Survey spotlights Hungarians' poor foreign language skills
A classroom at a language school near Budapest. In part because of the "linguistic isolation" caused by a language that bears little relation to other European tongues, Hungarians are at the bottom of the list of Europeans with foreign language skills.
Three-quarters of Hungarians speak no foreign language compared to the European Union average of slightly more than one-third, Nepszabadsag daily said on Wednesday quoting the results of a Eurostat survey.
Of the 27 member states surveyed in 2007, Hungary was at the bottom of the list, preceded by Portugal, where 51.3 percent of people aged 25 to 64 speak no foreign language.
The poor figures in Hungary are partly the result of the country's linguistic isolation, head of the Professional Association of Language Schools Tamas Legradi told the paper. It is easier for a Pole to learn Russian or for a Dutchman to learn English than for a Hungarian to learn any other language, Legradi said. Slovaks will have no problems understanding Czech and the Portuguese will understand Italian and Spanish, he added.
The low quality of language education in Hungary is often attributed to the low number of classes and large class sizes. However, the key to success is good teachers, Legradi said. As long as the prestige of the profession fails to improve, no quality requirements can be introduced and many good language teachers avoid working in public education, he added.
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