ELTE Department of Finno-Ugric Studies

About

The Department of Finno-Ugric Studies was established in 1872 (then known as the Department of Comparative Altaic Linguistics), making it the world’s oldest centre for Finno-Ugric Studies. Since 1999, it has operated as part of the Institute of Hungarian Linguistics and Finno-Ugric Studies.

Teaching

Under the new education system, students admitted to the various bachelor’s degree programmes can begin their studies in Estonian, Finnish and Finno-Ugric specialisations, which they can continue in the MA programme specialisations in Finno-Ugric Studies, and subsequently in the Uralic Studies programmes of the Doctoral School of Linguistics and the Doctoral School of Literary Studies. In addition, our short-cycle teacher training programme with the ELTE Teacher Training Centre offers training in Finnish language and culture, while our Postgraduate specialist programme with the Institute of Language Mediation offers a degree in business and legal translation in a Hungarian–Finnish language pair. We also offer courses for Hungarian and history undergraduates and teacher training students. In addition to teaching, scientific research, dissemination, popularisation and science diplomacy activities have played an important role in our department from the very beginning. Alongside traditional linguistic topics in Finno-Ugric Studies, our teaching and research profile also includes other topics in linguistics, literary studies, translation, ethnography and folklore, as well as history and prehistory. We also place a strong emphasis on talent management, with the department running a demonstrator and mentor programme, as well as a scientific study circle for students.

The specialisation/minor of the BA in Estonian Studies and Finnish Studies and the specialisation of the MA in Estonian Studies and Finnish Studies operate as modern philological courses: students acquire intermediate-level of Estonian and Finnish language skills, as well as the ability to mediate in written and oral form, and learn about the history, cultural history and culture, folklore, ethnography, literature and social structure of Estonia and Finland. The aim of the programme is to equip professionals with an in-depth knowledge of Estonian and Finnish language and culture, and enable them, through their general professional education, to find jobs in education, research, libraries and other public cultural institutions, organisations that maintain and manage international relations, the media, the business sector, tourism and translation agencies. The curriculum of the Uralistics specialisation (and minor) covers comparative Uralic linguistics, including diachronic and synchronic aspects, sociolinguistic studies, language planning, language policy and teaching, language documentation, and language typology. For each of the Uralic languages, the curriculum includes descriptive and historical questions. In addition, some of the cognate languages of the Volga region covering Udmurt, Meadow Mari and Komi-Permyak, as well as the variants of Khanty from the Ob-Ugric languages have become a significant part of our education programme over the last few decades. These languages have been taught by or with native speakers.

Our PhD programmes train high-level experts in Uralic languages and linguistics, as well as in folklore and literature of Uralic peoples. Our students participate in national and international academic conferences, providing them with opportunities to build international contacts in their fields; they also publish academic work, contribute to departmental research and occasionally participate in our educational and promotional activities

Research

Talent management and internationalisation are integral parts of our educational activity. Our students have the opportunity to present their research within the demonstrator and tutor programmes, or at the Finno-Ugric Study Circle and at our academic events. Our department has operated as an Estonian Educational Centre since 2018, connecting all the educational and research workshops of the Estonian language and culture in Hungary. Our students can take part in exchange programmes, summer universities, conferences (such as the International Finno-Ugric Student Conference), further training in language and literary translation, and undertake internships in Estonia, Finland and other places. Additionally, they give academic and educational lectures in public educational institutions.

The staff of our department have a broad and diverse research profile, including Estonian and Finnish history and relations, research into the teaching of Finnish as a foreign language, translation and literary studies, comparative syntax, language typology, sociolinguistics, language documentation, language policy and linguistic revitalisation, the history of language and the history of science. In addition to publication in journals and other platforms, our staff edits two series, the Budapesti Finnugor Füzetek (BUFF) and Urálisztikai Tanulmányok (UT).

In recent years, we have hosted three successful NKFI-OTKA (National Research, Development and Innovation Office, National Scientific Research Fund) projects that addressed sociolinguistic and typological questions of Finno-Ugric languages. Currently, a project targeting Komi-Permyak is running funded by NKFI. In addition, we attend and occasionally organise the following academic events: Finno-Ugric Seminar, Grammar and Context Conference, and International Finno-Ugric World Congress (CIFU), among others.

We actively participate in the organisation of science popularising events (including Researchers' Night, Day of Kindred Peoples, ELTE Humanities Days, Science Festival, University Mother Language Days). We are also regularly asked to speak in primary and secondary school classrooms, at literary and other cultural events, on thematic days, and on Hungarian and international radio and television programmes.

Through their cooperation with the Hungarian-Estonian Society, the Hungarian–Finnish Society, the Kalevala Friendship Circle and the Reguly Society, our staff help create research and teaching aids, innovation in the field, and the development and maintenance of social contacts.

International network

With regard to the promotion of science, particularly in the field of language comparison, language history and folklore, we cooperate with many institutions, native language and teaching organisations in Hungary and the Carpathian Basin including the Association of Mother Tongue Educators, PIM (the Petőfi Museum of Literature), the Csemadok association in Kassa and the Association of Hungarian Teachers in Vojvodina, among others.

We are also involved in the work of the Hungarian National Organisation of the World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples and the International Committee for Finno-Ugric Congresses (ICFUC). We organise multiple events in cooperation with the Estonian and Finnish embassies in Hungary and FinnAgora.

Our department has a broad international professional and diplomatic network. Our Erasmus partnerships cover both staff and student mobility (part-time courses, work internships). By creating a mobility window, we hope to make it easier for our master's students to participate in Erasmus+ exchange programmes. We currently have contractual agreements with seven partners in Finland, two in Estonia and nine in other EU countries.