Central Budapest

The Common Excuse

OK, so most people know that Hungarian was put on this planet by some crazed aliens, content to see foreigners suffer for their arrogance and stupidity.

Unless you're a Finn, Estonian or a distant Siberian tribe it's structure won't be familiar to you. And even then, none of the words will make any sense, because these are only anciently related to each other.

So, you've got nothing familar to help you get a foot hold on communicating with the locals.

Put simply, Hungarian is different. Which is one of the reasons speaking Hungarian can be really enjoyable. There is a Hungarian saying that "You are as many people as the languages you speak". Once you start spekaing Hungarian you will realise the full weight of what that means.

Basics

Hungarian is simply different from a lot of other languages. I f you want to learn Hungarian you've got to fnd the right attitude, practice, people and places. Your big advantage is that a lot of Hungarians love to hear people trying to speak tehir language. They will be genuinely impressed and pleased that you are making an effort. Many expats can speak extremely good Hungarian.

Attitude

Unfortunately a lot of guidebooks and general myth making reports about how impossible Hungarian is to learn. This is simply not true. There are thousands of expats and frequent travellers who speak Hungarian perfectly well to suit their needs. To learn the language well though, you have to be prepared to sound a bit clumsy at first. If you are normally embarrassed or uneasy in new social situations then learning Hungarian may take you longer. If you can, try to overcome this, because the fastest way to learn a language is by attempting to speak it. Reading about and understanding the words and grammar will only help you through the first few months.

Practice

It's your only chance to learn. You have to produce language to learn it. It;s no good just reading the books. Get out there and find an excuse to use what you've learnt. Sometimes you can be faced with a battle, where a local wants to practice their English, you should insist and reply in Hungarian.

Places

If you want to make sure you will never learn Hungarian do these things:

• Go to mainly expat hangouts.
• Do the same things you ever did when you arrived and never get tired of it.
• Try to rebuild your old life back home here in Hungary.
• Always make sure you can watch the TV and films in your natuve tongue.
• Learn enough to order food and do the groceries, but progress no further.
• Read only the expat blogs and websites (like this one), rather than those produced by locals and native speakers.

People

If you want to make sure you will never learn Hungarian do these things:

• Hang out with mainly expats.
• Hang out with Hungarians whose English is pretty good.
• Get addicted to the kudos of being a foreigner.
• Believe and evangelise the 'impossibility myth' of ever being able to learn Hungarian - after all, it's basically a scientific fact, right?

If you're paying a brief visit then knowing just a few words and phrases will help you get by.

If you learn nothing else, just learn the words for 'good day' and 'goodbye'. When you enter a shop, meet someone, enter/leave a carriage on a train... just say these two phrases and you will create a great impression.

Words and Phrases

• Good day (or afternoon) Jó napot (kívánok): Yo NOP-ote (KEE-van-oke)
• Goodbye (See you later) Viszontlátásra: VEE-son-laat-aash-ro
• Yes Igen: EE-gen
• No Nem: nem
• Please Kérem: KAY-rem
• Thankyou Koszonom: KUR-sur-nurm
• Excuse me! Elnézést!: EL-nay-zayshd
• Sorry! Sajnálom!: SHOY-naa-lom
• Hello/Hi! Szia!: SEE-ya
• How are you? Hogy vagy?: HODJ vadj
• I'm well/good Jól vagyok: YOL vadj-ak
• I like it! Tetszik nekem: TET-seek NE-kem
• Less kevesebbet: KEV-esh-eb-bet
• More tobbet: TURB-bet
• That one Azt: OZD
• This one Ezt: EZD
• That's it! Ez az: EZ oz
• Can you help me? Segíthet?: SHEG-eet-het
• Can I help you? Segíthetek?: SHEG-eet-het-tek
• How much is it? Mennyibe kérul: MEN-yi-be KAY-rool
• I don't understand Nem értem: NEM AYR-tem
• Pardon? Tessék: TESH-ayk
• Could you repeat that? Még egyszer?: MAYG EDJ-sayr
• Once more/Same again Még egyszer: MAYG EDJ-sayr
• I'm English/American Angol/Amerikai vagyok: ON-gol/AM-er-ik-o-i VODJ-ok
• Cheers/To your health! Egészségére: EG-aysh-ayg-ay-re
• Bon appetit! Jó étvágyot!: YO AYT-vadj-ot
• I'd like to pay Fizethetek: FEE-zet-het-ek
• Here you are (when giving something to someone) Tessék: TESH-ayk
• Beautiful! Szép!: SAYP

Other useful links and guides to the Hungarian Language

• A fairly complete list of Hungarian Language Learning resources
• English-hungarian Dictionary

Pronunciation

Spelling and pronunciation in Hungarian is easy. Words are spelt exactly as you say them, and visa-versa.

Once you learn how to say the basic sounds, you can say anything. Also, because spelling is so regular, it is easy to find words in the dictionary.

So the basic rules are:

• Always emphasise the first syllable of a word. This is always 'stressed'. There are no exceptions to this.
• Don't rush to say words. Every syllable has equal space, so words aren't squashed as they are in English. Just take your time and say the whole word clearly.
• The letter 'A' is pronounced like 'O' in hot, but the letter 'O' is pronounced like 'O' in low. Practice this, it makes a big difference.
• The letter 'Í' is pronounced like 'EE' in meet.
• The letter 'Á' is pronounced like 'AR' in ????.
• The letter 'É' is pronounced like 'AY' in day.
• The letter 'Ó' is pronounced as a long 'OW' in low.
• The letter 'Ú' is pronounced like 'OO' in shoot.
• The letter 'Ö' is pronounced like 'ER' like the sound in the French 'leur', with Ö being a longer sound of the same.
• The letter 'Ü' is pronounced like 'EU' in the French 'beau', with Ü being a longer sound of the same.
• The letter 'S' is pronounced 'SH' as in shop, but the letters 'SZ' is pronounced like 'S' as in soup. Try reading words with both in and pronounce them clearly.
• The letter 'C' is pronounced like 'TS' as in ????, but the letters 'CS' is pronounced as 'CH' in church.
• A 'T' at the end of a word is pronounced more like a 'D'. So Budapest is pronounced BOO-do-peshd.
• The letters 'LY' and 'J' are both pronounced a 'Y' as in yellow.
• Hungarian 'R's are strong and rolled, like Spanish or Scottish 'R's. If you are English (not Scottish, Irish or American...) don't pronounce them like a 'W'!
• The sound 'GY' is the hardest sound to master. It is roughly like 'J' or 'DG' in English (like judge), but it is softer, more like a 'CH' sound. Just keep it soft.

Character Codes

To be able to write the special Hungarian characters in web pages you should use the international codes for each letter. This avoids any problems with how they will look on another person's machine.

• á » á
• é » é
• í » í
• ó » ó
• ö » ö
• ú » ú
• ü » ü
• ő » ő
• ű » ű
• Á » Á
• É » É
• Í » Í
• Ó » Ó
• Ö » Ö
• Ú » Ú
• Ü » Ü
• Ő » Ő
• Ű » Ű

Hungarian Keyboard Layout

You can set up your keyboard to switch between different languages. When you switch to the Hungarian Keyboard layout a lot of characters are in different places. This can make it hard to find the right character. This is the layout of the Hungarian keyboard. Eventually you'll get use to where things are and not need this keyboard map.