungary, the same combination of red wine and cola that they call 'vadàsz,’ that means “hunter.”  In Germany the Kalimotxo is called “Kalte muschi.”  “It is pronounced ‘kalte muxi,” similar to the Basque work because it was imported by Germans who had been in the Basque Country and discovered the drink,” Chrstian explains that the name because it is a pun of questionable taste.  “Kalte” means cold (it must be a “false friend” that Blanka was talking about because it exists in Basque and means “harm”) and the polemic comes from the ‘muschi.”  It can be translated as cat or in another way that we will save because the combination is vulgar.”

Have you learned a work or expression lately that has gotten your attention?

Kutxazain automatikoa (ATM), ha, ha.

Blanka was introduced to Basque by a professor that taught Basque culture and history at the University of Hungary.  “I wanted to study something different.”  But this was only basic Basque so she doesn’t dare do the interview in Euskera.  Neither in English, because she has only been studying that for five months.  “I don’t like English, I thought I could get away without studying it, but now I realize that, that would be impossible.”

Christian speaks great English and pretty good Basque “I am between fourth and fifth levels,” he explains, what I study in Germany and with Erasmus in Deusto, where there are some English classes, others in Spanish and some in Basque.  In addition, he is also in touch with the Euskal Etxea in Berlin.  “This Basque club is different from others, it wasn’t founded by Basques.  I think that a group of Germans who didn’t want the bombing of Gernika by the German Condor Legion to be forgotten.  In fact, there near the Spanish Avenue, there is a plaza called Gernika.  And there is also a cultural association with the same name.” So he won’t have any trouble finding someone to practice Basque with at home.  Blanka may have a harder time since in Hungary, Basque is quite anecdotal, but she is going to keep studying, until she masters the demonstratives. 

 (Originally published in El Correo)