Languages in Slovenia

Slovene is the official and national language of Slovenia, with Hungarian and Italian being recognized as co-official languages of the country. As a national language, Slovene is used by the Slovenian President, on the obverse of principal side of the Slovenian euro coin, and in the Slovenian national anthem. The Public Use of the Slovene Language Act of 2004 mandates the use of Slovene by national and local authorities in communication and legislation. The law further requires that the language should be in Slovene for television and radio broadcasts, newspapers, commercials, user manuals and other printed and broadcast materials, and be the language of instruction at all levels of education. It bans publishing or broadcasting materials without Slovene translation.

As a co-official language, Hungarian is recognized as the mother tongue of protected minority in the Prekmurje region near the country’s border with Hungary. The Italian language, on the other hand, is also recognized as the mother tongue of the protected minority near the Italian-Slovenian border and the country’s coastline. Members of the Italian minority are also entitled to primary and secondary education in their native language, and to communicate with authorities in Italian.

English is taught as the first foreign language throughout the country to students from nine years of age but it is compulsory among the five subjects in the final examinations at the end of the secondary education. While undergraduate courses are taught in Slovene, the graduate courses for foreign exchange students are offered in English.

A Center for Slovene as a Secondary Language offers different courses in Slovene, grants certificates of language proficiency, and encourages the learning of Slovene as a foreign language.