Unifying interpretations of the State Language Act is the aim of measures approved by the Slovak cabinet on December 16. The measures will be binding for the Culture Ministry which is the main supervisory body for most of the legislation’s provisions, the TASR newswire wrote.
The ministry will keep tabs on the measures when it comes to sanctions ensuing from the act and on co-operation with professional Slovak-language organisations vis-a-vis negotiations and the approval of a codified version of the state language.
The ministry prepared the measures based on the recommendations of OSCE High Commissioner Knut Vollebaek, while experts from the Commissioner’s office cooperated in their creation. Proposals from representatives from the Round Table of Hungarians in Slovakia organisation were also incorporated in the measures, said Culture Minister Marek Maďarič.
Defined in the measures are expressions such as official and public relations, official language, and geographical name. The use of state, minority and foreign languages in the periodical press and non-periodical publications published in minority and foreign languages aren’t subject to supervision by public administration bodies.
Conversely, non-periodical publications in the state language fall under the supervision of the Culture Ministry. Patients and clients of social facilities can communicate with facility personnel in languages other than the state language across all of Slovakia if they don’t speak Slovak. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
