The Hungarian Language in the European Information Society

Abstract

Hungarian is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe. It is the official language of the Republic of Hungary, where ca. 97 % of the population of 10 million claims Hungarian as their native language. It is also spoken by Hungarian communities in the seven neighbour countries, the largest one being an approximately 1.5 million community in Romania. Additionally, emigrant communities use it worldwide, primarily in the United States, Canada and Israel. With its 13 million speakers, Hungarian is 12th on the list of the most populous European languages. Abroad, Hungarian is an official language in Vojvodina, as well as in three municipalities in Slovenia. Hungarian is officially recognised as a minority or regional language in Austria, Croatia, Romania, Ukraine, and Slovakia.