Basque language ‘barnetegis’ for university students and students of Basque centres

Over the coming days more than 30 people will take part in full-immersion, intensive Basque courses, known as barnetegis, organised by the Etxepare Basque Institute. Eleven of them are studying Basque language and culture at different universities in the Southern Hemisphere (on summer holidays), while the other 25 are members of the Basque diaspora who are learning Basque through the Euskara Munduan programme to become future Basque teachers in their respective communities.

As a result of the collaboration between Etxepare and the Aurten Bai Foundation, students studying Basque language and culture at universities around the world will be able to study at the barnetegi in Amorebieta. Eleven students have signed up for the programme this year. Two of them, from the University of Chile, will visit the Basque Country from January 17th to 28th to take their respective courses. A further nine students will be joining in online. The latter are students from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina), Universidad de la República (Uruguay) and Pontificia Universidad Católica (Chile).

In addition, as part of the Euskara Munduan programme, the first of the intensive training courses for Basque teachers in South America will be held in 2002. However, due to the pandemic, the course will be held simultaneously in three locations: the Euzkal Etxea in San Nicolás, the Unión Vasca in Bahía Blanca (both in Argentina), and for those who cannot come to either city the course will also be offered by FEVA (Federation of Argentine Basque Entities) via Zoom.

The training will take place from January 15th to 22nd for a total of 25 students: 12 in Bahía Blanca, 7 in San Nicolás and 6 online. The teachers will be Gabriel Arce, Rocío Basterra, Cecilia Canz, Kinku Zinkunegi and Gabriela Mendia.

The students who will be taking part in the barnetegi have been studying Basque since January 2020 and are currently in level B1 as part of their preparation to become Basque teachers in their respective Basque schools.

Euskara Munduan

Through the Euskara Munduan programme, the Etxepare Basque Institute promotes an understanding of the Basque language among Basque communities around the world. The institute subsidises Basque classes taught in Basque schools, provides them with teaching materials, organises language accreditation exams and helps to train Basque teachers, since Basque centres often have to train their own teaching staff.

Around 2,000 people study Basque in Basque schools today and more than 1,800 take classes in Basque language and culture at universities around the world.