Maddi Dorronsoro Olamusu on Euskadi Irratia

This summer, our colleague Maddi Dorronsoro Olamusu has been collaborating weekly with the radio show ‘Faktoria Magazina’ in Euskadi Irratia, the public radio station of the Basque Autonomous Community. Euskadi Irratia broadcasts entirely in Basque, and it can also be listened to in the Chartered Community of Navarre and online.  

Each week, Maddi was given a slot to share stories about her life in Flensburg, and she used this occasion to introduce the Basque audience to some of the minority issues in Schleswig-Holstein. In one of the programs, she provided an overview of the local sociolinguistic context beyond High German, touching on Danish, Low German, and especially North Frisian.  

Drawing on information provided by our ECMI colleague Ruth Kircher, as well as Samantha Litty (Europa-Universität Flensburg) and Lena Terhart (Nordfriisk Instituut), Maddi briefly explained the current situation of North Frisian (see here for more detail). By drawing parallels with the Basque case, she highlighted key aspects such as the existence of multiple varieties of North Frisian, the small speaker base, the lack of a single standard, its limited visibility in public signage, the situation in schools, and some of the language rights in public administration.  

The program, although in Basque, can be listened to here. 

In May earlier this year, Maddi was interviewed by Euskadi Irratia to talk about the ECMI and her research on the language attitudes of Basque-speakers in the arnasguneak, which can also be listened to here.  

Many thanks to Euskadi Irratia for providing this platform!