Hungary formally joined the EU with nine other new member states on May 1, 2004. This landmark event was preceded by 15 difficult years of transformation in all spheres of life, including public education, so by the time of European accession major changes in the foreign language teaching scenario of the country had already taken place. The Republic of Hungary requested accession to the EU as early as 1992, a mere three years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, which, as a symbolic act, finally ended the division of Europe decided by the Great Powers at Yalta in 1945 (European Union 2000). Successive governments of the new Republic worked on implementing fundamental changes in order for the country to catch up with its Western neighbors by the time formal and complete reunion could take place. These changes inevitably affected all levels of the education system of the country as well. Thus, today’s education in Hungary is dominated by laws, decrees and orders most of which had come into effect before accession to the EU actually took place (eg the 1993 Public Education Act and the Government Decrees of 1995 on the National Core Curriculum, and of 1997 on the school-leaving (‘Matura’) exams). These instruments together with the Minorities Act of 1993 provide the legal framework of minority education.

Contributors to this volume have been asked to discuss what characterizes the country’s foreign language policy at secondary level and how the education authorities have responded to the EU’s call for three languages to every pupil. Since education systems differ between countries as does the use of terminology, a very brief introduction to the school system in Hungary is in order.