Can anyone tell me whether I should find out, before leaving for the Basque country, the translations from Euskadi into English of Basque menu items? My husband and I will be touring that region for several days and I know that Euskadi is quite different from Spanish. Thank you.

I don't know, but Euskadi is the name of the place, not the language, isn't it? I think the language is Euskara (or maybe Euskaraz).

In my own rather limited experience, menus were written in Spanish as well as in Basque; I would not think you need to trouble yourself too much with tranlations into Basque for menu purposes.

A little knowledge of the language, Euskara, the language of the Basque speakers, wouldn't hurt, but ekscrunchy is correct in that most menus are in Spanish, but some may use a local Basque word or term for the name of a dish. You can always ask what it is. We always do.

Maribel's Guide to the Basque Country (País Vasco and Pays Basque) has some words you may find helpful, but I wouldn't worry too much.

Hello (Kaixo), goodbye (agur), yes (bai), no (ez), thank you (eskerrik asko), how are you? (zer moduz), good morning (egun on!), good night (gau on), welcome (ongi etorri), restaurant (jatetxea), tapas (pintxos), “chicken broth” (salda dago), house (etxea), street (kalea), city center (hirigune), beach (hondartza), ocean (itsasoa), tourist office (turismoa bulegoa) and danger (kontuz). Itxita (closed), zuritoa (small beer), ardo beltza (glass of red wine), breakfast (gosaria), lunch (bazkaria), dinner (afaria), fish (arraina), bread (ogia), bakery (okindegia), market (merkatua), etc.

In my experience, most menu items will be written in Spanish unless it happens to be a particular house specialty, a dish unique to the Basque Country or an ingredient only found in the Basque country (Euskadi) or when they use the Basque rather than Spanish spelling with" k" replacing "c", and "tx" instead of "ch".
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For example, cuttlefish in Spanish is chipirón but would be spelled in euskera as "txipiron". Baby squid rings would be "txopitos". And anchovies in Spanish, anchoas, but in Basque, "antxoas".
"Txuleton" would be the gargantuan ox steak. "Txirlas" are small clams.

"Marmitako" is a hearty tuna and potato stew, kind of a Basque boullabaisse.

"Txangurro" is spider crab.

"Txistorra" is a type of Basque chorizo

"Kokotxas" are hake cheeks, a local delicacy.

You may see "perritxikos" on the menu, which are wild mushrooms. And they're fantastic!

"Zurrunkutuna" is a bread soup with salt cod (bacalao)

And there may be fish that you won't recognize, coming from the Bay of Biscay waters.

"Intxaursalsa" is a special Basque dessert, a creamy walnut puree that Teresa Barrenechea has in her cookbook.

A "zurito" is a little wide-rimmed, short glass of draft beer (about an inch in a glass) and a "txakoli" is the young, kind of apple-ish tart, low alcohol, slighly effervescent young white wine, commonly ordered in pinxtos bars - goes great with shellfish.

And in better pinxtos (tapas) bars, like La Cuchara de San Telmo, Patio de Ramuntxo, Hidalgo, Bergara Bar and Aloña Berri in San Sebastían, they sometimes give their special creations a Basque name, but the name may have nothing to do with the ingredients. C de San Telmo's chalkboard pintxo list is almost entirely in Basque, but the names are the dishes, rather than what they consist of.
For example, the "Udaberri" at the Bar Bergara is made of zucchini, lobster and cream. and another one of their little jewel-like creations is a "txapela" (a Basque beret). A "txepetxa" is an anchovy filled with trout roe.
You can see all these bars' specialties at www.todopinxtos.com

But don't worry, just point to whatever looks good to you or indicate that you'll have what the people next to you are having.

Hi ekscrunchy,
I'm completely revising my files just for you and hope to get them online by early next week, before you take off on your Basque country adventure!

Maribel, lovely to hear from you. I am here at home and on the mend and looking forward very much to the trip..we leave the first week in October. Awaiting with much graitude and interest your updated files. I don't need any other travel materials!