The conclusion of a debate organized in Cluj-Napoca regarding Hungarians in Romania who do not want to speak Romanian is that, in reality, this is just a myth and that there are areas where the only contact Hungarians have with Romanian is in school, and here things need to be improved.
The debate “Why Hungarians don't speak Romanian” from Cluj-Napoca. PHOTO: Remus Florescu
“Why don't Hungarians speak Romanian?” – this was the name of the debate organized, on Tuesday evening, by Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), in a conference room of a hotel in Cluj-Napoc
“Learning the Romanian language is extremely important and useful in the lives of Hungarian children. However, the current educational system, the microenvironment and the lifestyle of families do not provide adequate support for learning the Romanian language. Outside of preschool activities and school hours, a child of Hungarian ethnicity rarely comes into significant contact with the Romanian language” – it is shown in the description of the debate, made by the organizers.
Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) is an organization, founded in 1996 as a private initiative in Hungary, which provides free extracurricular training to talented young Hungarians. More than 2,000 young people from eight cities benefit from the courses offered, including those in Romanian: Cluj-Napoca, Arad, Miercurea Ciuc, Târgu Mureș, Oradea, Sfântu Gheorghe, Odorheiu Secuiesc and Satu Mare.
The introduction of one of the speakers invited to the debate provoked laughter in the hall: “He is Daniel Rotaru, a student at the Faculty of Letters, Romanian Language and Literature, at Babeș-Bolyai University, and he wants to teach the students of Odorheiu Secuiesc the Romanian language.”
The prospect of learning the Romanian language in a city where the Hungarian minority represents more than 90% of the population seemed to be a funny idea for the audience of the debate, made up mostly of ethnic Hungarians. Daniel Rotaru (21 years old), who comes from a mixed family, Romanian father and Hungarian mother from Odorheiu Seciuesc, explained to “Adevărul” that he wants to do this because he believes it is important to give something back to the community that gave him so many.
The language police
“It is a prejudice to think that Hungarians do not want to learn the Romanian language“, Rotaru said.
He stated that there are about one million Hungarians living in Romania, and one of the main reasons why they do not speak Romanian is that they live in self-sufficient communities and can manage without needing the Romanian language.
He recalled the scandal in Odorheiu Secuiesc, from 2017, when a blogger from Cluj claimed that he was not served with a small portion by a Kaufland employee on the grounds that he did not speak Hungarian.
“Hungarians in the area hesitate to speak Romanian because they are stressed that they do not know the language very well. It is a form of self-protection. This was also the case with the Kaufland employee. He had nothing against the Romanian client”, he explained.
There is a pressure on Hungarians that they do not speak Romanian well and this makes them refuse to speak it.
“There is also a term for this – the language police, and even Hungarians end up criticizing each other because they don't know Romanian well”says Rotaru.
“It is a myth that Hungarians do not want to learn the Romanian language. According to a survey, 90% of Hungarians consider it important for their children to know the Romanian language”added another participant in the debate, András Bethlendi, jurist, minority rights expert and university teacher.
Daniel Rotaru wants to teach Hungarian students Romanian. PHOTO: Remus Florescu
The only contact with the Romanian language, at school
Rotaru stated that the only contact the Hungarians in Harghita and Covasna have with the Romanian language is at school, but here things are not done exactly as they should be.
“Many nuances of vocabulary and grammar are treated and taught out of context. These nuances should be contextualized, for example, through a role play or debate. This really requires a lot more involvement on the part of the teacher, but I think the key is this contextualization of the nuances”the young man explained.
Furthermore, after leaving school, the student has virtually no one to practice what he has learned with.
“We have taken an important step in the right direction, in the sense that the teaching methodology of the Romanian language has been changed: for ten years it is no longer taught as a mother tongue (ed. – but as a foreign language). If we manage to change the attitude of teachers and parents, we will see the results“, said András Bethlendi.
He pointed out that the syllabus has already been changed and we will see if in the right direction when we have the Baccalaureate results.
“This means that either there is a problem with the Baccalaureate, or with the methodology of teaching the Romanian language“, he specified.
He claims that if the Baccalaureate results show that Hungarians fail to pass the Romanian language exams to the same extent as Romanians, things must change, because passing this exam depends on their access to university education.
“We all have the right to education, from kindergarten to university. And if we are simply the victims of a bad teaching methodology or a bad form of examination, then we lose this right which is legally discrimination”. explained András Bethlend.
Bethlendi also said that there are many reasons why Hungarians in Romania want to learn Romanian, such as access to well-paid jobs, access to culture and, in fact, even in Harghita and Covasna they would need the Romanian language, in their relationship with the authorities , although officially it is claimed that it is not necessary.
Romanians' reactions are very important
As for the solutions, the conclusions of the debate showed that the teachers of the Romanian Language must find the optimal method of teaching. Then the creation of institutional frameworks in which Hungarians and Romanians could collaborate, make friends, exchange experiences, considering that there are many things in common between Hungarian and Romanian culture, was brought up.
They also talked about the importance of the community's reaction to those who do not speak Romanian correctly. Linguist Karola Kovács, a participant in the debate, whose research focuses on linguistic attitudes and legal awareness among Hungarian students in Transylvania, stated that people must understand that for a Hungarian, learning the Romanian language is not at all easy.
“I think that the question that started the debate must be changed from “Why don't Hungarians speak Romanian?” in “Why don't Hungarians speak Romanian very well?” Feedback is very important. We have to encourage them to speak Romanian even if they don't speak it perfectly“.
“Teachers should rebuild the self-confidence of Hungarians to speak Romanian. I think that this should be our main goal, not to create another Eminescu, that we will not do this. If we can already rebuild this self-confidence, that Hungarian child will speak Romanian more often, even if he makes grammatical or expression mistakes“, was Daniel Rotaru's conclusion.
