Traffic signs to be bilingual in ethnically mixed towns and villages

As of January 1, 2022, informatory traffic signs in Slovak towns and villages can be bilingual and use a minority language alongside Slovak, according to an amendment to the Use of Ethnic Minority Languages Act approved by Parliament on Wednesday. Currently, the names of villages are displayed in minority languages on village entry and exit signs that mark the village limits, as well as on public administration buildings. Such signs are used by villages where at least 15 percent of the population belong to an ethnic minority, if these inhabitants declared their ethnicity in at least two successive censuses. Under the new rules, aside from entry and exit signs, individual locations in the towns and villages can be displayed in minority languages as well. This measure will concern mostly villages in southern Slovakia with a strong ethnic Hungarian minority.