Bilungualism and multilingualism in Hungarian public education

Abstract

Social, cultural and linguistic diversity is present in every society and thus, it is organized dynamically along the prevailing interests of the various groups. The analysis of the relation between language and society, and that between forms of language use and social structures underlying social existence can not by-pass the discussion about language and education and, within that scope, bi- and multilingualism in schooling. Based on this fact, the present paper discusses the language education in public schools and in international schools in Hungary, with special focus on the teaching of Hungarian as a foreign language.