Elhuyar current

1997/11/01 Mujika, Alfontso - Elhuyar Fundazioa Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Historia

In cold and production, Elhuyar is a service company in the Basque sector, more professional than ever. The militantism of yesteryear is in the background, since its effectiveness demands, but, despite being in the background, the militantism has not been extinguished, since without it Elhuyar could not have carried out some works. Likewise, without this militant condition in favor of the normalization of Basque, it would hardly address works of interest to Basque society, but whose economic viability is totally uncertain or economically useless, and which generate constant economic losses. Within these coordinates will be analyzed and presented the current set of activities of Elhuyar Kultur Elkartea.

Elhuyar is therefore a service company in the Basque industry, and is currently working in four main areas:

A) Production of teaching materials and teacher training

This has been the main line of action of Elhuyar since its inception and today it is. However, this area is subdivided into several:

A.1- Textbooks

With more than 200 books published, most of them of a scientific and technological nature, Elhuyar has undoubtedly been an overwhelming path. However, when the number of students studying in Basque has reached the “critical mass” of profitability, contestants have also arrived – somehow the sign of normalization – and Elhuyar has not self-formed to compete in that place of battle or, what is the same, has been guided by other priorities. Consequently, the production of textbooks does not currently have its historical weight. Not so. In recent years Elhuyar publishes an average of ten textbooks per year, both Baccalaureate, Vocational Training and University. In addition, the preparation to respond to the new demands derived from the Educational Reform will remain the objective of the Association.

A.2- Complementary material for teaching

From the production of textbooks, it has been disaggregated and forged, and today it has been imposed. This subsection has two branches:

A.2.1- Teaching software

With 10 years of experience, Elhuyar has been one of the leading software producers in Basque. In addition, this field has been gradually strengthened and since 1995 has obtained the most resounding results with products on CD-ROM support (Ezagutu Gipuzkoa, Euskal Herriko Faunia, Euskal Herria Multimedia Entziklopedia, to name a few). New information technologies are increasingly important in teaching and Elhuyar strives for Basque to be at the same time as other languages.

General information

From the beginning he understood and decided that Elhuyar should go the way of quality, which, in the field of video camera, requires huge investments for the production of its products, while the market is very scarce. For this reason, he began to translate and double the high quality video products in the world, so that the good videos were also in Basque in schools. This effort includes the production in Basque of videos from the BBC house in the UK. Although qualitatively important, it should be noted that this subsection is quantitatively low in Elhuyar production.

A.3- Teacher training

He has organized training and teacher training courses in the courses organized by Elhuyar and other institutions (UEU, Department of Education of the Basque Government, HABE, etc. ).

B) Dictionaries and encyclopedias

It is one of the newest activities of Elhuyar and in recent years has become the symbol of quality of the association. This department, created and developed in the 1990s, has edited and is editing important products (Elhuyar Hiztegi Entziklopedikoa, Euskal Hiztegi Moderno, Euskara-castellano / Castellano-euskara Hiztegia, Ikasleen Hiztegia). Elhuyar has made important personal and time investments in this section, in which databases must be constantly updated and improved and in which many hours of work go, but the result is satisfactory: in a few years Elhuyar has become an important reference in the elaboration of the dictionary.

For its part, the new times offer numerous possibilities of accessibility to the consultation materials, of which Elhuyar has used to facilitate the consultation routes. Thus, we work both on paper and on CD-ROM support, putting technology resources at the service of users.

Making dictionaries and encyclopedias is not a simple task. Today we have had to give our opinion and make proposals for many problems that are not resolved. Our language is preparing for the future and is supported by Elhuyar. In this activity the advisors and collaborators are fundamental if they want to capture the different sensibilities that exist around the language. For Elhuyar, besides a great fortune, it has been an honor to know closely the work of consultants who have gathered around our works.

C) Scientific disclosure

Without a doubt, this is the oldest activity of Elhuyar, which since its inception has always been oriented to disclosure. From its first publication to the current magazine, Elhuyar has given the Basques the opportunity to know the advances of science with a clean and easy to understand Basque.

