Being Hungarian in London: preserving the mother tongue in a foreign land
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The Hungarian language is one of the greatest treasures of Hungarian culture, however, living abroad makes it a much more difficult task to preserve it. Talking to Hungarian Londoners and vising their community centres allowed me to see their struggle to maintain Hungarian language use in their day-to-day lives.
What is it about Hungarian?
The Hungarian language is unique and it is surrounded by a sea of Germanic, Latin and Slavic language users in the Carpathian Basin. However, it may not be present at all if it were not for drastic interventions in the 19th century. During this period great interest was taken in preserving Hungarian – its use was more strictly enforced in the region and Hungarian words were conjured up for ones which were borrowed from other languages. That is why Hungarian uses the word ‘rendőrség’ instead of one derived from the Latin word ’politia’ for example.
Hungarian language became intricately tied with Hungarian patriotism and nationalism, meaning today it is a very important aspect of Hungarian culture, especially for people living abroad.
Preserving Hungarian in London
Over the past decade tens of thousands of Hungarians have moved to London. Discussing Hungarian culture with Hungarian Londoners, language was always one of the first topics to come up.
They express a sense of pride of being able to speak Hungarian; for them it is the most beautiful language in the world and allows them to mark the boundaries between themselves and other Eastern European cultures.
In community centres it became clear that language use is central in their lives. In London they constantly differentiate between speaking Hungarian and English. For example, when children or even adults make grammatical mistakes, they correct each other in order to reinforce the accurate use of the language. Children are often reminded to speak Hungarian as they easily slip English words and phrases into their speech; living and going to school in Britain means English comes much more naturally to them. Intricate aspects of language that may not be seen as crucial for Hungarians living in Hungary, such as adding accents on letters when typing messages, become very important in language use and expressing ‘Hungarianess’.