Differences in Second Language Acquisition of the Hungarian Minority in Romania: the Role of Exposure
Differences in Second Language Acquisition of the Hungarian Minority in Romania: the Role of Exposure

Summary/Abstract: The main concern of this study was to draw a sociolinguistic profile of the Hungarian minority (almost 1.5 million ethnic Hungarians live in Romania) in both rural and urban areas; then to compare and contrast the exposure to Romanian language as L2. The method involved a broad survey based on questionnaires (N=3794). The answers have been statistically evaluated using SPSS. The first part of this study analyses the role of exposure to Romanian language within different regions of Transylvania. The results have shown that Romanian proficiency in certain regions is far lower than compared to the average proficiency of Hungarians in Transylvania. The causes are the degree and intensity of exposure. Strategies of acquisition (spontaneous, informal versus formal) also reveal the fact that formal acquisition has little to do with the overall Romanian proficiency of the Hungarian minority.

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