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<title> THE FUTURE OF MINORITY LANGUAGES IS NOT ON THE INTERNET! </title>
Minority languages are often subordinated to major languages and convey the fear that their future is quite limited, uncertain. After reading Nicole Ren s response to Txema G. Crespo s inquiries about the present situation of minority languages in the world, I personally disagree with her. For I believe that the survival of minority languages, such as Basque and French (in Canada), does not depend on the Internet, but on other factors that I will trace through out this essay. To be more specific, I will concentrate on the situation of the Basque language.

Before doing anything else, I find it necessary to briefly introduce and explain the situation of the Basque language, so that a better idea of what I am going to deal with in the following paragraphs is attained. The Basque language is a very old language (more than 3000 years) of unknown origin and only spoken in a very restricted region of northern Spain, the Basque Country. The language is the pillar of the Basque Culture and Tradition. In this respect, it would be a great pity for all the Basques (I include myself) to see our own mean of communication restricted to the Internet. If we want the Basque language not to become a mere linguistic product of the media that is gaining control of everything within its reach, we have to consider two determining factors.

In the first place, I believe that the future of the Basque language is in the hands of the Basque people. The native speakers are the ones who can speak it and should compel others to learn it. According to a Basque idiom, a language does not disappear because those who do not know it do not learn it, but because those who know it do not speak it: Hizkuntza bat ez da galtzen ez dakitenek ikasten ez dutelako, dakitenek hitzegiten ez dutelako baizik . In this way, we could say that sociostructural factors, the fact that one s colleagues or mates are Basque, as well as psycholinguistic factors, one s ability and determination to speak Basque, have a deep influence in the usage and survival of the language. If people who have no knowledge of Basque surround a native speaker, then his/her use of it will be affected. Nevertheless, it has been proved that we, the Basque, are very loyal to our language and that through many generations and centuries we have done our best to preserve it and reinforce it (ARGIA  Aldizkaria, 2001). 

Secondly, another crucial factor for the survival of the Basque language without the necessity of being confined to the net is the normalization of Basque in all the fields: administration, education, law, etc. As a matter of fact, ten or fifteen years ago the presence of Basque in school, university, the media, and administration was not so well known as it is today  ARGIA  Aldizkaria, 2001). Nowadays, as N. Ren states in one of her responses to Txema G. Crespo, many companies use Basque in their management (EL PA S, 2001). Besides, in the field of education more and more schools and universities are offering courses and degrees in Basque, with the purpose of providing people with the opportunity to pursue their studies in Basque. In that case, they avoid the loss of the language, strengthen its usage, and secure its existence. 

	 In short, if these factors above explained succeed, then, there will be no use in worrying about the Basque language being limited to the Internet. For the people will continue speaking Basque among them and will go on teaching it to non-native speakers and to other generations. And, who knows, there may come the day when Basque comes out of the label of minority languages. A great achievement and gratification would that suppose, taking into account all the work that has been done, for all the Basques who believe that their language is one of the most important notions of their identity. 

The Future of minority Languages is on the Internet  (EL PAS , Feb. 28th 2001) 
Nicole Ren, manager of the French Agency in Quebec, asserts that the future of minority languages, such as the French language in Canada or Basque in Spain, is on the Internet. She argues that these languages are usually submitted to major languages: French has many difficulties to be introduced into the business world, due to the power of English in Canada. The Basque language, however, is being used in the management of some companies, which receive a subvention from the Basque Government for recovering Basque in the working world. Nicole Ren finally states that the Government of Quebec has supported the presence of French on the net, and believes that the survival of minority languages lies on such media.
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