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Hungarian Profile | ||
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INTRODUCTION
Hungarian (Magyar) is the official language of Hungary and is also the mother tongue of people of Hungarian ancestry living in neighbouring countries (e.g. Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, etc.). Because of immigration during the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century, native Hungarian speakers also live in North America, Western Europe, Australia and Israel. All told, the number of Hungarian native speakers exceeds 14 million. Linguists classify Hungarian as a Finno-Ugric language and linguistic relatives include Estonian, Finnish and Lappish. Finno-Ugric in turn is part of a larger "Uralic" language family which includes Samoyedic and is related to the Yukaghir languages. The Samoyedic and Yukaghir languages are spoken in northern Russia. The endangered language, Mansi is the most closely-related one to Hungarian and its speakers are concentrated in western Siberia near the confluence of the Ob and Irtysh rivers. Khanty, a neighbouring language, is also closely-related but to a marginally lesser degree. The combined number of Khanty and Mansi speakers is no more than 30,000 and some dialects of these languages are extinct or on the verge of extinction. Hungarian has the largest number of speakers within the Ugric subgroup by a wide margin. Overall many linguists consider Uralic as unrelated to any other language group. However, proponents of the Nostratic school postulate that the Uralic languages are indeed related to those of the Indo-European, Altaic, Kartvelian and Dravidian families. Other linguists such as Merritt Ruhlen and the late Joseph Greenberg maintain that Uralic is related to Indo-European, Altaic and Eskimo-Aleut languages. Hungarians are well assimilated into the Central European millieu and most modern Hungarians are physically indistinguishable from their Slavonic, Romanian and Germanic neighbours. Historically, the Hungarian kingdom accepted Christianity in 1001 and its culture has adopted much of the Christian ethos. USEFULNESS It is useful in Hungary and areas where Hungarian is a de facto official language (i.e. southern Slovakia, Transylvania in Romania, Vojvodina in Serbia, Buergenland in Austria). It is especially useful if a foreigner travels to rural areas of Hungary. Given the widespread level of ESL instruction in Hungary, many Hungarians younger than 30 do speak some English along with another foreign language (German and Italian are especially popular with young adults). Many older Hungarians do speak some German and/or know Russian. Understandably, many older Hungarians refuse to use Russian because of the Stalinist-inspired despotism of Mátyás Rákosi during the early 1950s and the Soviet-led crushing of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956 Knowledge of Hungarian would acquaint the learner with features that are characteristic of Uralic and Altaic languages (e.g. Turkish, Mongolian). However, a prospective learner of Hungarian should realize that learning Finnish with a Hungarian base (i.e. both Finno-Ugric languages) is not as easy as learning German with an English base (i.e. both Germanic languages) for example. CHIC FACTOR Given the language's relatively exotic nature and association with Budapest, there is a certain charm amongst Westerners in knowing Hungarian. Native speakers of Hungarian are often thrilled by foreigners who can speak at least a little of their language. It can sometimes act as an effective conversational icebreaker with native speakers (assuming that you know enough Hungarian!) ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE Hungary is a member of the EU and has attracted a certain amount of investment (primarily from Austria and Germany) since the fall of communism. The estimated total GDP in 2003 was $139.8 billion US (courtesy CIA World Fact Book: www.thewebnewsroom.com/fact-book/factbook/print/hu.html) TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES - Budapest (obviously) - Lake Balaton (beaches that are filled with tourists in July and August) - Veszprém (10km north of Lake Balaton and the town has a beautiful Old Town on the top of a hill) - Pécs (almost Mediterranean atmosphere and climate) - Nyíregyhaza and the northeast (a rather rural area filled with many old wooden churches and a gentle pace of life) - other worthwhile destinations include: Debrecen, Eger, Győr, Kőszeg, Kalocsa, Hollókő, Mezőkövesd and Szeged. COUNTRIES - Hungary (official language) - Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia (a part of each of these countries were within the borders of the old Hungarian kingdom and these countries still have Hungarian minorities) - Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Israel, Slovenia, USA (part of various waves of Hungarian immigration from the 19th century onwards.) SPEAKERS approximately 14 million VARIATIONS The modern standard language is based on efforts started during the 18th century of incorporating eastern and western dialects. Today, the standard dialect is taught in all schools and colleges and this teaching has limited the problem of mutual unintelligibility among Hungarians. CULTURE Famous Hungarians include: - Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Ferenc Liszt (composers) - Zsuzsanna 'Zsa Zsa' Gábor (actress and socialite) - Bela Lugosi (actor, best known for playing the original Dracula) - Dr. Albert Szent-Györgi (Winner of the 1937 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his research on vitamin C. Appropriately enough, he also discovered that Hungarian paprika is an excellent source of the vitamin.) - Jenő Wigner (Winner of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics for his atomic research. He was also part of the Manhattan Project) Hungarian literature has its 'stars' such as Sándor Petőfi (poet), Géza Gárdonyi (author), Endre Ady (poet), Zsigmond Móricz (author), Attila József (poet), Gyula Krudy (author). While some of their works have been translated into several languages, a knowledge of Hungarian will give you access to the originals. Hungarian cinema can also provide a useful diversion for someone learning Hungarian. Prominent directors include István Szabó, Béla Tarr and Miklós Jancsó while critically-acclaimed films include "Szegénylegények" (The Round-Up), "Szerelem" (Love), and "Az én XX. századom" (My 20th Century). DIFFICULTIES In general, the greatest difficulty for any non-Hungarian learner is the relative lack of native speakers outside Europe (unlike more popular languages such as English, French and German). This could hinder learning for those who wish to gain regular exposure to colloquial Hungarian outside Eastern Europe. These are features that I found which caused the most difficulty at the beginning given my background (at that time) which was only in Romance and Germanic languages: 1) two conjugation patterns for almost every verb (definite vs. indefinite). This depends on the Hungarian view of what is a definite object and what is indefinite. E.g. Olvasok könyvet = I read a book (in general or "I am reading some kind of book") Olvasom a könvyet = I read the book ("I am reading a specific book") Adok almát a nővéremnek de adom a piros almát anyámnak = "I give an apple to my older sister but I give the red apple to my mother" (I give some kind of apple to my older sister but I give the specific red apple to my mother) 2) unfamiliar vocabulary (this problem is alleviated in varying degrees if you already know another Uralic or Altaic language. As mentioned previously, most linguists consider Hungarian to be an Uralic language that contains many Turkic loanwords. For example: - ad- = give || andma (Esotnian) || antaa (Finnish) || vuovdit = to sell (Northern Lappish) || ud- = to offer a drink; to make (sb) drink (Udmurt) [Cf. ada = sacrifice (Shor)] - alma = apple || elma (Turkish) - csomó = knot || sõlm (Estonian) || solmu (Finnish) || čuol'bmâ (Northern Lappish) - disznó = pig || sɨsna (Chuvash) - én = I || mina, ma (Estonian) || minä, mä (Finnish) || mun (Northern Lappish) || äm, om, um (Mansi) || mon (Udmurt) || mannaŋ (Nganasan) [Cf. met (Yukaghir) || men (Uzbek) || mini = my (Mongolian) || mi (Nanay)] - ének = song || ääni = sound (Finnish) || jiednâ = sound, note; voice (Northern Lappish) - fa = tree || puu (Estonian, Finnish) [Cf. oi = wood, forest (Mongolian) || f́ a = birch (Literary Manchu)] - három = three || kolm (Estonian) || kolme (Finnish) || golbma (Northern Lappish) || kōrǝm, ẋūrǝm, kūrǝm (Mansi) || kǝ̑m, kum (Mari) - hal = fish || kala (Estonian, Finnish) || guolli (Northern Lappish) || kōl, ẋūl, kul (Mansi) || kole, kuale, kuǝlle (Nganasan) [Cf. khalim = whale (Mongolian) || ollo (Evenki)] - jég = ice || jää (Estonian, Finnish) || jöŋk, jeŋk, joŋk, jĕŋk, jĭŋk, jiŋk = water (Khanty) || jiegŋâ (Northern Lappish) || i, ij (Mari) || [Cf. ǯiŋ = frost (Ordos) || ńeŋdelē = clear, frosty (of weather) (Evenki)] - kék = blue || gök = sky (Turkish) - két, kettő = two || kaks (Estonian) || kaksi (Finnish) || guokte (Northern Lappish) || kafta, kafto, kavto (Mordvin) || side, sire (Enets) [Cf. kiji- (Yukaghir) || kat = layer (Turkish) || gagsa, gansa = single (Buryat) || gaqta = one of a pair (Manchu)] - lé = juice || leem = soup (Estonian) || liemi = broth (Finnish) || liepma = broth (Northern Lappish) - mi = what || mis (Estonian) || mikä (Finnish) || mii (Northern Lappish) || mana, män = which (Mansi) || ma (Udmurt) [Cf. -mi = (interrogative particle) (Turkish) || -mi, -mu = (interrogative particle) (Middle Mongolian)] - négy = four || neli (Estonian) || neljä (Finnish) || ńĕlǝ, ńĕtǝ, ńil (Khanty) || njeallje (Northern Lappish) || ńi̮ĺ, ńu̇ĺ, ńiĺ (Udmurt) - név = name || nimi (Estonian, Finnish) || ńim (Komi, Nganasan) || namma (Northern Lappish) || lǝm, lüm (Mari) [Cf. nim, niu (Yukaghir) || ǯomaq = riddle (Tatar) || dom = magic (Kalmuk) || nimŋākān = fairy-tale (Evenki)] - nyű = maggot || njiw'dnjâ = nits, eggs of lice (Northern Lappish) - öl = lap || süli (Estonian) || syli (Finnish) || sâllâ (Northern Lappish) - sárga = yellow || sarı (Azeri, Turkish) || sariq (Uzbek) || šar (Mongolian) || šari = light (Literary Manchu) - szív = heart || süda (Estonian) || sydän (Finnish) || čâđâ = through (postposition) (Northern Lappish) - szökik = jump || sekmek (Turkish) - toll = feather || dǫl'ge (Northern Lappish) - tud- = know || tundma (Estonian) || tuntea (Finnish) || dovdat (Northern Lappish) || tod = knowledge, thought (Udmurt) || tumtā- (Nenets) [Cf. tomjōr- = to calculate (Buryat) || tumne- = to understand (Oroch)] - tyúk = hen || tavuk (Turkish) - vér = blood || veri (Estonian, Finnish) || wĕr, wur (Khanty) || vir (Komi) || varra (Northern Lappish) || wǝr, wür (Mari) - víz = water || vesi (Estonian, Finnish) || va (Komi) || üt́, wit́, wüt́, wit (Mansi) || wǝt, wüt (Mari) || jīʔ, wit (Nenets) [Cf. udun = rain (with wind) (Evenki) Nevertheless, there are many words that are uniquely Hungarian or whose etymology (and potential similarity to words in other languages) is unclear or unknown. These words must be memorized as you go along. E.g. ébred- (awaken), gondol- (think), igen (yes), madár (bird), süket (deaf), zene (music) 3) Word order It is usually subject-object-verb except in interrogative sentences. However, Hungarian word order is quite flexible otherwise since one indicates case, possession, number and tense by suffixes. Depending on what you want to emphasize, the word order can change to suit your needs. This kind of subtlety is difficult for learners to master. olvasni = to read (-ni is infinitive suffix) könyv = book - Olvasok könyvet = "I read a book" (in general, no empahsis) (-k is marker for 1st person singular in the present indefinite conjugation; -t is the accusative suffix) - Könyvet olvasok = "I read a book" (emphasis on book since the focused object immediately precedes the verb) In English, you never say "book I read" (unless you were Yoda or a poet.) GRAMMAR - no grammatical gender and no specific pronouns for he/she/it. - postpositions are used instead of prepositions. Azt csináltam segítség nélkül = I did that without help. (segítség = 'help'; nélkül = 'without') Hungarian has three tenses (past, present and future) and four moods (infinitive, indicative, conditional and subjunctive/imperative). This is complicated by the use of definite and indefinite conjugations. Subtleties in actions can also be expressed by attaching prefixes to main verbs (cf. prefixed verbs in German or phrasal verbs in English) - see 'Difficulties' for other comments on grammar PRONUNCIATION - Spelling is phonetic, but there is a distinction between voicing and devoicing that is not shown in spelling. Ex. Azt hallottam, hogy... = "I heard that..." Because the voiced 'z' ('buzzing' sound) in 'azt' precedes an unvoiced 't' (no 'buzzing' sound), the preceding voiced consonant 'z' is