According to Deputy State Secretary for Hungarian Communities Abroad, each community has the right to retain and strengthen its culture, to develop and freely use its own language.
Among other issues, Zsuzsanna Répás spoke about these matters at the opening of the conference titled 'Native speakers abroad – from legal possibilities to realization’ in Budapest, this Thursday.

As the Deputy State Secretary phrased it, there is still a lot to be done regarding the full and free usage of Hungarian language abroad. Which is self-evident and natural in Hungary, it is often the subject of heavy fighting for Hungarians in the neighbouring countries, as Ms Répás said at the meeting of the Research Institute for National Policy and stressed that language has the power to retain a community – as she phrased it, one of the pillars of a nation’s survival is nothing but its own characteristic language and ways of linguistic expression.

She added that common language assumes a common set of mind, a cultural basis and a sense of bonds.

According to Ms Répás, if we are to lapse to speak a common language, that would doubt the very existence and identity of Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin.

The Deputy State Secretary said that every community has the right to retain and strengthen its culture and take care of its language. In a community, every individual has the right to identify oneself with his or her native language and make others respect this. Furthermore she added that every community is entitled to freely use and develop its own language as well. She pointed out that it is essential for Hungarian communities abroad to be aware of their rights and consciously take advantage of them. She pointed out that many programs will seek to strengthen Hungarian language institutions and the use of Hungarian language in accordance with the strategy adopted by the Hungarian Regular Conference.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)