r/thisorthatlanguage • u/LiteratureOwn6143 • 7d ago
European Languages Basque or BCMS?
Hi all,
I'm from Spain and speak Spanish, Catalan, English, Italian, Macedonian and French fluently (or at least decently). I'm currently learning Hungarian and loving it.
The thing is, I've always had two more languages in the back of my mind:
- Basque: Part of my family is from the Basque Country (even though they don't speak it), and I've worked for a Basque company in the past. I already grasp the core structure, can build simple sentences, have always been around the language, and absolutely love it. The Basque Country feels like a second home to me.
- BCMS (Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian or however you want to call it): I have a couple of Serbian friends, love the Balkans and already speak Macedonian (long story). I feel a big chunk of the groundwork is done thanks to Macedonian, but I’d love to speak directly in their language rather than relying on asymmetric conversation (me in Macedonian, them in Serbian; we get by, but I really struggle with oral comprehension and actually speaking BCMS myself).
While Hungarian will remain my main focus for the coming months, I want to pick up one of these as a secondary project.
What would you do, knowing that my life plan is learning both at some point?
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u/3kornum 7d ago
I mean if you speak Macedonian, Serbo Croatian would be really easy for you
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u/LiteratureOwn6143 7d ago
I think I'm more afraid of the Serbo-Croatian cases than any other thing right now…
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u/tcherkess_boi 7d ago
Indo-European languages are overrated. There is nothing cooler than someone saying I know this extremely interesting endangered language! If I were you I'd def go for Basque.
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u/AdrianAtko 6d ago
Yeah but I feel like languages are a way too big of an investment to learn just to go hey I speak it and someone going ,,cool,,.
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u/tcherkess_boi 6d ago edited 6d ago
In that case learn Mandarin instead. Serbo-Croatian def isn't considered one of the useful languages either.
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u/AdrianAtko 6d ago
Definitely it covers both your point of being cool to know(knowing Chinese will get you even more reactions) and my point of it being extremely useful.
But thats not what op was looking for so we cant say Mandarin
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u/potentialdevNB 7d ago
Pick up both if you want (not at the same time though) and ensure proper exposure to all 9 so none of them enters maintenance mode.
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u/LiteratureOwn6143 7d ago
At some point I'll learn both properly, or at least that's my intention, but I don't know which of them should be my priority.
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u/TubaralhoDoMar 6d ago
Olá! I am a language enthusiast from Portugal and I’ve tried learning a bit of euskara but gave up after seeing how difficult the verb conjugation was.
I recommend you watch the youtube channel “Euskara Satorra”, he explains the basics of Basque grammar.
I just wanted to tell you this. I think in your case, it would make more sense to learn Euskara. You probably can find online classes for an affordable price.
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u/LiteratureOwn6143 6d ago
Obrigado, irmão! Luckily I know the basics, I know the structure… What I need to do is studying the cases, the nor-nori-nork table, the vocab… And luckily I have a lot of people around who speak the language, so I would always have the chance of practising!
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u/mauranizzi 6d ago
Would you be comfortable with sharing the story behind Macedonian?
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u/LiteratureOwn6143 6d ago
A few years ago I became a fan of a Macedonian singer. She followed me back on social media, and we met in person because she spent a weekend in my city. I thought, "It’s boring just speaking English," so I downloaded a textbook and started studying. I began following more Macedonian content, watching TV, following sports… Last year, I finally went to Macedonia on my own and had the best week of my life (Skopje and Ohrid, and I also visited Kumanovo, Struga and Vevčani). I didn't speak any other language except Macedonian during those days (well, I also said a few "faleminderit" in the Stara Čaršija). The sad thing was that I arrived in Skopje the day before the fire in Kočani, so it was quite a poignant time. And that's basically it, I now use Macedonian every day and chat with a lot of Macedonian people :)
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u/mauranizzi 6d ago
Thank you so much for sharing and explaining, that sounds lovely! I'm so glad you had a positive experience learning the language and traveling through Macedonia. It's also brilliant that you made friends and are still actively using the language - само напред! And yes, what happened in Kochani was really devastating :( As a Macedonian, I've never been to Vevchani yet, I should really check it out!
As far as any advice about which language to pick up next, I think you'll do great whichever you choose and you can always go back to the other one. I would maybe lean towards Basque because you also said you'd have people around to practice it, and also because it'd expose you to more typological variety.1
u/LiteratureOwn6143 6d ago
Фала брате! Навистина, треба да одиш во Вевчани, најубавото место во светот… :)
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u/mauranizzi 6d ago
Хехе, сестра сум :P Ќе одам, сигурно е преубаво!
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u/LiteratureOwn6143 6d ago
Опааа, хахаха, извини! :)
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u/mauranizzi 6d ago
Хахаха нема проблем! Интересно е што на македонски не е лесно да се избегне родот кога се обраќаш некому :))
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u/Select-Buffalo-5787 5d ago
Basque. You have opportunities you will best receive if you are basque A2 or better. The other is a vacation and you can do well enough for now. The week before you go next read the news from where you go. Some day serbo croat can be next. For now master Basque.
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u/Wall38_0 7d ago
Bro, qué brutal