LingoflyStories over dinner in Basque
In the evening at the table friends exchange stories in Basque. 6 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Kontatu zer gertatu zitzaizun larunbatean: denak horretaz ari dira hizketan!» — Tell me what happened to you on Saturday: everybody is talking about it!; «Honela gertatu zen: gau erdian zarata handia entzun nuen sukaldean.» — It went like this: at night in the kitchen I heard a loud noise. Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: in the evening at the table friends exchange stories. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- Kontatu zer gertatu zitzaizun larunbatean: denak horretaz ari dira hizketan!Tell me what happened to you on Saturday: everybody is talking about it!
- It went like this: at night in the kitchen I heard a loud noise.
Lines one by one
| Basque | Translation |
|---|---|
| Kontatu zer gertatu zitzaizun larunbatean: denak horretaz ari dira hizketan! | Tell me what happened to you on Saturday: everybody is talking about it! |
| Honela gertatu zen: gau erdian zarata handia entzun nuen sukaldean. | It went like this: at night in the kitchen I heard a loud noise. |
| Zer zen? Esan ordenan, mesedez. | What was it? Tell it in order, please. |
| Katua zen, baina ia poliziari deitu nion: hotsa hain handia zen! | It was the cat, but I nearly called the police: the sound was so loud! |
| Nire aitonak antzeko istorioa du: itsasoan ekaitzak harrapatu zituen, eta ia ez ziren heldu. | My grandfather has a similar story: a storm caught them at sea, and they nearly did not make it. |
| Bai, halako istorioak ezin dira utzi: egunen batean, suaren ondoan, kontatzeko eskatuko dizut. | Yes, one cannot tear oneself away from those: some day, by the fire, I will ask him to tell it. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Basque in this situation?
“Kontatu zer gertatu zitzaizun larunbatean: denak horretaz ari dira hizketan!” — Tell me what happened to you on Saturday: everybody is talking about it! The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.