A nyelvtudás változása a Kárpát-medencei magyar fiatalok körében az ezredfordulótól napjainkig

Abstract

Changes in the language knowledge of the Hungarian youth in the Carpathian Basin from the turn of the millennium to the present The study analyzes three large-sample youth survey databases on the language skills of young Hungarians (aged 15–29) in the Carpathian Basin, and especially on their changes. Based on the answers of about 28 000 respondents, I am looking for answers to three main research questions: what is the proportion of Hungarian young people who speak only their mother tongue, what is their level of proficiency in the official language of the country in which they live, and at what level, which foreign languages have they acquired? In terms of the results, one in five young people in Hungary will still not speak a language other than their mother tongue in 2020, while in Transcarpathia the proportion is 12% and in the other regions of the former Yugoslavia it is below 5%. Over the years, there has been a significant positive change in favor of multilingualism. It has also been found that the majority of young people from abroad speak the national language of the country where they live better than the basic level. Transylvania and Slovakia are the countries where they speak the language the best, followed by Vojvodina, and then Transcarpathia. The majority of young people in Hungary know one or two foreign languages, while among young people from abroad, knowledge of three foreign languages is average, but knowledge of four or more is not uncommon. Most young people speak English, a language that has seen an expansion in the past twenty years. Keywords: Hungarian youth, youth research, zero language knowledge, multilingualism, foreign language knowledge, state language knowledge