The Hungarian Language

Hungarian Studies at SSEES | Hungary in brief | More about Hungary

Hungarian (called by its speakers Magyar) belongs genetically to the language family known as Uralic. In many works of reference the term Finno-Ugrian or Finno-Ugric was widely used and is still sometimes found, although this is now known to be not entirely accurate. In terms of language type, that is to say, the structure of its meaningful units, it is an agglutinating language, with a relatively large number of easily identifiable grammatical and word-forming elements forming chains towards the end of the word. In this respect it resembles the Turkic languages more than some other Uralic ones. The closest linguistic kin of the Hungarians are the Mansi (Voguls) and the Khanty (Ostyaks) in north-western Siberia (Hungarian három, Old Hungarian kharm 'three': Finnish kolme, Mansi khurem).  

Hungarian is the official language of the Hungarian Republic, where it is the first language of at least 95% of the country's population of about 10 million. It is also spoken by minorities in the countries bordering on Hungary today: there are some 2 million speakers in (mainly) western Romania (Transylvania), over half a million in the southern parts of the Slovak Republic, at least 150,000 in western Ukraine (Transcarpathia), some 10,000 in Slovenia (where Hungarian is an official language in three districts alongside Slovene), and perhaps as many as 300,000 in Serbia (mainly in Vojvodina, where Hungarian is also an official language). There are substantial numbers of Hungarian speakers in Israel, the Americas and in Australia, bringing the world-wide total to perhaps 13 million or more. Though there are certainly some communities in the UK that have preserved their Hungarian heritage, maintenance of the Hungarian language among émigrés is neither straightforward nor typical.

Isolated words of Hungarian survive from as early as the eighth century, but the first continuous text dates from the end of the 12th and the first poem from about 1300. These are the earliest texts in any Uralic language. Both of these are so sophisticated that they suggest a much earlier date for the emergence of a literate culture. Hungarian has always been written in a modified version of the Roman alphabet, unlike the Slavonic, Orthodox cultures to its east and south, which use various Cyrillic scripts.

The main interest of Hungarian is that while it is a language that is both genetically and typologically different from those around it, it bears many signs of Europeanness linguistically and culturally after more than 1100 years in this environment. In some respects it can be seen as representing a tertium quid in European terms, a notion that could also be usefully applied to both its culture and its history.

Learning Hungarian is the only way to experience this rich and complex culture, the only way to understand fully the history of central and eastern Europe, and an important way of appreciating the wealth of European culture.  Professionally and commercially, knowing the language may be a practical and emotional trump-card in many contexts. Learning the language for leisure or other personal reasons will ensure not just a warm welcome among people whose hospitality is legendary, but pride of place in their hearts.

To find out more about the Hungarian language click on the link below, which will offer further links:

• Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_language

This page last modified Thursday 16 December 2010.