Accents: When a J can be a Y and when an A can be an E

A few years ago, I read Barry Farber's How to Learn Any Language. Aside from being filled with a lot of helpful tips on how to study languages, it also included this gem on accents:

"Nobody is arrested for indecent exposure just because he dresses poorly. On the other hand, a person unconcerned about dress will never impress us with his appearance. It's the same with a proper accent. As long as you're going to go through the trouble of learning a language, why not try -at the very little extra cost- to mimic the genuine accent." [Barry Farber]

If there's one thing I'm obsessed about, more so than grammar tables (which wallpaper my room), it's nailing an accent down. I suppose it's because of my training in theatre arts that I have this trained ear for accents but the obsession with it is certainly something I was born with. I have always loved mentally filing away phrases, sentences, and monologues in accents that I found interesting. This would explain why I spend so much time repeating troublesome words out loud, over and over, until I can be sure that I have nailed it. I see correct pronunciation not only as a way to make myself understood better by native speakers, but also as an outward sign of respect for the language itself.

When I decided to learn Euskara and Català, I took some time to explore the different accents and dialacts from each language. Here is a very simplified explanation of what I learned: (it's simplified because even I, who sometimes enjoys a lesson in grammar, can find the entire thing quite tedious)

Euskara: Dialects and Accents

Depending on the source, Euskara has about 6-9 distinct dialects which differ from Batua (Unified Basque):

- Bizkaian
- Gipuzkoan
- Upper Navarrese
- Lower Navarrese
- Lapurdian
- Zuberoan

Of all six, perhaps the one I would be most familiar with would be Gipuzkoan as Batua is based heavily in Gipuzkoan vocabulary. I'm not quite at the level wherein I can identify differences between dialacts however I can identify small differences in the way certain letters are pronounced. For example:

- the letter J: according to Gorka Aulestia, the letter J is normally pronounced like a Spanish J, especially in places like Gipuzkoa. However, in Batua, the letter J is pronounced as a Y.

- the letter H: many years ago, particularly in Iparralde, the letter H was actually pronounced like an English H, however this is rarely heard nowadays and in Batua it is silent (as it is in Spanish and French). This would explain why the only time I have ever heard it pronounced was in a program featuring an interview with a very old Basque priest from Lapurdi.

I originally wanted to pronounce the letter J the Gipuzkoan way (I imagine that my ancestors from Hondarribia in Gipuzkoa would have pronounced it that way too... unless Hondarribia had its own now-lost dialect) and for a time I did just that, however, as my main form of studying Basque is taught using Batua, I have slowly ended up pronouncing the J as a Y.

Here are some samples you guys can listen to:

- Andoni Iraola (football player for Athletic Club) in a press conference. He has an interesting accent that I'm assuming is typical of Gipuzkoa (he's from Usurbil). He also seems to favour phrases such as "baina, beno" and "ba, beno".

- Amaren Alabak. One of the first few songs I listened to in Euskara were songs by Amaren Alabak. If you listen closely, you'll be able to detect nasal tones that are reminiscent of French. Also, I have read that the Zuberoan (or Xiberuan) dialact has one extra vowel: ü

- EiTB.com. I'm not really at the point wherein I can watch a series in Euskara and understand it but I still take time to watch some clips or an episode here and there just so I can get a feel for the language, the accents, and the speed in which people speak it. You can check out shows like Goenkale or Wazemank.

Català: Dialects and Accents

In broad terms, Català in terms of dialect can be divided into two:

- Western Catalan (this would include Valencià, Andorrà, Lleidatà, etc)
- Eastern Catalan (this would include Rosellonès, Barceloní, Mallorquí, etc)

I've read quite a bit about the differences between the dialects but what really catches my attention are the accents. The accents that stand out the most for me are those from Valencia, Lleida, and Mallorca.

I don't quite know exactly how to explain the differences between the accents so instead of trying to bungle my way through a half-baked explanation, I might as well just provide some samples for you guys to listen to:

- Canal 9. This is a channel broadcast in the Valencian language. To my ears, Valencià sounds like Català but with a more distinct Spanish pronunciation. Of course, there are also quite a few differences in terms of grammar as well. (I would have also placed a video of Raúl Albiol giving an interview in Valencià as he has a very intesting accent but since his traitorous move to Real Madrid, I haven't been to keen to listen to him speak, so...)

- Hat Trick Barça interviews Bojan Krkic. Whenever I would hear Bojan give an interview, I always wondered if his accent sounded so different because he might have grown up speaking Català as second language or something like that but a friend later on told me that his accent is typical in the province of Lleida.

- Carles Puyol interview. Like Bojan, Puyol also has a strong accent. In fact, I think the carefully crafted central Catalan accent I'm working in is now mutating into the sort of accent that Puyol has. I listen to his interviews as well as Xavi Hernández's a lot and at times, I end up mimicking Puyol's accent and at time's Xavi's. Compare the real Puyol's accent with the spoofed version created by Jordi Rios in Crackòvia.

