The Vynohradivsky district in the Zakarpattia region of Ukraine has granted the Hungarian language, regional language status.

Two Hungarian parties – the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine and the Democratic Party of Hungarians of Ukraine – initiated the consideration of the issue. Only one deputy voted against the proposal. Members of the Yedyny Tsentr Party, which earlier opposed the language law, unanimously supported the draft instruction.

In Ukraine if over 10% of the population speak a different language it can apply to be an official regional language. As Hungarian has now been made a regional language in the Vynohradivsky district, street signs in the region will now be translated into Hungarian. Russian is classed as a regional language in many parts of Ukraine with Moldovan being declared a regional language in Tarasivtsi in the Chernivtsi region and Romanian in the Village of Bila Tserkva.

With the constant bickering in the U.K. press about scrapping translation services because ‘everyone should know English’, it is nice to see that Ukraine has such a progressive and inclusive policy when it comes to accommodating different languages.

[via: Kyiv Post]