If you’re looking to learn Basque then you may be wondering if the popular language learning platform Duolingo has a Basque course.
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Does Duolingo Have A Basque Course?
Despite the importance and long history of the Basque language, Duolingo doesn’t currently have a Basque course.
Basque is a fascinating language with a long and rich history, in fact, it is actually one of the world’s oldest languages. It is estimated to be around 6,000 years old!
Today it is spoken by approximately 900,000 people, mainly in the Basque Country.
Many people who are looking to learn a new language use Duolingo, a fun language learning platform that features bite-size lessons on various languages.
Duolingo is known to be a fun, free and easy way to learn a new language.
Why Is Basque Not On Duolingo?
It’s hard to say exactly why Duolingo hasn’t yet produced a Basque course as Basque has a long and important history especially in Spain and France.
Few Speakers
One reason why Duolingo may not have produced a Duolingo Basque course yet is that there are relatively few people who speak the language.
Basque currently has around 900,000 speakers around the world. This is quite a small amount compared to other more popular languages and may be a reason why Duolingo has chosen not to produce the course yet.
Having said that, Duolingo has produced courses on much smaller languages (in terms of number of speakers).
They have courses on small minority languages such as Hawaiian which only has 24,000 speakers total!
Additionally they have made a Klingon course of which there are no native speakers as this is a fictional language.
Less Popular Language
Another reason why Duolingo may have not yet produced a Duolingo Basque course is that there isn’t enough demand.
Basque isn’t a popular language for native English speakers to learn. Relatively few people are interested in learning the language compared with other languages and Duolingo produces courses based on demand.
This is a shame because it’s certain that there is some demand for English speakers wanting to learn Basque (you wouldn’t be on this page if there wasn’t!).
There is actually more demand for Spanish & French speakers wanting to learn Basque – this is due to the Basque Country’s location in Spain and France.
This means that we could see a Basque for Spanish/French speakers course before an English one.
Duolingo is currently working on other languages which they believe will be more popular with their users.
When Will Basque Be Available On Duolingo?
The Duolingo Incubator is a feature where you can see what languages Duolingo are currently working on producing a course for.
The Duolingo courses are created by volunteers. You can contribute to a course on the Duolingo Incubator page if you’re fluent in more than one language.
This page simply shows which courses are currently being produced so you can apply to help build a course if you want to.
Having checked the Duolingo Incubator, I can see that currently Basque isn’t a course they’re working on.
This means that Duolingo Basque isn’t going to be released any time soon as they’re not even working on producing a course.
Additionally, there are currently no plans to create a Basque course for Spanish or French speakers. It’s arguable that these courses may come before a Basque for English speakers due to the Basque Country’s location in Spain and France.
Within the incubator, on their language list they do say ‘more languages will be available for teaching soon’ however it is unclear how long we may be waiting for more courses to be added.
How Do Duolingo Decide On Which Courses To Create?
Duolingo themselves state that they decide on new courses based on the Duolingo forums.
They suggest the best way to get them to add a new language is by visiting their forum section and searching for suggestions that have been made in the past.
You then should add an upvote or comment to these posts. The more upvotes the more likely Duolingo will take notice and build a course.
If you want to help then you can upvote this Duolingo forum post to show Duolingo that people want a Basque course.
The above forum is one of the more popular forum posts dedicated to requesting a new language course on the Duolingo forums.
This is a really positive sign and hopefully Duolingo takes note and begins work on the course soon.
Alternatives To Duolingo To Learn Basque
Whilst Duolingo is a fantastic resource for learning a new language, don’t let their lack of a Basque course stop you from learning the language if you want to.
There are many fantastic courses out there for learning Basque – both free and paid.
Free Alternatives For Learning Basque
Memrise
Memrise is an online language learning app that uses fun games to help its users learn their chosen language.
They have tons of free Basque courses that will teach you the alphabet, vocabulary and phrases in Basque.
It’s really interactive and gradually introduces new words slowly so you have time to consolidate them all. There’s also plenty of opportunities to practice what you’ve learnt.
Digital Dialects
The website Digital Dialects also has some fun online games which teach Basque words. They don’t cover a ton of content but will get you familiar with some basic words in Basque.
The best part is each word has a recording by a native speaker so it’s a great place to begin your Basque language learning journey.
They have interactive vocabulary lists in a range of different topics including numbers, animals, phrases and more.
Paid Alternatives For Learning Basque
uTalk
The online platform uTalk offers a Basque course.
They focus on game-based learning and state that their course uses native speakers and features more than 2,500 everyday words.
The course will teach you a range of relevant Basque vocabulary and get you speaking the language straight away.
Basque Textbook
If you’re looking for a standard textbook to help you with Basque then The Basque Language book is one of the best out there.
This book will teach you a range of vocabulary, phrases and grammar in Basque.
It’s a great reference point and explains the language in clear, easy to understand terms.
Thanks for reading this post on whether Duolingo currently has a Basque course.
Even though Duolingo doesn’t currently have a Basque course, there are still lots of other ways that you can learn Basque.
Check our other Basque content here.
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