Educational Media International Hajnal-Agócs

LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE ON THE INTERNET Dr. Hajnal Ward, Judit, jhajnal@rci.rutgers.edu

Institute for Hungarian Studies, Rutgers University, USADr. Agócs, László, agocs@helios.date.hu

Centre for Informatics Services, University of Debrecen, Hungary

AbstractThe authors look from a different perspective at the fact that Hungary and the

Hungarian language have been getting more and more involved with the World Wide Web. One of the undisputable benefits is that Hungarians living outside of Hungary can maintain up-to-date language proficiency by means of the free and fast flow of information on the Internet. Nowadays, in addition to sites with daily news, one can read reviews, articles and papers in almost every possible area of study in Hungarian, and a significant part of Hungarian literature is also available. These pages are instrumental in improving reading comprehension and writing skills, and following up with the changes in vocabulary. One should remember that in a community where Hungarian speakers receive formal education in another language, writing skills in Hungarian lag behind the other language.

By means of communication via the Internet, the authors followed the Hungarian Language Minor Program at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, USA for three years in order to check out the solutions for language acquisition and maintenance. Courses utilized various assets of the Internet: ways of communication to organize and manage coursework, collection of links to support courses, an online language course of Hungarian within the Digiclass online language teaching project of the university, a translation project with the Hungarolingua series of the Debrecen Summer University, and a literature course offered by means of WebCT.

The shape of present day Hungarian language as it appears on the various forms of electronic communication (emails, chatlines, bulletin boards, newsletters, forums) brings into focus the responsibility of web editors, writers and anyone that takes advantage of electronic communication.

Due to the expanding use of computer networks in Hungary, the Hungarian language has become a grown-up member of the world wide web and the Internet.

In the past few years the number of web pages written in Hungarian has significantly increased, since all areas of business, science, education, culture, etc. are eager to make use of the evolving new opportunities and insist on their continuous and updated presence on the Internet.

As a result, the Hungarian-language version of the widely used software have won the market over the English versions, nowadays used mostly by IT specialists only, who –recalling their initiary difficulties with Hungarian language software, e.g. MS Windows – are more aware of the bugs a translated and localized software might contain.

Localization of software and web pages targets an expanding market in every language. Multinational corporations with web based services were fast to figure out that it would not be sufficient to provide their end-users with a word-for-word translation, but their web pages would also need to be tailored to the needs, customs, interpretations, and culture of the particular country (meaning culture in the widest sense). After the first “nice tries” with non-grammatical, non-contextual pidgin-Hungarian sentences, nowadays the web presents us with wonderful examples of mirror-pages in the various user environments, customized to each country and language. Corporations do their best to tempt customers with the style and

1

Educational Media International Hajnal-Agócs

context altered to the needs of the particular country. Some of them introduced solutions for software localization as a new business, even if it is far from their original profile. They admit that language proficiency should be accompanied by thorough intercultural background information, and this fact apparently has been proven in financial terms.

The authors consider the quality of language on these sites of the highest importance, because these pages reflects the shape of the Hungarian language as used in Hungary, and at the same time, they assist Hungarians living outside the country to preserve their language and culture, as well as to improve their Hungarian language proficiency.

One should analyse the statistics regarding the distribution of Internet users in Hungarian outside Hungary. Although there have been surveys completed, the voluntary data from various countries are far from being accurate. However, apparently a large number of users log on the Internet in the United States. Internet access is the most widespread there; many families own more than one computers, more and more typically one for each member. It’s hard to get a job or go to college without computer literacy, and besides the inexpensive and fast access from home, work or school, various public institutions also offer free on-site internet access. Thus, one of the most important benefits of the Hungarian websites is that Hungarians living outside of Hungary can maintain up-to-date language proficiency by means of the free and fast flow of information on the Internet. Nowadays, in addition to sites with daily news, one can read reviews, articles and papers in almost every possible area of studies in Hungarian, and a significant part of the Hungarian literature is also available. These pages are instrumental in improving reading comprehension and writing skills, or following up with the changes in vocabulary.

This fact points out the responsibility of anyone who edits, compiles or translates web pages. How can one decide what to upload? What is the level (of language, in our terms) of the text that is still acceptable? The second issue falls into our scope of interest.