pronounced as an 's' (the unvoiced counterpart of 'z') - Stress is fixed on the first syllable while intonation is used in distinguishing between interrogative and non-interrogative sentences. VOCABULARY There is no grammatical gender. Dictionaries list the nominative singular form of nouns and 3rd person singular present of verbs. Hungarian has borrowed much from Germanic, Romance or Slavonic languages, and more recently from English. Some words should thus be familiar to English speakers. internet, menedzser (manager), fútbol, gól, televizió, rádió, szleng, hallo (which is a very colloquial way of saying 'goodbye' in Hungarian!) Loanwords of Old or Middle German origin include: cél "aim" (cf. German: das Ziel "target"); sonka "ham" (cf. German: der Schinken); pénz "money" (cf. German: der Pfennig); táska (cf. German: die Tasche) Loanwords of Romance origin include: iskola "school" (cf. Latin: schola); oltár "altar" (cf. Latin: altare); piac "market" (cf. Italian: piazza) Loanwords of Slavonic origin include: csésze "cup" (cf. Serbo-Croatian: čaša "glass" (e.g. of milk)); patak "stream" (cf. Slovak: potok); szerda "Wednesday" (cf. Serbo-Croatian: sreda/srijeda); szomszéd "neighbour" (cf. Polish: sąsiad); vacsora "supper" (cf. Slovak: večera) See 'Difficulties' for some more comments on vocabulary TRANSPARENCY / INTELLIGIBILITY TO PEOPLE SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGES As mentioned earlier, Hungarian shows the most similarity to the endangered language of Mansi. However the mutual intelligibility is rather low given the geographical and temporal separation between the respective speech communities. Certainly speakers of better-known Altaic (e.g. Mongolian, Turkish) or other Uralic languages (e.g. Estonian, Finnish) would find certain aspects of Hungarian to be easier to grasp than would speakers of languages from other families yet Hungarian will be virtually unintelligible all the same. There are a few hints that learners can use to understand or at minimum partially demystify some aspects of Hungarian. The comparisons will rely primarily on languages that learners are more likely to know already, and so links with Mansi will be given little attention despite that language's relatively high degree of similarity to Hungarian. 1) A Finno-Ugric or Uralic cognate that begins with f- in Hungarian often begins with p- in a related language (e.g. Estonian, Finnish, Komi, Mari, Saamic languages) E.g. félni (Hungarian) "to fear" (Cf. pelgama (Estonian); pelätä (Finnish); polnï (Komi); palla- (Lule Saami)) fiú (Hungarian) "boy" (Cf. poeg = "son" (Estonian); poika (Finnish); pi (Komi, Udmurt); piɣ, püw (Mansi)) 2) A Finno-Ugric or Uralic cognate that begins with h- in Hungarian before a back-vowel often begins with k- in a related language. E.g. halni (Hungarian) "to die" (Cf. koolma (Estonian - dialectal); kuolla (Finnish); kuvnï (Komi); kolaš (Mari)) hat (Hungarian) "six" (Cf. kuus (Estonian); kuusi (Finnish); kuhtta (Lule Saami); kat (Mansi - dialectal); kota (Moksha); kwať (Udmurt)) 3) A Finno-Ugric or Uralic cognate that begins with k- in Hungarian before a front-vowel often begins with k- in a related language. E.g. két / kettő (Hungarian) "two" (Cf. kaks (Estonian); kaksi (Finnish); kïk (Komi); kuokte (Lule Saami); kit / kitiɣ (Mansi - dialectal); kafta (Moksha)) könny (Hungarian) "tear" (Cf. kyynel (Finnish); kanjāl (Lule Saami); -ki̮ĺi, -kǝ̑ĺi: śin-ki̮ĺi, śiń-kǝ̑ĺi (Udmurt - siń, śiń = "eye") 4) A Finno-Ugric or Uralic cognate that has a non-initial -z- in Hungarian often has -t- in a related language. száz (Hungarian) "hundred" (Cf. sada (Estonian - original -t- has changed to -d-); sata (Finnish); sat, sot (Khanty); śada (Moksha - original -t- has changed to -d-); čuotte (Northern Saami); vezetni (Hungarian) "to pull" (Cf. veďams, viťims = "to lead" (Erzya); vedama (Estonian - original -t- has changed to -d-); vetää (Finnish)) 5) The Hungarian concepts behind using prefixes are somewhat reminiscent to those found in Germanic or Slavonic languages as the prefixes expand the basic meaning of verbs by introducing nuances for completeness, aspect or direction. E.g. hívni "to call"; meghívni = "to invite" (Hungarian) (Cf. prosić = "to ask for"; zaprosić < zapraszać = "to invite" (Polish)) írni = "to write"; aláírni = "to sign, put down