Romania/Hungarian Culture

Zsofi Budai, who helped establish and sustain the Croatia/Romania program, astutely pointed out to me in an email that the families we will be staying with in Romania consider themselves first Hungarian and then Romanian. As such, volunteers staying in Romania for two sessions will get to know Hungarian culture better, not Romanian. She writes,

"The places in which they'll be teaching will be overwhelmingly Hungarian, and their students and host families will be Hungarian. I know this is a minor thing, but I've done a lot of research and field work on the issue of Hungarian society and politics in RO (and Slovakia too), and Hungarians are very, very proud of their Hungarian ethnic identity, and it really hurts/disappoints them when foreigners refer to them as Romanian. They don't mind living in Romania, but they do want others to recognize that they have a different cultural identity. It's good for LE volunteers to know and remember that ahead of time."

I have invited Zsofi to continue contributing to our blog; she is wise and knowledgeable in ways I am simple and dumb. Keep those questions coming.