Languages
Hungarian is the only official language of Hungary and widely spoken by non-Hungarians also. According to the 2001 census 1,766,733 people (99.4%) speak Hungarian, 393,642 (22.1%) English, 286,351 (16.1%) German, 68,960 (3.9%) Russian and 57,648 people (3.2%) speak French in Budapest. Hungarian is the mother language to near all of the residents, while the other languages spoken as second languages.
| Language | 1715 | 1737 | 1750 | 1851 | 1880 | 1890 | 1900 | 1910 | 1920 | 1930 | 1941 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hungarian | 19.4% | 22.5% | 22.2% | 36.6% | 56.7% | 67.1% | 79.6% | 85.9% | 90.2% | 94.3% | 97% |
| German | 55.6% | 57.8% | 55.2% | 56.4% | 34.3% | 23.7% | 14% | 9% | 6.5% | 3.8% | 1.9% |
| Slovak | 2.2% | 5.6% | 6.5% | 5% | 6.1% | 5.6% | 3.4% | 2.3% | 1.5% | 0.7% | 0.3% |
| Other | 22.8% | 14.1% | 16.1% | 2% | 2.9% | 3.6% | 3% | 2.8% | 1.8% | 1.2% | 0.8% |
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of Budapest
Famous quotes containing the word languages:
“The less sophisticated of my forbears avoided foreigners at all costs, for the very good reason that, in their circles, speaking in tongues was commonly a prelude to snake handling. The more tolerant among us regarded foreign languages as a kind of speech impediment that could be overcome by willpower.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“People in places many of us never heard of, whose names we can’t pronounce or even spell, are speaking up for themselves. They speak in languages we once classified as “exotic” but whose mastery is now essential for our diplomats and businessmen. But what they say is very much the same the world over. They want a decent standard of living. They want human dignity and a voice in their own futures. They want their children to grow up strong and healthy and free.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)
“Wealth is so much the greatest good that Fortune has to bestow that in the Latin and English languages it has usurped her name.”
—William Lamb Melbourne, 2nd Viscount (1779–1848)