Elgeta, a historically Basque-speaking municipality with a Basque language index exceeding 70%, faces a new challenge. The latest street surveys, conducted in 2021, have revealed that the use of Basque stands at 57.9%, a figure that has raised concerns within the community. To address this situation, the town council plans to design a ten-year strategic plan aimed at strengthening the use of the Basque language.
This plan will not solely be an initiative of the Town Council and UEMA (Association of Basque-Speaking Municipalities); it will actively seek citizen participation. To this end, a questionnaire was distributed, and an open session was held at the town hall to gather input from residents and define the objectives and actions.
“"The Town Council and UEMA can create this plan, but we believe that if we want it to be a plan for the town, more stakeholders must participate in the process. That is, it must be a plan created between the Town Council, UEMA, and the citizens."
The questionnaire was completed by 67 citizens, and several key ideas emerged. Among them, the increasing presence of Spanish in the linguistic habits of children and adolescents was highlighted, along with the Spanish-speaking tendency of many parents and the influence of factors such as screens, social media, and newcomers who do not speak Basque. Furthermore, areas identified for improvement included the use, motivation, awareness, quality of Basque, and the need to maintain it in conversations.
The next steps for the plan will involve organizing the received contributions and sending them to participants for any additional input before compiling the final report. The objective is not merely to create a document, but to propose and implement concrete actions to foster usage, awareness, and motivation, so that Elgeta can once again become a stronghold for the Basque language.
