The Hungarian editorial staff of the Kolozsvári Rádió (Radio Cluj) was awarded he “Cradle prize” by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) and the Communitas Foundation. They appropriately received the recognition on November 13, the Day of the Hungarian Language, for “guarding and cultivating our mother tongue, Hungarian,” emphasized Gyula Szép, the vice president of Communitas Foundation (an important support organization of the RMDSZ) and director of the Hungarian State Opera of Kolozsvár.
The awards ceremony was organized in the imposing, baroque Bánffy palace, and the celebrated radio editors livened up the atmosphere by playing a material in which they had put together pieces with their own slip-ups made whilst they were on air; they just wanted to point out that no one is perfect, everyone can make mistakes when speaking. Participants could as well enjoy the quality performance of the Hungarian Children’s Choir of Kolozsvár.
It is pertinent to talk about the perils and challenges which can confine the usage of Hungarian, and it is also necessary for every native speaker to keep “guarding and cultivating” the language, underlined the vice president of Communitas.
He also pointed out that unfortunately the usage of the Hungarian language can be impaired by inter-ethnic marriages, the ways of life in the big city (neighborhoods which have an overwhelmingly Romanian-speaking population), or in small localities in which Hungarians live as minorities, isolated by the larger parts of their ethnic community. The decay of the language might be also influenced by globalization, as young people tend to replace some of their own language’s words with English words or other foreign expressions.
RMDSZ president Hunor Kelemen recounted that 65 years ago, on the 15th of March, people could hear for the first time: “Here is Kolozsvár!” That is when the Hungarian-language broadcast of the Kolozsvári Rádió began. The introduction of the radio transmission was a revolutionary development in those times, and the Hungarian broadcast played a major role in the correct communication of information and the preservation of language patterns, as Hungarian editors working at the institution always placed a huge emphasis on the linguistic finesse of the audio material, said the politician.
As Hunor Kelemen added, his attitude towards the Hungarian radio editors is naturally subjective, as from the autumn of 1990 until he started a political career (in 1997 he became undersecretary at the ministry of culture) he was himself an editor at Kolozsvár Radio. The “Cradle prize” was accepted by the current editor in chief, Péter Kovács, who thanked every colleague who had worked at the radio these past 65 years and created value with their work. The law stipulating that the Day of the Hungarian Language can be celebrated officially in every locality of Romania was initiated by RMDSZ, and adopted four years ago.
Title image: Editor in chief, Péter Kovács takes the prize offered by Hunor Kelemen (on his side) and Gyula Szép
Source: Kolozsvári Rádio/Facebook