one's signature" (Hungarian) (Cf. schreiben; unterschreiben (German)) 6) Hungarian partially resembles Eastern Slavonic languages and Turkish in that it does not use a copula for present tense in the third person. E.g. Én vagyok magyar. "I am [a] Hungarian" Az ember magyar. "The person is [a] Hungarian" (literally: "The person Hungarian") (Hungarian) Cf. Я венгерец "I am [a] Hungarian" (literally: "I Hungarian") Человек венгерец. "[A/The] person is [a] Hungarian" (literally: "[A/The] person Hungarian") (Russian) Ben macar "I am [a] Hungarian" (literally: "I Hungarian") Kişi macar "[A/The] person is [a] Hungarian" (literally: "[A/The] person Hungarian") (Turkish) 7) Hungarian most frequently translates "to have" with a construction using "to be" that is conceptually similar to what is used in Estonian, Finnish and Turkish and reminiscent of the general tendency in Eastern Slavonic languages. E.g. "I have a cat" Macskám van / Nekem macska van (Hungarian - "Cat-my there-is" / "Me-for cat there-is") M(in)ul on kass (Estonian - "Mine-on there-is [a] cat") M(in)ulla on kissa (Finnish - "Mine-on there-is [a] cat") У меня (есть) кошка (Russian - "At mine (is) [a] cat") Kedim var (Turkish - "Cat-my there-is") 8) When postpositions occur implicitly or explicitly with a personal pronoun, Hungarian postpositons take on a personal possessive suffix like Finnish postpositions governing the genitive under the same conditions. "In my opinion Ilona is pretty." Szerintem Ilona csinos. (Hungarian - literally: According-to-[1st person singular possessive suffix] Ilona pretty) (Minun) mielestäni Ilona on sievä. (Finnish - literally: (Mine) from-opinion-[1st person singular possessive suffix] Ilona is pretty) "May I sit beside you?" Ülhetek melléd? (Hungarian - literally: Sit-[ability suffix]-I beside-to-[2nd person singular possessive suffix]) Saanko istua (sinun) viereesi? (Finnish - literally: Can-I to sit (yours) beside-to-[2nd person singular possessive suffix]) In addition see the sections on transparency/intelligibility in the profiles of Estonian, Finnish and Saamic / Lappish for more information. SPELLING Spelling is phonetic, but has some surprises for those accustomed to English a = pronounced somewhat like the 'o' in 'pot'. á = pronounced somewhat like 'ah' but longer c = pronounced like the 'ts' in 'bits' cs = pronounced like the 'ch' in 'chat'. dz = pronounced like the 'ds' in 'suds' dzs = pronounced like 'j' in 'jam' e = pronounced like 'e' in 'met' é = pronounced somewhat like 'a' in 'hay' without the final '-y' i = pronounced like 'ee' in 'sleep' í = longer version of 'ee' in 'sleep' gy = pronounced like the 'di' in 'studio' ly = pronounced like the 'y' is 'yes' ny = pronounced like the 'ni' in 'onion' o = pronounced somewhat like 'o' in 'force' ó = longer version of 'o' in 'force' ö = pronounced somewhat like 'ir' in 'bird' without the following 'r' ő = longer version of 'ir' in 'bird' without the following 'r' s = pronounced like the 'sh' in 'ship' sz = pronounced like the 's' in 'sip' ty = pronounced like the 't' in 'tube' (UK English) u = pronounced like 'oo' in 'boot' ú = longer version of 'oo' in 'boot' ü = pronounced like French 'u' in 'une' or 'tu' ű = longer version of French 'u' in 'une' or 'tu' zs = pronounced like the 's' in 'pleasure' TIME NEEDED According to FSI, it takes approximately 1100 class hours to acheive professional speaking and reading proficiency in Hungarian. According to that scale, acheiving professional speaking and reading proficiency in Hungarian has a comparable level of difficulty to doing the same in Estonian, Finnish, Georgian or Vietnamese. Based on experience with Estonian, Finnish, and Hungarian, I consider Hungarian to be somewhat easier to grasp or learn than Estonian and Finnish. This is true despite the facts that Hungarian was the first Uralic language that I had begun studying, and that I started studying Estonian and Finnish with some familiarity with various characteristics of Uralic languages thanks to my background in Hungarian. Naturally, the time needed will vary on each person's motivation level, access to material and environment. Given such factors, the time needed to acheive professional speaking and reading proficiency in Hungarian can take as little as one year to as many as infinity. ;-) BOOKS 1) Teach Yourself