Elhuyar, currently monthly. Zientzia eta Teknika magazine is the main product in this area and, to a large extent, the flagship of Elhuyar. This is not the only expansion dedicated to disclosure. The outreach service, ZETIAZ, which has operated with its own personality since 1994, has been spreading and completing in the shadow of the magazine itself. Although born as a science news agency, today it is more than that: it offers varied services to the media and science producers.

ZETIAZ offers scientific information in a simple way to the media of Euskal Herria, making specific collaborations in almost all media (Euskaldunon Egunkaria, Argia, Herri Irratia, Bizkaia Irratia... ) and this year, for the second consecutive year, Norteko Ferrokarrilla, produced entirely by Elhuyar. The dissemination of science in Basque has never had the degree of current presence and, although much remains to be done, Elhuyar is an undeniable reference.

With the aim of socializing science, Elhuyar has reached many institutes, schools or cultural centers. Through talks, topics related to health, nature, ecology, technology or science are offered to the public in an understandable way. This network of speakers, managed by Elhuyar, is composed mainly of our collaborators; without those collaborators and friends who over the years have arrived our project would hardly reach the current 25 years of Elhuyar.

Like the Basque language, writers and speakers have also been formed along with Elhuyar. The journal has offered writers an appropriate place to present their subjects in Basque for the first time in many cases. The most spectacular result of this work are the Scientific Outreach Awards that are organized annually in collaboration with the company CAF of Beasain, and that year after year are achieving a greater impact.

All these activities have endowed the group with its own personality. Elhuyar has gained extensive experience in outreach and communication, and is now able to make it available to other entities. Thus, after the approval by the Interministerial Commission of Science and Technology (CICYT) of Madrid, this year we have launched a project to publicize the work of three research and technology centers in the Basque Country. Likewise, CICYT itself has recognized its informative value to the aforementioned radio program Norteko Ferrokarrilla.

D) Employment insertion of Basque

In this area, Elhuyar has been and remains an abrasive. He has worked on this issue through an agreement with the Basque Government between 1991 and 96, and for his part has worked much more. The experience and flexibility accumulated over the years allows it to adapt and expand to new situations and, consequently, offers services from the mere linguistic advice of companies, such as feasibility studies of the plan to convert Basque into the working language of the company, to the adoption of all subsequent services, from the design of business linguistic microplans or a company department, the execution of such plans and the preparation of the necessary monitoring and resources. He has worked in companies in the three basic sectors in which economic activity is divided and has been developing his methodology. In this work he maintains relations with various institutions (Directorate of Linguistic Policy of the Basque Government, Diputación de Gipuzkoa, HABE, etc.) In this field the results guarantee the value of the work.

E) Language services abroad

Included here are the works carried out by Elhuyar for organizations and external companies, almost always related to Basque:

Translation

Elhuyar offers a translation service and a lexicography service (as well as a terminology service in different areas), especially in the field of technical scientific and technological translations, with extensive experience and clients from public institutions (Administrations, University,...) and private (companies, publishers,...).

E.2- Communication services

Elhuyar offers advertising campaigns (press office service), plans for the inclusion of activities or products related to Basque or related to science and technology, information sheets or journals on a certain area of information (including writing, illustration and layout) and similar services.

The previous lines show that Elhuyar's field of work is very wide and also changing, although it has some main axes. Elhuyar is a factory or melting pot of ideas where needs or lines of action are detected, detected by the association itself or proposed by its collaborators, designing many projects. Many have been carried out and others, however interesting they may be, are stored in the drawer in a way that makes it economically viable or when the time comes. And it is not enough to have good projects, which are interesting for the Basque industry and which have the technical capacity to carry them out; many of Elhuyar's areas of work are economically deficient, since the Basque world is small, but the Basque, for it to live, also needs. That is the problem that threatens Elhuyar constantly and, too often, intermingles, as often what is hooked between desire and impediment leads them to despair.

These are the lights and shadows of Elhuyar, who has turned twenty-five years old. Look back enthusiastically as he looks enthusiastically but restlessly at his abrupt path.