Does a good teaching methodology make a big difference?
Maybe that will make a slight difference in the outcome. But, in general, depending on methods, in comparison with social processes, is like cutting meat with a scalpel, instead of cutting it with a good knife in the butcher shop. It’s too thin a slice of the variants that you’re trying to account for. I don’t want this to be a negative commentary. There’s a lot of “neverthelesses.” Nevertheless! Hope springs eternal. You were just honored last month by the Royal Academy of the Basque Language as one of 11 academics who’ve worked on behalf of that language. Of course, you’ve won a lot of awards. Was this recognition significant for you? I was very honored to get it. I’ve been in touch with them for maybe two or three generations, visiting, in my former, young days every year or every other year. They’re obviously pretty much of a success story, although they are not completely out of the woods. But they’re an example of a minoritized language that has gone from being despised, ridicule