Hungarian (Zsuzsa Pontifex) - It comes with two CDs or cassettes and a textbook. It costs approximately $25 US on Amazon. - What I enjoyed about this course was that it had lively dialogues and useful grammar information. It also comes with exercises for each chapter with answers at the back of the book. - What I enjoyed least about this course was that its presentation of grammar was somewhat unstructured and could intimidate the learner at first. In the interest of keeping lively dialogues, it's natural that the language used would have relatively complex structures for a beginner and some idioms. The grammar section of each chapter would focus on the grammatical aspects of each set of dialogues. It would have been desirable if the textbook had included more exercises. 2) Colloquial Hungarian (Carol Rounds and Erika Sólyom) - It comes with two CDs or cassettes and a textbook. It costs approximately $40 US on Amazon. - What I enjoyed about this course was that it had good dialogues which form a running story and useful grammar information. It also comes with exercises for each chapter with answers at the back of the book. - Compared to Pontifex's course, 'Colloquial Hungarian' has a somewhat better presentation of grammar since the dialogues are designed in a way to emphasize the grammar or theme of a given chapter. Unfortunately, it would have been desirable if the textbook had included more exercises. 3) FSI Hungarian Basic Course - This is the best self-study Hungarian course out there. It is designed in FSI's drab style with plenty of drills and dialogues and answers to some of the drills. This course is meant for those with plenty of motivation and discipline. - Because of the course's origination from the Department of State, it is held to be likely in the public-domain in the USA. - Hippocrene Books Inc. has reprinted the text for volume 1 and it sells for varying amounts of money from various booksellers as "Hungarian Basic Course". 4) Halló, itt Magyarország! (József Erdős, Csilla Prileszky) - This course comes with 3 books and 2 CDs. - Volumes 1 and 2 are presented entirely in Hungarian and each chapter consists of dialogues, illustrations, brief notes on grammar, exercises and lists of vocabulary. Each of Volume 1 and 2 comes with a CD. - Volume 3 contains the answer key, more detailed explanations of the grammar taught, and a glossary in Hungarian, English, French, German and Italian. 5) Learn Hungarian (Zoltán Bánhidi, Zoltán Jókay, Dénes Szabó) - This is a rather old (1965) textbook published in communist Hungary that may be available for little or much money in second-hand bookstores. - The textbook is rather usable by a highly motivated independent learner as each chapter consists of a short dialogue or passage or two, notes on grammar, cultural notes or a song, a list of vocabulary and exercises. One of the appendices includes the answers for most of the book's exercises. - Most of the assigned exercises are fill-in-the-blank, substitution or translation drills, while others lend themselves to learning with a tutor or teacher as they require the student to write short essays using what he/she has learned so far. - In a pinch, the book can also serve as a reference manual of grammar as its coverage of grammar exceeds that found in newer self-instructional courses of Hungarian. - As of September 2011, Indiana University's Center for Language Technology and Instructional Enrichment hosts the recordings in .mp3 of the book's dialogues and readings on its audio archive for Hungarian under "Learn Hungarian, 3rd Ed". 6) Assimil Hungarian with Ease - This course comes with 4 cassettes or CDs and a textbook. Its price varies from $70 US to $120 US depending on the vendor. - This is a typical course in Assimil's "...with Ease" series with 85 lessons divided into two waves - passive and active. Every seventh lesson offers more detailed explanations of grammar than the footnotes accompanying each dialogue. - This is most useful for exposing learners to some humorous or interesting dialogues. However I found it lacking because of the very small amount of exercises in each lesson. Each lesson's set of exercises consists of about half-a-dozen incomplete sentences requiring the student to fill in the blanks. 