What does Basque sound like to you?

[Comte Arnau]

e7SeP2lHp0M

D9Dw2t_EEyM

[Damião de Góis]

Foreign and imperceptible :p
The news ladies have a too obvious castillian influence, which is a pitty because it changes somewhat what original basque might have sounded like. On the song that's not true though, not sure why... maybe it has to do with regional differences?

[Comte Arnau]

Foreign and imperceptible :p
The news ladies have a too obvious castillian influence, which is a pitty because it changes somewhat what original basque might have sounded like. On the song that's not true though, not sure why... maybe it has to do with regional differences?

The news presenter has a totally Standard Unified accent. The singers have a dialectal pronunciation. I'd say it is Gipuzcoan Basque, but I'm not an expert.

[Sikeliot]

Sounds like Castilian Spanish phonetics with completely incomprehensible words.

[Damião de Góis]

The news presenter has a totally Standard Unified accent.

That's the standard? Ok...

[leisitox]

Normal spanish phonetic with unknown words :D

[Comte Arnau]

When you say phonetics you refer to the sounds or the intonation?

[leisitox]

When you say phonetics you refer to the sounds or the intonation?

Well, the intonation and sounds are equal. But with unknown words instead.

[askra]

It sounds like an incomprehensible spanish, in particular in the first video.

[Treffie]

I once showed an acquaintance what Basque sounded like. Immediately he said Spanish, but without any knowledge of both languages. To me, there seems to be obvious Castillian intonation, so I wonder what Basque sounded like before the influence of its neighbour.

[Prince Carlo]

These videos make me think Spaniards are just Basque who happen to speak a celto-latin language.

[Comte Arnau]

To me, there seems to be obvious Castillian intonation,

Well, it could also be the other way round... :p

There is a clear difference in intonation in the sense that, unlike Castilian Spanish which is quite monotonous in its intonation, Basques keep most sentences in a gradual in crescendo, holding the breath until it ends up in a high-pitched explotion followed by a final downfall. It is more or less obvious in this couple:


tAtzYJRtvlk


so I wonder what Basque sounded like before the influence of its neighbour.

This guy seems to have a closed accent, he's even subtitled. (Move to 1.20):


kX4n7AYMk_k

[Black Sun Dimension]

Better than catalan.

Sounds hot in fact.

[Nurzat]

it's rather basque-like idioms that made spanish sound like this, and thus differentiating from latin the way it did, so that's why they sound so similar in phonology

compare:
ukrainians from maramuresh and romanians from maramures and hungarians from maramuresh share the very same phonology making each of their dialect (maramuresh ukrainian, maramuresh hungarian, maramuresh romanian) very palatalized and transforming the sounds in the same way, each in its language. why? probably maramuresh people stems mostly from a people prior to ukrainians, magyars or romanians in the region, having a very palatalized language, on which the three languages spoken today overlapped and imposed

[gold_fenix]

it's rather basque-like idioms that made spanish sound like this, and thus differentiating from latin the way it did, so that's why they sound so similar in phonology.


compare:
ukrainians from maramuresh and romanians from maramures and hungarians from maramuresh share the very same phonology making each of their dialect (maramuresh ukrainian, maramuresh hungarian, maramuresh romanian) very palatalized and transforming the sounds in the same way, each in its language. why? probably maramuresh people stems mostly from a people prior to ukrainians, magyars or romanians in the region, having a very palatalized language, on which the three languages spoken today overlapped and imposed

well French and Italian are more sweeter or softer than Spanish, Spanish is more rough and Portuguese sounds extrange, Romanian appears to be a Russian speaking Italian.
There a lot of Basques who speak a Castilian of big quality, indeed is very possible that a basque speak better than me

[Padre Organtino]

I am able to vaguely understand some stuff Spaniards are talking about (when they speak slowely) but it's totally impossibel with Basque that does sound the same.

[Amapola]

Exactly, it's Spanish that takes the intonation from Basque.

[Comte Arnau]

Exactly, it's Spanish that takes the intonation from Basque.

It somehow got lost in its expansion towards the South, though. :D

[Treffie]

Well, it could also be the other way round... :p



Fresa
Exactly, it's Spanish that takes the intonation from Basque.

I was hoping that you'd both say that. :thumb001:

[Comte Arnau]

I was hoping that you'd both say that. :thumb001:

I'd say the proof is that Aragonese and sometimes Gascon have a very Basque-influenced intonation too. :)

[RitinNair]

Sounds like a mix between Spanish and some Dravidian language.
Both talk so fast that it's impossible to understand.

[billErobreren]

It has kind of the same intonation of Castilian but I can't understand a word. some words do sound familiar but I doubt they have the same definition:blink:

[Damião de Góis]

Would be curious to see how a french basque would sound like.