- Crackòvia's Rafa Nadal. I know, I know, it might not be a good idea to use spoofs and sketch comedy to illustrate accents because they are so overdone (for comedic effect) but I must point out that in my program for learning Català (the wonderful Parla.cat), the Mallorquí accent of one of the characters is exactly the same as Xisca's. Now that I think about it, the Lleidatà accent of one of the program's characters is also exactly the same as Bojan Krkic's...
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Olentzero and Tió de Nadal

First, let me apologise for the three weeks of silence. Apparently, studying two languages, taking classes at the university, and working can be quite time-consuming... who knew?!

Second, I haven't really had much material to blog about anyway seeing as I've been hard at work trying to figure out the concept of nominalizazioa in Euskara. I have been emailing my teacher, Mireya, back and forth trying to figure out the difference between Nongo, Nongoa, and Nongoak. Unfortunately, the first two translate to pretty much the same thing in English and the third is the plural version. This is one of those concepts that I am not 100% sure I've understood it but as I use it more, it starts to become a little bit clearer.

Third, I think I want to expand this blog and take it beyond just Euskara and Català. I want to include the cultural aspect of the Basques and the Catalans. This would include anything from music to football. The only thing I will be keeping out from this blog (or at least, I will try to as there are times when I will not be able to help but speak out) would be POLITICS because although I enjoy it (I did just switch from Theatre Arts to International Relations after all...) I realise how polarising it can be and how it could turn people off.

Now to the good stuff. Christmas is just a day or two away, depending on where you live, and to celebrate I want to explore different things about the Basque and Catalan Christmas.


[an Olentzero from Hendaia, Lapurdi/Hendaye, Labourd]

[Tió de Nadal]

Growing up, I was raised in a mix of Spanish, Filipino, and some American Christmas traditions but two traditions I did not grow up with are: Olentzero and Tió de Nadal.

Olentzero (I've also seen variations such as: Olentzaro, Olentxero, Onentzaro...)

I first read about Olentzero in a brief one paragraph mention in Mark Kurlansky's The Basque History of the World. In that book, he was described as a "pre-Christian evil sort of Santa Claus who slides down chimneys on Christmas Eve to harm people in their sleep. Fireplaces are lit for the holiday to keep him away."

There are many descriptions and stories of Olentzero and they differ from village to village. Some have him as belonging to the race of the jentilak (giants) who looked up to the clouds and saw in it a sign that Jesus would be born. The other jentilak threw themselves off the cliff, leaving Olentzero behind. There is also another version wherein Olentzero is an orphan who is bestowed gifts by a fairy (an English translation of this tale can be found in Buber's Basque Page).

It was in around the 1950's when Olentzero received a bit of a makeover and the more gruesome aspects of his personality as well as some of the pagan elements were removed. In his modern aspect, Olentzero is slowly starting to look like the Santa Clause of the west (i.e. the one Coca-Cola has seared into our brains for all eternity) rotund, jolly-faced and sometimes with a beard!

On Christmas Eve, an effigy of Olentzero sitting on a chair is carried around the streets as children and adults sing Olentzero carols and ask for food, sweets or sometimes money to be given to a humanitarian cause. At the end of the night, it is sometimes customary to burn the effigy of Olentzero.

Some Basques only celebrate Christmas with Olentzero whereas some do both: Olentzero and the Spanish Reyes Magos (Feast of the Three Kings, celebrated on 6 January).

To wrap up, here's a fantastic Youtube video of an Olentzero kantak. It's set up karaoke-style so you can sing-along! It's a version called Olentzero and performed in the children's program, Txirri, Mirri eta Txiribiton. I was unable to find translations for the entire song but it seems to be a mix of the two carols found in this Wikipedia article.

Also, there is a website dedicated to Olentzero. It comes in four languages (Euskara, English, Spanish, and French) and it is loaded with pictures of Olentzero, people dressed up as Olentzero, celebrations, recipes, and more. It's very interesting although actual articles in English are minimal.

BONUS: Here are some funny Olentzero-related sketches featured in my favourite Spanish-language comedy sketch show, Vaya Semanita (if you can understand Spanish, this is also a funny way to learn a bit about Basque culture and politics). All are in Spanish.

- Olentzero secuestrado
- Olentzero Gandalf
- Olentzero Begins
- Olentzero vs Reyes Magos
- He matado a Olentzero

Tió de Nadal

This is one of those lovely Catalan traditions that I became aware of through the comedy sketch show called Crackòvia. Unfortunately, I cannot find a clip of this sketch on Youtube or on Crackòvia's website. In the sketch, Carles Puyol invites Andrés Iniesta and Samuel Eto'o to his home to make the Tió poop by beating it with a stick. The laughter comes in when a large log, which Eto'o thinks is the Tió turns out to be just the stick that will be used to whack the gigantic Tió outside the house.

