CONFERENCES ORGANISED BY THE CHAIR OF HUNGARIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Communication and Language

In 2025, the Chair of Hungarian Language and Literature organised the international professional and scientific conference Communication and Language for the sixth time. The conference is unique in that it provides a platform for presenting and discussing various linguistic, translation and literary models applicable to the Hungarian language or to comparative descriptions of Hungarian and other languages, as well as cultural customs and perspectives. In recent years, the research output of the Chair of Hungarian Language and Literature has increasingly focused on translation studies. Topics such as specialised translation, literary translation, translation teaching methodology, lexicology and lexicography, and translation criticism are among the areas represented in the Chair’s scholarly work. Members of the Chair of Hungarian Language and Literature, most of whom are themselves actively involved in various forms of translation, have also developed fruitful cooperation with the Hungarian Office for Translation and Attestation Ltd. (Országos Fordító és Fordításhitelesítő Iroda Zrt.) in Budapest. As a result, since the fourth edition, the conference has been organised in cooperation with the Office. The conference serves as a venue for meeting, networking and exchanging experiences among members of the academic community and distinguished professionals in the fields of translation, interpreting, language, literature and culture. Speakers participate exclusively by invitation from the organisers and are selected according to how well their expertise fits the current conference theme; therefore, no public call for papers is issued. The conference is also distinctive because it has included a student section from the very beginning, in which outstanding students and doctoral candidates participate in cooperation with their mentors. Leading translation scholars and professionals from Croatia and abroad attend the conference, which is why it is considered one of the more important events for those engaged in translation studies.

 

MANYE XXX

In April 2025, the Chair of Hungarian Language and Literature co-organised the MANYE XXX anniversary congress, which brought together numerous experts, researchers and language teachers from Hungary, Croatia and other countries, providing a platform for the exchange of the latest research findings and teaching practices. The congress focused on current issues in foreign language teaching, multilingualism, language policy, translation and digitalisation in education. Its programme included plenary lectures, thematic sessions, workshops and round-table discussions, where participants discussed the challenges of contemporary language teaching, the role of technology in learning, and the preservation of linguistic diversity. In addition to its academic dimension, the congress also had an important social component, enabling networking and strengthening professional contacts among participants.

COOPERATION WITH SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS, ORGANISATIONS AND BODIES

The Chair of Hungarian Language and Literature cooperates with chairs and institutions in Croatia and abroad. Cooperation takes place through participation in staff and student exchange programmes (within Erasmus and CEEPUS programmes and summer schools), project work, and cooperation in publishing journals and scholarly publications.

Particularly noteworthy is the cooperation with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, whose section of researchers outside Hungary also includes colleagues from the Chair of Hungarian Language and Literature. This cooperation has also led to collaboration with the Regional Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Pécs. The position of scholars and researchers from Osijek is further reflected in the fact that, over the past two decades, representatives of scholars and researchers from Croatia have been members of the Chair of Hungarian Language and Literature in Osijek.

Among the Chair’s scientific collaborations, cooperation with the Glotta Institute for Language of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, based in Osijek, is also particularly noteworthy. Members of the Chair are involved in numerous Glotta projects, and many also serve on the Institute’s governing bodies. Among the more important projects are work on the Etymological Dictionary of the Hungarian Language and the project Linguistic Landscape of Baranya and Slavonia.

Professional cooperation is important to the Chair for the high-quality organisation of professional practice for graduate students. Of all the professional collaborations established to date, particularly noteworthy is the cooperation with the Hungarian Office for Translation and Attestation Ltd. in Budapest. In addition to organising professional practice and annual field classes for students of Hungarian Language and Literature, the Office also participates in the development and improvement of teaching content and provides logistical support for publications and professional development activities for teachers and students.

International cooperation has also been developed with chairs of Hungarian language and literature in Zagreb, Pécs, Baja, Budapest, Szombathely, Novi Sad, Maribor, Bratislava, Komárno, Prague, Târgu Mureș and Cluj-Napoca, with the Hungarian Lectureship in Rijeka, the Balassi Institute in Budapest and numerous other higher education institutions. In addition to educational institutions, the Chair has developed relations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Budapest, the Ministry of Science and Education in Zagreb, the Educational and Cultural Centre of Hungarians in the Republic of Croatia, the Association of Court Interpreters in Zagreb, the Hungarian Institute in Zagreb, the Embassy of Hungary in Zagreb, the Consulate General of Hungary in Osijek, the Council of the Hungarian National Minority of the City of Osijek, and numerous other cultural and civil society associations operating in the region and beyond.

The Chair has maintained long-standing cooperation in the publication of journals and scholarly publications with the Media Hungarica publishing house in Bilje. Notable publications include Drávaszög lexikon, Acta Hungarica Universitatis Essekiensis, Horvátországi magyar művelődéstörténeti lexikon, etc., and since August 2021 the Chair has taken over the editing of the literary journal Rovátkák. Members of the Chair serve on the editorial boards of the following journals: Anafora, SlavVaria, Danubius Noster, Philos.

POPULARISATION OF SCIENCE

The Chair regularly organises guest lectures, field classes and publication launches, and announces translation competitions, thereby encouraging the exchange of knowledge and cooperation with domestic and international institutions and professionals. Particular attention is devoted to the month of November, when the Chair prepares and organises a series of events as part of the Festival of Hungarian Science (Magyar Tudomány Ünnepe) in cooperation with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which defines a common thematic focus each year.

PROJECTS

The Chair is the lead institution of the project entitled Interculturality and Transculturality in the Digital World – Recent Local and Global Historical-Cultural, Artistic and Linguistic Connections (ITDOS). The project focuses on contemporary literary and cultural processes within the Central European region, with particular emphasis on the dynamics of interethnic, linguistic and cultural contacts. Literature is at the centre of interest as a space for negotiating identity, memory and imagination, as well as a space reflecting deeper social and historical changes. Particular attention is given to the relationships between majority cultures and national minorities and to the ways in which literary production reflects changing perceptions of cultural mentalities and new forms of identification. The project also examines how local and regional traditions intersect in the contemporary context and how cultural patterns are redefined through processes of translation, reception and intercultural exchange. The project proposal for the linguistic component focuses on developing an online Croatian-Hungarian terminological dictionary of morphological terminology. The aim is to create a bilingual online dictionary that will serve as a professional tool for teaching Croatian in Hungary and Hungarian in Croatia, with particular emphasis on cross-language specialist terminology in morphology. The development of a digital English-Croatian glossary of basic concepts in art and culture is also an integral part of this proposal. Teachers and students from the Chair of Art History and the Chair of Hungarian Language and Literature will participate in the development of the glossary.