[Neanderthal]

Like gurugghghrghrghhhghrgh.

[Black Sun Dimension]

Like gurugghghrghrghhhghrgh.

jajaja el francés suena como si estuvieras haciendo gárgaras con piedras.

[Lábaru]

I guess the only language similar to the Basque is ancient Iberian language and for that reason none of you will find a familiar word, both Basque and Castilian have changed the intonation throughout the centuries, being influenced each other, and being influenced both by foreigners, from pilgrims traveling to Santiago, and before that by Goths, Arabs, Celts mainly.

The reason that Basque of the news is so similar to Castilian is that Euskera was not used until recently, most of Euskera speakers are Spaniards/Castillian who have taught their children Euskera in the school, words in Euskera with Castilian phonemes.

[perikolez]

I guess the only language similar to the Basque is ancient Iberian language and for that reason none of you will find a familiar word, both Basque and Castilian have changed the intonation throughout the centuries, being influenced each other, and being influenced both by foreigners, from pilgrims traveling to Santiago, and before that by Goths, Arabs, Celts mainly.

The reason that Basque of the news is so similar to Castilian is that Euskera was not used until recently, most of Euskera speakers are Spaniards/Castillian who have taught their children Euskera in the school, words in Euskera with Castilian phonemes.

This thread is a bit old, but I have to answer you because you say false irreal things. Most basque speakers are really old people who have never been taught basque in schools. My parents are basque speakers and they studied in franquist era. They learnt basque at home . The diference between basque old speakers and young basque speakers is that basque young speak more standarized version although most of them follow speaking their own dialect. 100% standard basque is only spoken by castilian speaking people .

Entonation in spanish basque country is similar to castilian , while in french Basque country is similar to french, and not because basque speakers were originally castilian-french speakers(only a fool can think this:D). It is more because of castilian-spanish cultural-educational influence during ages. My grandparents spoke more basquized dialect than my parents whose dialect is more castellanized because they went to the school and received more influences from spanish mass media( television-radio-newspapers).

In my opinion gipuzkoan dialect have the more diferent entonation from castilian, while bizkaian is more similar to castilian although a castilian speakers could understand no more than 10% of bizkaian.

[Kilohertz]

Sorry to necro this thread, but I'd been looking for a discussion on Basque! I just love this language so much; it purrs and rolls around my ears like an auditory massage. :P I also really dig the way Ss and Zs sound. Does anyone else on here speak it? My boyfriend and I are interested in learning it, and I know a few words and some very, very basic grammar points so far - have been teaching myself out of Alan R. King's The Basque Language: A Practical Introduction. A very clear and easy book to follow, and I feel like I've got a good grasp on the pronunciation for a beginner, but if anyone else knows and Basque, I'd love an opportunity to practise. :)

[Comte Arnau]

Sorry to necro this thread, but I'd been looking for a discussion on Basque! I just love this language so much; it purrs and rolls around my ears like an auditory massage. :P I also really dig the way Ss and Zs sound. Does anyone else on here speak it? My boyfriend and I are interested in learning it, and I know a few words and some very, very basic grammar points so far - have been teaching myself out of Alan R. King's The Basque Language: A Practical Introduction. A very clear and easy book to follow, and I feel like I've got a good grasp on the pronunciation for a beginner, but if anyone else knows and Basque, I'd love an opportunity to practise. :)

Nice to know other non-Basques like the language too.

I know the basics but I'm not a Basque and I don't live in a Basque-speaking environment either. If you ever have any questions, just pose them and we'll try and do our best to answer. :)

[Jerreiche]

The news presenter has a totally Standard Unified accent. The singers have a dialectal pronunciation. I'd say it is Gipuzcoan Basque, but I'm not an expert.

Batua is an artificial Language that real Basque speakers can't recognize as their own. Not just a standarization but a complete Frankenstein . It is actually the punchline of many jokes in Euskara. It is only taken seriously by people who are actually Spanish native speakers and want to make a political career.

Most people that learnt Batua at a school forgot most of it when they came into adulthood, and the ones who do remember could hardly have a fluent conversation with a real Basque speaker.

Also, the different Basque dialects are not so mutually unintelligible as we have been lead to believe. They had just different standards and peculiarities (Similar to the many "hablas" or "voces" of the Andalusian group)

Additionally, some have mentioned that Spanish "sounds like basque". It is Spanish that inherited much of Basque's phonetic system and not the other way round

[Jackson]

Sounds like something very strange with bits of Spanish thrown in here and there. :)

[Belenus]

The Spanish influence in phonetics is very strong. There is something about Basque that is quite unique, but at the same time the way it's pronounced and the accent it's spoken in makes it sound like some odd form of Spanish.

