A View of Hungary's Linguistic Isolation - From an Outsider

A View of Hungary's Linguistic Isolation - From an Outsider

As an outsider, the Hungarian language is a considerable challenge to truly understand. Hungarians are rightly proud of their language, a nearly unique language preserved in a sea of Slavic and Germanic and Latin languages in Central Europe. Aside from distantly-related Estonian and Finnish, Hungarian is unique but alone - almost a metaphor for linguistic culture for this ancient nation.

As impenetrable Hungarian seems to be for the outsider, it is nevertheless an official language of the European Union. However, so are many others, especially the universally-used English. Some argue that to really understand Hungarian culture and the Hungarian soul one must know the language; however, for the growing number of foreigners calling Hungary home - especially under the European Union's freedom of movement principle - this impenetrability has created a myriad of problems.

Outside of frontline services, especially those related to tourism (hotels, restaurants, bars), there is a surprising lack of English spoken. The further away from tourism-centric places like Budapest also see less and less English, and general foreign language ability. Certainly the legacy of enforced Russian and German language education has dented Hungary's appetite for foreign language learning; however, in an interconnected EU and global economy, foreign languages - especially English - is a must.

Some argue that cultural pride, including linguistic pride, has made acquiring a foreign language less of a priority if it is not a complete necessity. However, in other small countries that have similar pride in their native languages, from Netherlands to Lithuania, also understand the need for foreign (especially English) language in order to fully participate in the international economy. In Hungary's case, it appears to be the opposite.

In Hungary's case, many individuals working in key sectors, such as medical and legal, seem to have extremely limited English language skills. Often when foreigners, including fellow EU citizens, fall ill, doctors cannot communicate with them, and medical treatment suffers. Other times, the inability for anyone in various government offices to communicate in English has led to legal problems, and has hindered business relationships and investment into Hungary's economy.

Even despite the large number of EU citizens coming into Hungary and Hungarians travelling throughout the EU and the world, there still appears to be a general reluctance to embrace more foreign language usage and teaching. In many northern European countries, the norm is to have foreign television and films retain their original language, with only subtitles present. This helps not just the flow of the program, but also lets the audience hear (and get used to) the sounds of the various foreign languages. In Hungary and many other countries with more challenges on learning foreign languages, you get Hollywod voices dubbed into the local language.

Certainly Hungarians should be proud of their linguistic uniqueness and should promote the learning of Hungarian by foreigners also. However, there is also a need to recognize that Hungary is in the European Union and participating in a global economy, and that entails the need to be more adept at foreign languages. Uniqueness is a wonderful thing, but it is also very lonely.

By Svitlana Serogina