LingoflyAt the doctor: a bad back in Basque
At the doctor: back, examination and diagnosis in Basque. 6 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Egun on, doktore. Aste bat daramat bizkarrean mina dudala, eta gauez ezin dut lo egin.» — Good afternoon, doctor. My back has hurt for a week, and at night I cannot sleep. Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: at the doctor: back, examination and diagnosis. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- Ados. Erradiografia non egingo da? Oraintxe bertan?Good. Where will the X-ray be done? Right now?
Lines one by one
| Basque | Translation |
|---|---|
| Egun on, doktore. Aste bat daramat bizkarrean mina dudala, eta gauez ezin dut lo egin. | Good afternoon, doctor. My back has hurt for a week, and at night I cannot sleep. |
| Eseri zaitez, mesedez. Non duzu mina, behean ala goian? Estresatuta al zaude lanarekin? | Sit down, please. Where does it hurt, at the bottom or at the top? Are you stressed because of work? |
| Behean, eta hotzagatik hasi zen, uste dut: leihoaren ondoan lo egiten nuen. | At the bottom, and it started, I think, from the cold: I slept by the window. |
| Hotzak ez du dena azaltzen: azterketa bat egingo dut lehenik, eta gero diagnosia esango dizut. | The cold does not explain everything: first I will do an examination, then I will give the diagnosis. |
| Ados. Erradiografia non egingo da? Oraintxe bertan? | Good. Where will the X-ray be done? Right now? |
| Oraintxe bertan, kezkatu gabe. Analgesiko bat ere emango dizut minaren aurka; albo-ondorio arina besterik ez du. | Right now, do not worry. I will also give you a painkiller against the pain; it has only a mild side effect. |
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?
“Egun on, doktore. Aste bat daramat bizkarrean mina dudala, eta gauez ezin dut lo egin.” — Good afternoon, doctor. My back has hurt for a week, and at night I cannot sleep. 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.