Peter Morvay on nonsensical language laws

Linguistic protection is a major topic in Slovakia because of the country's large Hungarian minority. But there's no need for laws, writes Peter Morvay in the liberal daily Sme: "In a place with a national minority, a good salesman doesn't advertise both in the majority and the minority language because he's obliged to by some silly law but because he wants to attract as many customers as possible. And if he doesn't want to it's up to him. Perhaps it will cost him less effort, but he risks losing customers who see bilingual advertising as proof of how much he cares about their business. It's not a legal offence to advertise only in one language. Stupidity is not a legal category. The question also poses no problem regarding public services, because they should serve the citizens and not vice versa. ... Anyway most people don't want to make a continual show of their national affiliation - unlike the nationalists. ... The state should not try to prevent the minority from using its mother tongue. If we want a law it should be in the interest of the minority, because the minority is weaker and in need of support. That should also hold for southern Slovakia, where Slovakian is in the minority and Hungarian the majority."

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