The historical links between Russians and Scandinavians are no mystery. Less known is that the two communities have gone as far as establishing a lingua-franca in the Far North of Europe.

Why, more than 30 years down the line since the Basque language (Euskera) became official in the Basque Autonomous Community, do all youngsters in Gipuzkoa sit their driving test in Spanish?

The Minister for Education with the Government of Navarre has called off the campaign Administrazioan euskaraz ere bai (At administration also in Basque). Among other initiatives for 2009, the Basque Institute of Navarre, Euskarabidea, had planned a campaign to raise awareness and change attitudes with regard to the Basque language in the Navarre administration.

Every year around the month of February a large-scale fair is held in Paris expo Porte de Versailles, by the Porte de Versailles. Expolangues is an important event which has been a showcase for the linguistic market, both for professionals and the general public, for the past 25 years. New courses, academies, teaching methods and technology all vie with each other for attention.

The Lisbon Treaty, which amends the existing European Treaties, was finally ratified by all Member States and came into force on December 1st. It contains some clauses which are innovative and for the first time in primary EU law the term "minorities", and "national minorities" are recognised, along with the prohibition of discrimination against national minorities and languages.

The debate is on. The Cinema Act promoted by the Generalitat de Catalunya is the latest excuse. The Hollywood majors and their representatives in Europe do not agree with the screen linguistic quotas. Their rights in the free market lead a recurring argument. Deep down it seems more like a lack of confidence in the market itself and an incredible fear that the law will cause a domino effect in a multilingual Europe.

We might often picture the situation of the Basque language as an old boat: whilst the crew try and fix the hole letting water into the ship, a new hole appears between the old boards.

In 2008, when the French Constitution was changed, the French Language Academy and the Basque Language Academy (Euskaltzaindia) both made declarations. It might be interesting to compare these two texts in order to highlight the ideology of these two language institutions, at least partially.

«We, indigenous people, stay at the talking stage while you put the ideas into practice. This is a shot of motivation to encourage us to follow up our ideas with action». Better than a slap in the face with a wet fish was hearing this from two Mayans, three Quechuas, two Aymaras, two Mapuches and a Shuar after having spoken with them for four hours. We often criticise ourselves for doing too many things but thinking and analysing too little. This may be true, but when someone from somewhere else also has these sensations it should give us pause for thought.

In early summer 2009, the Government of Navarre presented its latest sociolinguistic survey, La situación del euskera en Navarra. 2008 (The situation of Basque in Navarre. 2008). If we attempt to compare this survey with its former version carried out by the same Government five years previously, Estudio sociolingüístico sobre el vascuence en Navarra. 2003 (Sociolinguistic study of the Basque language in Navarre. 2003), we immediately realise how difficult it is to make a systematic comparison between the two studies, given that their resemblances are limited to a very few items.