As stated before, web pages, mailing lists, newsgroups, forums, chatlines and emails, in addition to having a tangible impact on the development of the Hungarian language, play an important role in the everyday life of Hungarians living outside the country, including about five million potential users as opposed to the ten million inhabitants of the country. Language is one of the means to preserve their culture and identity, no matter where and how they live. In order to prove the need, let’s mention just one example: the first Hungarian Information Exchange network established in the United States more than fifteen years ago developed from a mailing list into a large network with users from all over the world, and then relocated to Hungary: http://www.hix.com/

The best way of finding information about anything today is the Internet even if you speak only Hungarian. After the political changes the diaspora receives up-to-date and uncensored information for free. Subjects cover a variety of articles and publications in politics, economy, business, science, and humanities, at various levels. The only fast source of news on Hungarian topics in North America is the Internet, as most Hungarian dailies and weeklies have an online version (HVG, Világgazdaság, Népszabadság), as well as the independent online pages ([origo], RTLonline, INDEX). The exciting events of the last Hungarian elections could be followed with less than a few minutes delay in the US, due to real time techniques. We have found that users turn to these sources not only to read news on Hungarian issues, but many of them opt to compare news in other languages in order to gain a better understanding in the maze of different media habits. It was the case on and after September 11, 2001, when Hungarian pages were very informative and popular with the news provided not only by the American news agencies.

2

Educational Media International Hajnal-Agócs

A huge portion of the Hungarian literature can also be read in a digitalized form at the Hungarian Electronic Library and the Hungarian Digital Academy. This means an enormous help in a community where Hungarian speakers receive formal education in another language, and their reading and writing skills in Hungarian lag behind the other language:

Magyar Elektronikus Könyvtár: http://www.mek.huMagyar Digitális Akadémia: http://www.irodalmiakademia.hu/By means of communication via the Internet, the authors followed the Hungarian

Language Minor Program at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, USA for three years in order to check out the solutions for language acquisition and maintenance. The Institute for Hungarian Studies (http://hi.rutgers.edu) is one of the three universities offering Hungarian Programs in North America. Internet sources are indispensable to organize and maintain courses that need Hungarian texts: Hungarian Culture Today, Hungarian Literature and Civilization, Conversation, Translation, Literature Seminar, Poetry, etc. The value of authentic texts in language teaching is not disputed; difficulties caused by the limited access in an international classroom environment can be easily overcome with sources on the Internet. The limited paper-based library was well matched by the above mentioned sources in the area of literature and history. Online versions of the dailies or weeklies could successfully replace the paper versions, which are mailed and arrive with a significant delay. Hungarian texts on the Internet may also serve for small research on certain topics, although for more academic research, students should be directed to paper-based, refereed academic sources, for example with the help of the Hungarika Collection at the National Széchenyi Library: http://www.oszk.hu/szerv/gyujtfejl/hung.html.

The language instructor teaching Hungarian Studies in an international college needs the backup of an IT specialist located in Hungary with experience of the Hungarian network. The following courses were taught with the help of the Internet (for detailed course description feel free to visit the website):

Literature seminar: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~jhajnal/seminar.htmPoetry seminar: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~jhajnal/poetry2001.htmlHungarian sources used in the courses are linked on the instructor’s web page to the

database of the Hungarian Electronic Library and the Hungarian Digital Academy. It also served as a database for an online Hungarian Literature WebCT course developed with Web Course Publishing Tools, which is available on the university website for enrolled students. The English language software was manipulated to handle Hungarian language texts, exercises and directions. Each text is accompanied by a list of questions and problems, students are supposed to complete their assignments in a timely manner but at their convenience. In addition to the interactive tasks, they are also encouraged to upload their own texts on the site.

The Hungarian section of another online educational aid, the multi-language experimental language teaching project called Digiclass@Rutgers is available for everyone at:

http://fas-digiclass.rutgers.edu/page.jsp?dept=hungarian. These pages support class work in the elementary group by means of a variety of interactive assignments, vocabulary and grammar quizzes, sample translations and links to further sources.

The results of another course can be found at: http://gizi.dote.hu/~hajnal/rutgers/trans.html, which presents the best translations made from the Hungarolingua 3, the third volume of the Hungarian language teaching series published by the Debrecen Summer University.

