Foreign languages in Hungary

Which foreign languages do Hungarians learn?

Foreign languages in Hungary

Although the majority of Hungarians do not speak any other language beside Hungarian, studying foreign languages is becoming more and more common, especially among the younger generations. Not only because it is evident that speaking another language could get you further in life (especially in the European Union), but because at least one foreign language is required to finish most universities and colleges, or even some high schools. Before the transition to market economy (1989) Russian, being compulsory, was the most commonly studied foreign language, but from the early 90's, all of a sudden, everybody wanted to learn English. Apparently, Hungarians did not prove to be great language learners: people with good English skills are still uncommon and sought after in Hungary, after 15 some years of study. Other languages took a bit longer to gain popularity. The vast majority of students who do not study English tend to choose German instead, and nowadays many people speak good German. Although Hungary has been in the EU for almost two years now, French as a foreign language is gaining ground very slowly. Very few French learners recognize how useful their chosen language may prove most of them would choose it out of personal interest. Besides of these, Spanish and Italian are becoming more and more popular. On the other hand, the knowledge of Scandinavian and Oriental languages (Chinese and Japanese, Arabic and Hebrew) is still considered rare and exotic. Surprisingly, there are very few people learning the languages of the surrounding countries, like Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Romanian, Slovak, and Czech. This might be caused by the fact that there are plenty of bilingual native speakers belonging to minorities and any language learner would have a hard time competing against them. N. Life in Budapest Traditional gypsy music in Budapest Learning languages in Hungary Popular cinema in Hungary Hungarians learning Spanish Hungarian wages Hungarian salaries Hungarian attitudes towards Gypsies Austria from Hungary Gypsy stereotypes in Hungary Getting a job in Hungary Foreign language bookstores in Budapest Creative competition in Budapest during the war Bird flu strain in Hungary Winter sports in Budapest Traditional Gypsy music in Budapest Beggars in Budapest Gypsies in Hungarian media