Hungarian Language Day, 13 November: what the 1844 law said, and why Hungary marks the date

In Hungary, 13 November is Hungarian Language Day (a magyar nyelv napja). Parliament chose the date in 2011 because it marks the adoption of Act II of 1844, the law that made Hungarian the official language (Resolution 66/2011 (IX. 29.), National Legislation Database). The text of the act is still available online in Hungarian (Ezer év törvényei, Wolters Kluwer). The Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) puts it in one line: Hungarian became an official language on 13 November 1844 (KSH infographic, 2024).

This article covers what the law actually said, what the 2011 resolution asks for, and what official figures say about the language today.

The act is short: nine sections. In plain terms (Ezer év törvényei):

• Laws and royal documents: royal messages to the Diet, and the laws themselves, would be issued in Hungarian only (sections 1–2).
• The Diet: Hungarian became its sole working language. Envoys from the "associated parts" could still vote in Latin for six more years if they did not speak Hungarian (section 3).
• Government and courts: the Hungarian Court Chancellery, the Lieutenancy Council and the country's courts, church courts included, would work in Hungarian (sections 4–6).
• The associated parts: their authorities had to accept letters in Hungarian, while Hungarian authorities would still accept their letters in Latin (section 7).
• Schools: Hungarian would be taught as a regular subject in schools of the associated parts and become the language of public education within the country (sections 8–9).

One distinction matters: the act governed the language of the state, its offices and its schools. It did not regulate what language people spoke at home.

Resolution 66/2011 (IX. 29.) has four points (National Legislation Database):

1. It declares 13 November Hungarian Language Day, while respecting linguistic diversity and the language rights of national minorities.
2. It calls on institutions, organisations and citizens to mark the day together every year from 2011.
3. It asked the government to review the state of the Hungarian language at home and abroad, with academics, churches and civil groups, and to draw up an action plan; the deadline for reporting was 30 June 2012.
4. It took effect the day after publication.

A few confirmed examples:

• Public media, 13 November: M5 airs the "Széphalom – Hungarian Language Day" episode of Magyar Krónika from 15:00. Széphalom is the former home of the language reformer Ferenc Kazinczy and now houses the Museum of the Hungarian Language. Bartók Rádió plays Hungarian-language music all day, and the children's channel M2 runs poems and tales (MédiaKlikk, 12 November 2026).
• National Theatre, Budapest, 14 November: the International Society for Hungarian Language and Culture (MNYKNT) holds the 27th Carpathian Basin Kossuth Oratory Competition, presents the volume Report on the Hungarian Language 2020–2025, and gives its 2026 awards for Hungarian teachers (MNYKNT, 2026 programme).
• Libraries and schools: for example, the Wekerle Library in Kispest, Budapest, runs a special literature class for young children on 13 November (KMO).

From KSH's 2024 infographic (KSH):

• only 52 languages in the world are spoken by more than 10 million people, and Hungarian is one of them;
• Hungarian can be studied at around 80 universities in 23 countries;
• the language reform movement added roughly 10,000 new words that took root;
• the standard Concise Explanatory Dictionary of Hungarian has about 75,000 entries, and the multi-volume Comprehensive Dictionary of Hungarian is set to cover about 110,000 headwords.

The same infographic lists the Hungarian population in neighbouring and other countries – for example 1,002 thousand in Romania, 456 thousand in Slovakia, 184 thousand in Serbia and 131 thousand in Ukraine. KSH notes that answering the census question on nationality is voluntary, so the real numbers may be higher.

Hungary's population on census day, 1 October 2022, was 9,603,634 (KSH, Census 2022). Hungarian is one of the 24 official languages of the European Union (EU portal).

1. There is no single official speaker count. KSH says only that more than 10 million people speak Hungarian. We found no recent, unified official figure for native speakers worldwide, and estimates vary by source, so we do not quote one number.
2. The figures abroad measure nationality, not language. Someone who did not declare Hungarian nationality may still speak Hungarian, and the reverse is also true.
3. The 2026 event list is not complete. It includes only events we could confirm from a source.

• 13 November 1844: Act II of 1844 made Hungarian, instead of Latin, the language of laws, government offices and schools.
• Since 2011, by parliamentary resolution, the date has been Hungarian Language Day.
• According to KSH, Hungarian is one of only 52 languages spoken by more than 10 million people.

Related reading: Blog archive.

• Parliamentary Resolution 66/2011 (IX. 29.) on Hungarian Language Day, National Legislation Database: https://njt.jog.gov.hu/jogszabaly/2011-66-30-41
• Act II of 1844 on the Hungarian language and nationality, Ezer év törvényei: https://net.jogtar.hu/ezer-ev-torveny?docid=84400002.TV
• KSH: Hungarian Language Day, 13 November 2024 (infographic): https://ksh.hu/docs/infografika/2024/magyar-nyelv-napja_2024_hu.pdf
• KSH: Census 2022, final data: https://nepszamlalas2022.ksh.hu/eredmenyek/vegleges-adatok/kiadvany/assets/nepszamlalas2022-vegleges-adatok.pdf
• MédiaKlikk: Hungarian Language Day on public media (12 November 2026): https://mediaklikk.hu/cikk/2026/11/12/a-magyar-nyelv-unnepe-versek-dalok-es-mesek-november-13-an-a-kozmedia-csatornain/
• MNYKNT: 2026 programme: https://mnyknt.hu/eves-program-2026/
• KMO, Wekerle Library programme: https://kmo.hu/intezmenyek/wekerlei-konyvtar/programok/5223/a-magyar-nyelv-napja---rendhagyo-irodalmi-ora-kispesti-ovodasoknak-es-iskolasoknak----2026-11-13-
• European Union, official languages: https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/languages_en

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