The Ukrainian state language law adopted in 2019 gradually abolishes the linguistic rights of the minorities living in Ukraine, including the Transcarpathian Hungarians. Since last summer, the names of airports, train stations and bus stops are written only in Ukrainian, and administration can only be done in the state language. From January of this year, service in Ukrainian is also mandatory.

In addition to all this, on July 16, more stringent provisions of the Ukrainian language law entered into force in the fields of culture, tourism and the entertainment industry. Magyar Nemzet asked Transcarpathian residents how they are experiencing the changes.

This will surely have a huge destructive effect on the already reduced Hungarian population here - Géza Tóth , who works as a company's production and site manager in the Beregsász district, told the paper about the Ukrainian state language law.

The Transcarpathian resident said that the generation of Hungarian minority youth living abroad, between the ages of twenty and forty, mostly speaks the Ukrainian language, but not at such a high level that it can be classified as a native language. In his opinion, the effect of the state language law on Transcarpathian Hungarians will depend on how tolerant the authorities will be if the minority does not speak Ukrainian at an adequate level.

- The changes slowly seep into public life, primarily the official places are the ones that are reached the soonest - said Zoltán Karmacsi.

The Transcarpathian tour guide explained that although the personal experiences of everyday people in offices or the information appearing in the news upset the moods of ordinary people, the people of Transcarpathia also have much more pressing problems, for example, in the area of ​​livelihood. He added: the impact of the newly enacted articles will only be felt later.

However, Zoltán Karmacsi also reported that the measures that came into effect on July 16 are much more painful in the field of culture, since non-Ukrainian- language theater performances and movies can only be presented in the state language, and all kinds of events can only be held in Ukrainian from now on - that is, the In villages inhabited by Hungarians, village days can now only be held in Ukrainian according to the law.

From January 16, 2021, service providers can only speak to their customers in Ukrainian and can only provide information about their products in this language. Attila Nagy and Kamilla Nagy-Marosán, young entrepreneurs from Transcarpathia, were shocked to receive the January decree, according to which customers can only be served in Ukrainian. According to the residents of the Bátfa settlement in the Ungvár district, this would be impossible in a Hungarian-speaking village. The legislation thus also enables communication in another language at the customer's initiative.

- Whoever speaks to us in Hungarian, we answer in Hungarian, whoever speaks Ukrainian, we answer in Ukrainian. In the surrounding villages, everyone respects each other's nationality, there are no clashes because of this, despite the fact that the residents are bullied against being Hungarian. While we are not concerned about the situation in the field of businesses, we are even more concerned in the field of education, as the rights of our children are restricted - Kamilla Nagy-Marosán explained the situation.

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Image: MTI