What Languages Are Spoken In Budapest? (Revealed!)

The primary language spoken in Budapest is Hungarian. Around 98% of Hungary’s population speaks the language, which is also the state’s official dialect. There are other foreign languages spoken in Budapest.

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary, founded in 1873.

The city was created when Hungary chose to connect three pre-existing towns.

Buda was a city known for upper-class residents. Pest was where you would find most of the population, and the town of Obuda was also used in the new capital, Budapest.

Hungary now has a population of around 9.71 million, 1.75 million of whom live in the capital.

A city packed with exciting quirks; Budapest is the thermal bath capital of the world.

Underneath the city is a vast water spring.

The spring contributes 70 million liters of thermal water annually.

Budapest lives up to its warm water hype.

The massive Budapest water spring makes the capital of Hungary the wealthiest in medical water.

Even the hippos at the Budapest zoo bathe in the warm spring water.

A city with interesting niches, the languages in Budapest vary from Hungarian to English.

This article looks at the languages spoken in Budapest.

In This Article

Is English Spoken in Budapest?

The population is likely to speak English in the most attractive tourist areas.

This could be complete fluency or just a basic level of understanding.

Schools have continued to teach English as a universal second language since 1991.

This means that the majority of people in Budapest know some English.

However, the majority of people speak Hungarian.

Therefore, it may be easier to have deeper conversations with locals if you know some Hungarian.

Whilst mostly everyone has at least a basic level of English, the population is nearly completely fluent in Hungarian.

Having more meaningful interactions may help your case to learn some basic Hungarian!

Is Hungarian a complex language to learn?

Hungarian may be the most challenging language to learn for English speakers.

There are a variety of grammatical, spelling, and pronunciation issues which make the language so difficult.

Hungarian is an expressive language.

Therefore, you have to use more idioms than in most other dialects.

Hearing Hungarians speak idioms may feel like a secret code if you are not fluent.

There are also challenges with vowels. In Hungary, they have 14 vowels, nearly twice as many as in English.

A large number of vowels makes spelling and comprehension a nightmare.

Words, themselves, do not look right in Hungarian.

Annoyingly, there are two verb forms called the definite and the indefinite.

To put it plainly, Hungarian is a harsh language to learn for English speakers.

Whereas with French or Italian, we may recognize one word- this will not happen in Hungarian.

So, yes, Hungarian is complicated to learn.

Is Hungarian like Russian?

Hungarian and Russian are not similar, the two are far from being so.

The differences come from the fact that Russian and Hungarian come from different families.

Hungarian is not a Slavic language. However, it has adopted some words from Slavic dialects.

The Hungarian language belongs to the family of Uralic dialects. Russian, contrastingly, is from the Slavic family of languages.

Russian is entirely different; Hungarian is more similar to Finnish and Estonian.

Some people may need clarification as Hungary’s neighbors speak Slavic languages.

It is easy to get confused when everyone around Hungary speaks a different type of dialects.

Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, and Croatia are all neighboring nations- Hungarian has borrowed bits from these languages.

It is estimated that 20% of Hungarian words are taken from their neighbors.

Some of these words will be similar to Russian.

Hungarian and Russian are far from similar.

There are common words; however, this is because of the Slavic influence on Hungary.

What are Uralic languages?

Uralic languages consist of 38 languages.

There are approximately 25 million people who speak Uralic languages worldwide.

Hungarian has the most speakers out of all of the languages in its family.

As we have discussed, Estonian and Finnish are other significant Uralic languages.

There are also more minor languages that fewer people speak.

Erzya, Moksha, Mari, Udmurt, Sami, Komi and Vepsian are dialects spoken in the northern regions of Scandinavia.

They are also used within the Russian Federation.

The name ‘Uralic’ is said to be because the dialects come from the Ural Mountains.

This is just a theory, however.

What are the Foreign languages spoken in Budapest?

The best language for getting around Budapest is German.

Hungary’s historical ties with Germany mean that it has had a semi-official status since the 20th century.

The two countries are also close in geographical proximity. Countries close to each other are likely to influence their neighbor’s languages.

As we have said, most young people speak English in Budapest. The older generation, however, is likely to be proficient in German.

Italian is also becoming increasingly popular in Budapest. As more tourists from Italy visit the capital, the language becomes more frequently used.

French and Spanish are useless as not enough people in Budapest speak the language.

Budapest is the thermal water capital of the world. So even the hippos get to join in on the warm water fun.

A go-to European city, Budapest is a historic and significant city.

Hungarian, the most spoken Uralic language, is the main dialect in the country, yet their English proficiency is also admirable.

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Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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