Interest in learning Hungarian language has increased significantly in Ukraine

Hungarian is even more popular in Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja) than English said Government Commissioner István Grezsa at Zánka Erzsébet camp where he met a group of Ukrainian children vacationing in Hungary.

In the current school year, 1235 Ukrainian children studied Hungarian in Transcarpathia.

According to current Ukrainian law, if five parents ask for the school to organize Hungarian classes the school must fulfill the request. Increasingly, parents asking for this possibility even in places where ethnic Hungarian are in minority the commissioner said.

Apart from that, more than four thousand adults enrolled in free intensive Hungarian language courses at 62 locations across Transcarpathia in July said Grezsa.

In the Zánka summer camp, currently 440 Ukrainian children – who study Hungarian – spending their vacation; they are accompanied by thirty teachers who are helped by volunteers from Károli Gáspár Reformed University’s Beregszász Campus.

The commissioner stressed that Hungary financed the summer vacation of thousands of Ukrainian children in recent years.

Some of the children came from Ukrainian families whose family members injured or died in the war of Eastern Ukraine.

Programs launched by the Hungarian government to support Transcarpathia’s needy children started ten years ago.

The Ukrainian people appreciate this gesture said Ukrainian Community Spokesperson Hartyányi Jaroszlava at the Zánka summer camp adding that Ukrainians feel that Hungary behaves as a true neighbor, giving Ukraine a friendly hand in the most critical times.

The spokesperson added that it was gratifying that in the summer camps, Ukrainian children could spend their vacation together with Hungarian kids; later, these children will be friends of Hungary as they learn the language and Hungarian culture added the spokesperson.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI – hungarianambiancecom