Slovak language law

[Miklos Kontra]

This is to bring to your attention the following information about the
language situation in Slovakia.


>                        Slovak language law
>
>
> On 15 November, 1995 the National Council of the Slovak Republic
> approved "The law on the state language of the Slovak Republic",
> which took effect on 1 January 1996 (except for Section 10 on
> fines, which will take effect a year later). Below is a partial
> demonstration of the consequences of the law in light of one of the
> principles in the Linguistic Society of America's Statement on
> Language Rights (circulated on LINGUIST, 15 November 1995).
>
> [Background information on Slovakia: over 10% of Slovakia's
> population, about 600,000 people, are ethnic Hungarians, who are
> indigenous to southern Slovakia and constitute the majority of the
> population in hundreds of localities. Since 1990, under law
> 428/1990 on the official language of the Slovak Republic, in
> localities with at least a 20 % minority population the minority
> language was used in official contacts. The new law on the state
> language has revoked that law.]
>
> The LSA Statement on Language Rights contains, among other things,
> the following principle:
>
> "At a minimum, all residents of the United States should be
> guaranteed the following linguistic rights:
> A.   To be allowed to express themselves, publicly or privately, in
> the language of their choice."
>
> Under the Slovak State Language Law, citizens of Slovakia do not
> have the right to use "the language of their choice" in the
> following domains of language use, among others:
>
>
> - local government (according to Section 3, Paragraph 1)
>
> - a public transport bus driver talking to a fellow driver on the
> job (3, 2)
>
> - public announcements by local governments (3, 3, a)
>
> - sessions of local government; teachers' meeting in a state school
> (3, 3, b)
>
> - church bulletins (3, 3, c)
>
> - street signs (3, 3, d)
>
> - written submissions to local governments (3, 5)
>
> - elementary and secondary school-leaving certificates (4, 3)
>
> - the presentation of the program of cultural events such as poetry
> recitation, concerts etc. (5, 7)
>
> - legal documents relating to employment (8, 2)
>
> - verbal contact between health care workers and patients (8, 4)
>
>
> Under the same law, citizens of Slovakia may use a language other
> than the state language, but only at a cost. Four such cases are
> illustrated below by quoting the text of the law (according to the
> unabridged unofficial translation issued by CTK news agency,
> Prague, 13 December 1995).
>
>
> - Foreign audiovisual works aimed at children under 12 years must
> be dubbed into the state language. (Section 5, Paragraph 2)
>
> - Broadcasts by regional and local television channels, radio
> stations and radio facilities takes place in the state language.
> Other languages may be used only before the broadcast or after the
> broadcast of the given program in the state language. (5, 4)
>
> - Occasional publications designed for the public, catalogues for
> galleries, museums and libraries, programs for cinemas, theaters,
> concerts and other cultural events are issued in the state
> language. If necessary they may contain translations into other
> languages. (5, 6)
>
> - All signs, advertisements and announcements designed to inform
> the public, especially in shops, sports grounds, restaurants, in
> the street, on roads, at airports, bus and railway stations, in
> prisons and in public transport must be in the state language. They
> may be translated into other languages, but the text in other
> languages must follow after a text of equal length in the state
> language. (8, 6)
>
>
> According to Sections 9 and 10, enforcement of the said law will be
> carried out by the Ministry of Culture levying fines for violations
> of the law. For instance, a maximum of 250,000 Slovak Crowns can be
> the fine for violating Section 8, Paragraph 6 on signs,
> advertisements and announcements in shops, restaurants etc. A fine
> of up to 500,000 Crowns can be levied on violators of Section 5,
> Paragraph 4 on what amounts to compulsory airing of non-state
> language radio and TV programs in the state language as well. For
> comparison, note that the maximum fine for desecration of the
> Slovak national flag is 3,000 Crowns. The maximum fine for
> endangering Slovakia's nuclear safety equals the maximum language
> use violation fine (half a million Crowns).
>
> In a letter to the New York Times (Nov. 27, 1995) the Ambassador of
> the Slovak Republic in Washington, Branislav Lichardus stated that
> "This law governs only the use of the Slovak language. Use of
> minority languages in Slovakia will be included in a different law
> dedicated to this issue." As can be seen above, use of the Slovak
> language is governed such that in many important domains of
> language use citizens of Slovakia do not have the right to use the
> language of their choice. In other domains they have an unduly
> costly choice and are discriminated against.
>
>
> --
> Miklos Kontra
>
> Department of Linguistics           Fax: USA 517 432 2736
> Wells Hall                          Phone: USA 517 353 0740
> Michigan State University           Email: kontra at pilot.msu.edu
> East Lansing, MI 48824
> USA
>