Euskarabide has strengthened the presence of the Basque language by renewing its agreement with the Basque Wikilarien Elkartea.

The Navarre Government's Department of Memory and Living, External Action and Basque Language, led by Vice President Ana Ollo, has renewed its cooperation agreement with the Basque Wikilarien Cultural Association, through the Euskarabidea/Instituto Navarro del Euskera organization, to promote the use and presence of Basque in new information and communication technologies.

One of the goals that has been considered a priority is to increase the number of publications and offers in Basque on Internet information sites. This agreement is part of a strategy on languages ​​and new technologies, which includes other projects and collaborations in the field of artificial intelligence (Gaitu), the media or working with young audiences (Sarean Euskaraz).

The Basque Wikilarien Cultural Association, since its creation in 2016, has worked on several projects related to Navarre, to promote Navarre's cultural heritage through Wikipedia, in collaboration with local agents and entities; local toponymy, dialects, histories and monuments have been the protagonists of the initiatives launched. Wikipedia is a reference portal, and Basque already has more than 400,000 entries, thanks to an active speaking community and the kind of institutional support that the Basque Country also develops.

In addition to the importance of Basque appearing in a reference medium such as Wikipedia, which generates millions of queries per day, the Department of Memory and Life, Outdoor Activities and Basque has also shared with other public institutions the importance of artificial intelligence, which is increasingly crucial in today's world. For this reason, the Government of Navarre, the Basque Government and the Public Institution of the Basque Language, as part of the Tripartite Treaty institutional cooperation agreement, launched a campaign called Gaitu in September to teach Basque to machines and new technologies that require a large amount of text and spoken data; in fact, even the non-majority languages ​​must guarantee their digital presence in order to be able to use them on a daily basis. Under the motto "Let's unite our voices", Basque speakers were asked to join the portal gatiu.eus, to record their voice and help the development of the Basque language and culture. So far, 688 hours of recordings have been made, and the initiative is still open for public collaboration.

More than 8,000 students have already gone through the "Sarean Euskaraz" session

On the other hand, Euskarabide, within the strategic lines of activity of this collaboration, foresees the importance of strengthening the presence of this language in two key areas and audiences, in order to consolidate its recovery and ensure its development in the future: the young public (Basque is a language known by one in four young people, according to Nastat according to it, a rising indicator) and new technologies, where, to a large extent, interpersonal relations and the presence of international languages ​​are played out, but also the languages ​​of rare areas that resist this more uniformizing current.

These two components intersect in one of the most successful projects of the Euskarabide, Sarean Euskaraz, in fact. In this project, every year (in 2024, the VIII. edition will arrive) more than 1,400 secondary and high school students participate in Baluarte, in an initiative that aims to promote Basque in various fields and modalities within the framework of new technologies, through workshops on the use of applications (music, photography, games ...) or through lectures on topical issues such as online privacy or 2.0 relationships.

Since it was launched in 2017, more than 8,000 young people have taken part in this initiative, as part of a strategic line of the Department of Memory and Life, Outdoor Activities and the Basque Language.

Projects for children and support for the digitization of companies

Two other projects that combine Basque and digital culture are aimed at a younger audience. The "Mattin and kattalin" project, based on funds from the Basque Media Library of Navarre and existing since 2021, is a website created with the aim of communicating the contents of the oral tradition in Basque to children. The content is provided through a very intuitive and manipulable Ma-ttinetakattalin.eus platform, a website with twenty short videos.

On the other hand, also for children, two postcats were created two years ago, one in Basque, "Euskara aleka", and the other in Spanish, "Ecos del euskera" (each consisting of 26 chapters, 52 audios in total), about the history and curiosities of the Basque language in Navarre.

The podcasts tell the history of the "lingua navarrorum" in narratives, stories, events and curiosities, throughout the geography of Navarre, both in Pamplona and its Region, as well as in the Highlands, Central Navarre and the Riviera.
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looking at the general view, and considering the importance of the media and, in general, the business sector, Euskarabide has two calls for support related to digitalization. Specifically, the budget has allocated 271,500 euros for the item "Aids for projects to renew and digitize Basque media", and two other, more general, "Aids for the development of applications to promote Basque in the digital area of ​​companies" (12,000 euros) and "Applications to promote Basque in the digital area of ​​non-profit organizations development aid" calls (90,000 euros).

Basque way

The Euskarabidea-Euskararen Nafar Institute is an autonomous organization attached to the Department of Memory and Living, Outdoor Activities and the Basque Language.

Among other things, Euskarabide has the following tasks: research and advisory powers to develop the regulations for the official use of Basque, and to plan, promote and manage Basque language resources in the Provincial Community of Navarre.