[Smaug]

Strange, reminds me of an alien-influenced Italian. But it's a beautiful and unique language indeed, I tried to learn it... nat! And I hate you Count Arnau, that song will stay in my head for a long long time xD

[Kilohertz]

Nice to know other non-Basques like the language too.

I know the basics but I'm not a Basque and I don't live in a Basque-speaking environment either. If you ever have any questions, just pose them and we'll try and do our best to answer. :)

Ederki, eskerrik asko! ;) Curious; do you have any links to sites where I might be able to practise it? I keep looking on all these different language sites, but it seems like nobody really speaks it anywhere D:

[Ibericus]

the basque geniune accent is supposed to be similar to castillian, since the latter took its accent from basque. Castillian was in fact born close to basque speaking area.

[rashka]

Sounds like something between Greek and Albanian with Spanish accent influences.

[Hayalet]

Like Spanish.

[Caismeachd]

To me it sounds Spanish mixed with something a little eastern european. Not as much as Portuguese sounds eastern euro though.

[Demhat]

The song sounds Lazuri/ Laz language or somehow slavic influenced to me.

The news moderator in the first video sounds Spanish with some Georgian influence.

[Apina]

It sounds like Greek spoken by Spanish to me haha

[perikolez]

Batua is an artificial Language that real Basque speakers can't recognize as their own. Not just a standarization but a complete Frankenstein . It is actually the punchline of many jokes in Euskara. It is only taken seriously by people who are actually Spanish native speakers and want to make a political career.

Most people that learnt Batua at a school forgot most of it when they came into adulthood, and the ones who do remember could hardly have a fluent conversation with a real Basque speaker.

Also, the different Basque dialects are not so mutually unintelligible as we have been lead to believe. They had just different standards and peculiarities (Similar to the many "hablas" or "voces" of the Andalusian group)

Additionally, some have mentioned that Spanish "sounds like basque". It is Spanish that inherited much of Basque's phonetic system and not the other way round

Batua isnt so Frankestein. It is based in gipuzkoan and northwestern navarrean dialects. It is a good standard for Gipuzkoa and Navarra , but not so good for Bizkaia. The question is that you have to choose one gramatical-standard dialect, and there will be extreme dialects like bizkaian which no representation in Batua, like "italian" is mainly based in toscano, and german or french based in one or some few dialects.

Basque dialects mutual unintelligibility is overrated. My parents have never spoken with a gipuzkoan in spanish-castilian. They are from Bizkaia near from Bilbao, and they have always used their basque to speak with gipuzkoan dialect speaking people .

[Comte Arnau]

Batua isnt so Frankestein. It is based in gipuzkoan and northwestern navarrean dialects. It is a good standard for Gipuzkoa and Navarra , but not so good for Bizkaia. The question is that you have to choose one gramatical-standard dialect, and there will be extreme dialects like bizkaian which no representation in Batua, like "italian" is mainly based in toscano, and german or french based in one or some few dialects.

Basque dialects mutual unintelligibility is overrated. My parents have never spoken with a gipuzkoan in spanish-castilian. They are from Bizkaia near from Bilbao, and they have always used their basque to speak with gipuzkoan dialect speaking people .

Funny how some Spaniards criticize the Basque standard, as if the Spanish standard was less artificial itself. There's nothing more pathetic than seeing Andalusian TV news presenters forcing themselves to speak a variety that is not theirs.

[Útrám]

Like any other language the lexicon has some recognisable imports, but the native words mine as well be Mayan.
The cadence of newsreaders is in no way reliable, but it's salient how the phonology shares the tune of the region.

[LiberalJew]

it sounds...southern :rolleyes: Just like spanish, greek or italian..I hear no big differences

[Faewerd]

Basque is a remaining of the pre-indo-european languages, completely different from any other european language, it's a precious jewel that must be preserved, it sounds very nice to me.
i wonder if basque has suffered influence from romance languages along time

[Kukulkan]

I like Basque due to it being an isolate, to me it sounds like it uses the phonetics of Spanish, i guess when listening to it( as a non iberian)
it doesn't sound that alien, its mostly in written form you see the true contrast.

and that it seems to share a few characteristics with Portuguese.

[Comte Arnau]

i wonder if basque has suffered influence from romance languages along time

Basque has suffered a lot of influence from several languages, specially the Celtic and Romance ones. It can be seen in a few grammar and derivation aspects, but more obviously in the borrowing of lexicon, first from the Celtic ones (during the 1st millennium BC), then from Latin and some deriving Romance languages (Gascon, Aragonese, Spanish and French).

[Oski Von Skadi]

Russian & Spanish

[SKYNET]

sound a bit like Albanian

[Szegedist]

Romance influence is very noticable

[Roy]

I wonder how it could sound before Spanish influence.:)