A popular source for extracurricular activities the Hunling moderated mailing list at: hunling@yahoogroups.com. The list is available for everyone who signs up; topics are

3

Educational Media International Hajnal-Agócs

usually related to Hungarian grammar, vocabulary, use or orthography. Members are not only native speakers, physically located virtually all over the world.

The Internet has a role of vital importance in the most relevant area in teaching Hungarian in the diaspora, i.e. teaching writing and reading skills. The best Hungarian web sites present texts written with correct grammar and spelling at the level of the educated native speaker in an optimal case. These pages may serve as sources of reference as compared to the publications in the American—Hungarian press, which are printed with a lot of enthusiasm, but sometimes lacking basic writing skills.

One of the points is spelling. It’s agreed that Hungarian orthography is very complicated. The clone of the Hungarian language used in certain forms of electronic communication (informal emails, chatlines, and forums) reflects problems with the language inside and outside of the country. The outrageous (although sometimes witty) spelling used in the Hungarian chatlines may also function for educational purposes: these are the mistakes one can make, but one shouldn’t make in certain registers. Through these examples, students can also learn to evaluate how serious a mistake is considered, and what conclusions native speakers will jump at when reading these mistakes. Another great advantage of these sources is that they reflect the slightest change in vocabulary or use, similarly to the spoken language. Calling the attention of the young learners to these points may put an end to the situation that proficiency and use of expatriots always show the shape of the language and their education at the time of leaving the country, or the practice of coining new „Hungarian” words by adding a Hungarian suffix to an English root for an idea that had not exist when they left, while in the lack of feedback, ignoring the newly used Hungarian word in Hungary in the meantime.

All the above mentioned issues can be partly resolved with the regular use of the Internet, both in class and at home: authentic Hungarian texts on the Internet help with vocabulary, reading comprehension, grammar and usage, and improve writing and spelling skills too. However, the responsibility of text writers for the Internet and teachers of Hungarian as a Second language is greater than ever: this is our mother tongue, and the mission to preserve it has never been as important as in the age of globalization.

Authors’ BiographyJudit Hajnal Ward, Professor of Hungarian Language, faculty at the Institute for

Hungarian Studies at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, president of the American Hungarian Language Center, the first international section of the Debrecen Summer University. She holds a doctoral degree in linguistics. She has been involved in teaching ESL and Hungarian as a second language in various multicultural classroom environment.

Laszlo Agocs, Scientific Fellow at the Service Centre for Informatics, the University of Debrecen. He holds a doctoral degree in didactics. His major research and development field is CAI.

JHW and LA started to do research on the incorporation of the use of computer network systems in language acquisition at the Medical School of the University of Debrecen about seven years ago.

Mailing AdressAmerican Hungarian Language Center117 Arlington AveSomerset, NJ 08873Phone: (732) 846-6359Fax: (732) 418-0780

4

Educational Media International Hajnal-Agócs

Bibliography1. Hajnal, J., Marschalkó, G., Agócs, L. and Molnár, T.: LSP: Some aspects of materials

developed for language acquisition assisted by the internet. In: Ruane, M., Ó Baoill, D.P.: Integrated Theory and Practice in LSP and LAP. Applied Language Centre, University College Dublin, 2000.http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/%7Ejhajnal/dublin.htm

2. Hajnal, J., Agócs, L.: A magyar, mint idegen nyelv oktatása informatikai hálózatok felhasználásával. Csirik, J., Herdon, M. (szerk.): Informatika a felsőoktatásban '99. Debrecen, 1999. 209-214. http://www.edunt.dote.hu/high-man/publicat/if99.htm

3. Hajnal, J., Agócs, L., Veress, G., Magulya, L.: Language Acquisition Assisted by the Internet. EMI 33, 175-181, 1996. http://www.edunt.dote.hu/high-man/publicat/emi96.htm

4. Agócs, L., Hajnal, J., Veress, G.: Új tanítási-tanulási módszerek informatikai hálózatok felhasználásával. In: Kis-Tóth, L., Tompa, K. (eds) AgriMedia '96. Eger, 1996.

5. Hajnal, J,: Practical Usage of the Audiovisual Series Hungarolingua. EMI 1995, 32, 1, 7-10. http://gizi.dote.hu/~hajnal/lektor/preview/hleng.html

5