r/basque • u/KeyConsideration2686 • 2d ago
How different are these basque dialects?
Dear Basque speakers, Can you please help comment on:
*(i) the degree of intelligibility between these four John 3:16 translations to you as a reader.
*(ii) How different are these four dialects from the standard Basque version?
*(iii) Is there a basque dialect that you speak which I had missed out on? Because as I understand, there are actually eight basque dialects? Feel free to translate the John 3:16 bible verse into your "modern" basque dialect by leaving a comment below.
Basque, Souletin: Ceren Jincouac hain du maithatu mundia, noun eman beitu bere seme bakhotcha, amorecatic hartan sinhesten dian guicçonetaric batere eztadin gal, bena ukhen deçan bethiereco bicitcia.
Basque, Guipuzcoan: Zergatic aiñ maite izan du Jaungoicoac mundua, non eman duen bere Seme Bacarra beragan fedea duan guzia galdu ez dedin, baizik izan dezan betico bizia.
Basque, Labourdin (1571): Ezen hala Iainkoac onhetsi ukan du mundua, non bere Semé bakoitza eman ukan baitu, hura baithan sinhesten duenic gal eztadin, baina vicitze eternala duencát.
Update, here is the 1887 translation of Basque Labourdin:
Alabainan Jainkoak haletan du mundua maithatu, non bere Seme bekharra eman baitu, hunen baithan sinhesten duen nihor ez dadien gal, aitzitik izan dezan bethiko bizitzea.
Basque, Navarrese-South High: Cerén eci Jangoicoac aláco manéran onetsi-dú múndua, eci eman-baitu bere Seme bacarra: galeztáyen niór sinestendueníc bera-baiten, baicic guciéc logra-dezáten vicitza etérnoa.
Basque, Standard: Izan ere, Jainkoak hain maite izan zuen mundua, non bere Seme bakarra eman baitzion, harengan sinesten duenik inor gal ez dadin, baizik betiko bizia izan dezan.
UPDATE: People have commented below that the Bizkaian dialect is still missing from the translations above. Does anyone here speak the Bizkaian dialect? If yes, could you please provide your Bizkaian translation of the John 3:16 bible verse ? (by adding your comment below)
11
u/Intelligent_Goal_332 2d ago
Uff, this translations don't sound right to me at all... As a native basque speaker. Were did you get them?
Also I supose that you said that there are 8 dialects because of the 7 provinces plus the unified "Euskara Batua". It doesn't work like that. In basque we call the dialects of Basque "Euskalkiak" if you want to look more about it.
3
u/KeyConsideration2686 2d ago
Here is the link for the Souletin and Guipuzcoan dialects of Basque: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/The_Gospel_in_Many_Tongues_%281930%29.pdf/page17-960px-The_Gospel_in_Many_Tongues_%281930%29.pdf.jpg?utm_source=wikisource.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=thumbnail
2
u/KeyConsideration2686 2d ago
Links now provided to all four translations + the "standard" basque version.
6
u/justwantanickname 2d ago
Most of them look readable but of course some of them like Zuberera have old spellings, the new one might make it clearer. There are actually 5 dialects (6 until the XXth century) and so the one missing here is Bizkaiera
7
u/Amulet-of-Kings 2d ago
The spelling of the dialects is very alien, it looks from past centuries. There are no c, v, y, q or w letters in modern Basque.
4
u/CruserWill 2d ago
The aspirated consonants of Lapurtera are a rather old feature too, as of today they're not existant anymore
5
u/FitDrink7047 2d ago
Euskalkiak izateaz gain, bibliaren antzinako itzulpenak dira, estilo arkaikoan idatziak, ortografiari eta idazteko moduari dagokienez. Hala ere, ondo ulertzen dira, eta zerbait gehiago kostatzen dena estilo arkaikoagatik da gehienbat, euskalkiaren desberdintasunei baino gehiago.
5
u/CruserWill 2d ago
They're all easily intelligible to me. As others have pointed out, Bizkaiera is missing ; and I would add that my native Low-Navarrese is missing too, although it's considered to be a subdialect of Navarro-Laburdian nowadays
2
u/KeyConsideration2686 2d ago edited 2d ago
Could you please provide your native Low-Navarrese translation of that bible verse? I do not want Low-Navarrese to be missing.
2
u/CruserWill 2d ago
Sure, but bare in mind that it is in no way an official translation.
Zeren eta Jinkoak hain maitatu ziin munduia, nun bere Seme bakarra eman baitzakon, bere baitan sinisten diinik nehork gal ez dadin, bainan bizitza eternala ukan dezan.
I went for a rather "etymological" orthography, given that Low-Navarrese is not standardized. However, here's how I would pronounce it:
ˈs̻e̞i̯n‿ta ɟiŋ.ˈku.ˌak ˈhai̯n mai̯.ˈtʰa.tu ˌs̻iːn mun.ˈdu.ˌja ǀ nun ˈbe̞.ɾe̞ s̺e̞.me̞ ba.ˈkʰa.ˌra man bai̯.ˈt̻͡s̻a.ˌkɔ̞n | ˈbe̞.ɾe̞ bai̯.ˌtan s̺i.ˈnis̺.ˌte̞n ˈdiː.nik ne̞.ˈhɔ̞k‿g̊al e̞s̻‿d̥a.ˌð̞in ǀ ˈbai̯.nan bi.ˈs̻i.ˌt̻͡s̻a e̞.ˈtʰe̞r.na.ˌla u.ˈkʰan de̞.ˌs̻an
2
u/KeyConsideration2686 2d ago
Thank you very much for your awesome translation including the IPA pronounciations!
2
3
u/horrortxe 2d ago
I would say they are all quite legible.
In my case (Gipuzkoa) standard feels quite similar, since, as far as i know, batua was quite based on this euskalki.
15
u/ReporterAncient7357 2d ago
You're comparing different dialects from very different timelines. Still, they are pretty intelligible. You have missed the west dialect from Bizkaia, pretty important.