The Tió de Nadal roughly translates to Christmas log. In the early days it was quite literally just a rough log which was used to bring heat and light to the home. In a symbolic way it also brought presents of sweets, wafers, and turróns. Now, the image of tió has changed dramatically. It is now a hollowed-out magical log with a painted smiling face, a barretina (red sock hat) on its head and little sticks beneath it for legs.

On 8 December, the tió comes calling on a family's doorstep and the member who goes out to answer the door must care for him by giving him something to eat (dry bread, carob, orange peels or other fruit) and drink (water) each night as well as a warm blanket to keep him from getting cold. It is through the gentle care that the tió is later on able to poop presents.

On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (depending on the household), the family come around and beat the tió with a stick and sing caga, tió (literally an order to: "poop, log!"). After the order is given, the tió has pooped out a treat that can be found underneath his blanket. The tió never brings large gifts as these are brought by the Reyes Magos. The tió tends to bring sweets such as turrón, wafers, dry figs, and chocolates. When the tió is finished pooping treats, it drops a salt herring, garlic, onion or it simply pees. The beating of the tió with a stick is relatively modern as in the old days they used to stick part of the tió in the fireplace to make it poop treats out.

Here are two different version of songs that one can sing to make the tió poop:

caga tió,
caga torró,
avellanes i mató,
si no cagues bé
et daré un cop de bastó.
caga tió!

poop log,
poop turrón,
hazelnuts and cottage cheese,
if you don't poop well,
I'll hit you with a stick,
poop log!

caga tió
tió de Nadal,
no caguis arengades,
que són massa salades
caga torrons
que son més bons!

poop log,
log of Christmas
don't poop herrings,
which are too salty,
poop turrón
which is much better!

I've also found a cute video one Youtube of two little kids giving the tió a whack with their Mum and also singing a version of the Caga, tió.

BONUS: Anna, who runs the blog: This curious thing called Catalonia, has written an entry talking about the tió, along with personal pictures and a song. Fantastic stuff!

If anyone knows of any other Basque or Catalan traditions, please feel free to share. Also, if you've grown up with Olentzero or the Tió de Nadal, please feel free to share any personal stories of memorable events and the like. I'll be back later tonight to officially wish you all a Happy Christmas.

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Why Euskara? Why Català?

Whenever I tell people that I am studying two languages, they usually guess either: Spanish, German, Japanese or Russian and when I tell them it's actually Euskara (Basque) and Català, they usually give me a blank stare (because they have no idea what it is) or a confused look (because they have no idea why I would want to learn it).

There's actually a short and a long answer for each language. So let me start with the short answers first:

Euskara: because I am Basque
Català: because I am Catalan

And here are the long answers:

Euskara: One of the first words I ever learned in Euskara was, euskaldun, which means "Basque" although literally it means "Euskara-speaker". When I thought about it, I realised that the Basques define themselves by the language they speak. The word for the Basque Country (at least the ones including Nafarroa/Navarra and Iparralde/French Basque Country) in Euskara is Euskal Herria which means "land of Euskara" reflects the focus on the language even more. So with that in mind, I came to the conclusion that blood was no longer enough, at least not for me. I had already missed out on a lot of the culture by the fact that I was not born there (nor was my father or my grand-father or my great-grandfather) and, to this date, have not had the opportunity to go there, so I wanted to learn the language to strengthen my ties to my Basque heritage.

I also felt that Euskara was my birthright. I felt quite cheated that I had grown up not even knowing it existed up until I was bored one day and did a Wikipedia search on Hondarribia (Fuenterrabía in Spanish), the town where my Basque ancestors where from, and browsed around up until I found out about this language called Euskara. So that's the main driving force behind my desire to learn Euskara. I feel like my early ancestors who migrated to the country of my birth, in their desire to assimilate into the culture or for one reason or another, did not keep their original language of Euskara alive and I want to bring that back.

Now, as for Català, it started out quite differently.

Català: Although I had always known I was Basque, it took a while longer for me to realise that I was also Catalan. I remember that it was actually my love for FC Barcelona (my second team, behind Athletic Bilbao, of course!) that first placed the idea of learning Català into my head. I wanted to be able to converse in it should I ever be lucky enough to meet the likes of Carles Puyol or Xavi (I did get to see them a few months ago when they played against LA Galaxy but sadly, I don't think Puyol heard me shouting, "Puyi! Em dones el teu braçalet?" -Puyol, can you give me your armband?-). Of course, I knew that if I wanted any chance at successfully learning the language, I would need a better reason than that. It was then that I decided to contact my Abuela (grandmother) and ask her about her side of the family. I had a suspicion that her side might be Catalan although I knew that her father was from Salamanca. After a few months, she finally confirmed that although by birth my great-Grandfather was indeed from Salamanca, by blood he was Catalan.

So once I had confirmed that I do have Catalan blood running through my veins, I decided that it was also my birthright to be able to speak in Català... and frankly, that's reason enough to want to learn it.
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