News

This day, in 1844, Hungarian became the official language of the country after decades of political struggle. The language question became subject to political controversies in 1784 when Joseph II (1741–1790) instituted German as the working language of the administration (replacing Latin). Albeit much of the Hungarian aristocracy spoke German at the time, the decision that imposed the German language on Hungary was met with great outrage—Latin was demanded to be reinstated.

Gradually, from the 1800s, the Hungarian language was introduced into the country’s bureaucratic administration. From 1805 on laws were written on two languages (Latin and Hungarian) and local level administrative units could opt for using Hungarian instead of Latin. In 1830 the use of Hungarian was introduced in the court system, while from 1836 on marriage, birth, and death certificates were issued in Hungarian. From these years on, only those were allowed to fill certain positions (e.g., to be lawyers or priests) who spoke Hungarian. As a final step in the process of elevating the Hungarian language to being the official language of the country, in 1844 the national Assembly also adopted Hungarian. From this point on, the parliament and the king also used Hungarian in all official communication, and Hungarian became the language of education, too. Making Hungarian the official language of the country is the biggest achievement of the Reform Era.

(Source, image)

Today Hungarian teachers are presented awards for their exceptional work and other notable events take place around the country. 

P.S. Prior to Hungarian becoming the state's official language Ratio Educationis II. presented an options for the mother toungue education - as it shows in our home page timeline.