7) Angol-magyar kéziszótár (ed. László Országh et al.) 8) Magyar-angol kéziszótár (ed. László Országh et al.) - These may be difficult to obtain outside Hungary, but are readily available in Hungary for about 6,000 forints (approx. $30 US) each. - These are excellent medium-sized dictionaries of English to Hungarian and vice-versa. - Each dictionary has roughly 50,000 head-words and many entries include example sentences showing idiomatic use. 9) Angol-magyar nagyszótár (ed. László Országh et al.) 10) Magyar-angol nagyszótár (ed. László Országh et al.) - These may be difficult to obtain outside Hungary, but are readily available in Hungary for about 20,000 forints (approx. $ 100 US) each. - These are larger versions of the dictionaries listed in 7) and 8). - Each dictionary has roughly 190,000 head words and like the medium-sized versions above, many entries include example sentences showing idiomatic use 11) English-Hungarian Dictionary (Hippocrene Standard Dictionary) (ed. Tamás Magay, Lajos Kiss) 12) Hungarian-English Dictionary (Hippocrene Standard Dictionary) (ed. Tamás Magay, Lajos Kiss) - Each dictionary contains roughly 30,000 entries and also includes example sentences in many entries showing idiomatic use. They may be out of print, but they are sometimes available from sellers on Amazon Marketplace for about $20 US each. - Despite their high quality they are merely Hippocrene Books Inc.'s reprinting of dictionaries printed originally by the Hungarian company Akadémiai Kiadó which publishes the aforementioned high-quality dictionaries edited by László Országh et al. - In case you cannot obtain the medium-sized English-Hungarian or Hungarian-English dictionaries listed in 7) and 8), then these reprints by Hippocrene are serviceable alternatives. 13) Hungarian Practical Dictionary (Éva Szabó) - This is a surprisingly decent offering published by Hippocrene Books Inc and costs roughly $20 US on Amazon. - It has roughly 30,000 entries and is bi-directional between English and Hungarian. Some head-words show idiomatic uses of the word and this approach is a welcome change from most of Hippocrene's other dictionaries which are little more than bilingual word-lists shorn of any examples of idiomatic use or indications of grammatical information. - In case one cannot obtain the dictionaries edited by László Országh or Tamás Magay, Szabó's dictionary will do in a pinch for beginners learning Hungarian. 14) Hungarian: An Essential Grammar (Carol Rounds) - This is a handy and user-friendly reference guide to Hungarian grammar. It costs approximately $35 US on Amazon. - It is part of Routledge’s series of descriptive grammars meant for students learning how to use the target language. SCHOOLS A foreigner can attend classes at private language schools to learn Hungarian. Most of them are based in Budapest. Such private language schools include Csevegő Családi Nyelviskola, HungaroLingua, InterLanguage, and International Language School. It is also possible for foreigners to attend classes at Hungarian universities. A relatively high-profile set of classes for foreigners is at the Debrecen Summer School within the University of Debrecen. Outside Hungary, it is possible to attend Hungarian classes or earn degrees in Hungarian Studies at certain universities. Examples in the English-speaking world of such universities include Columbia University, Indiana University, University of California (Berkeley), University of Toronto and University College of London. It is also possible to learn Hungarian in classes provided at Hungarian community centers or Hungarian churches on weekends or evenings during the week. Availability of such classes varies but may be suitable for learners who prefer more structured learning but are unable to attend traditional classes because of work commitments. LINKS Discussions, posts or longs on HTLAL involving Hungarian: - 0 to conversational Hungarian in 3 months - B2-C1/C2 - what did you do? - Estonian/Finnish/Hungarian "cheat sheet" - Finno-Ugric languages - Hříbeček’s TAC 2011 - Team Ő - Hungarian Online Dictionary - Hungarian and Rumantsch diary - Kisfröccs - Hungarian OR Finnish - please help! - January Hungarian Challenge (Everyone) - Mostly Magyar - A Hungarian Journey - Review with FSI Basic Hungarian Course - TAC09 Russian & Hungarian (#lal) (+Nor.) - TAC 2009 - DaraghM - TAC 2010 Katie's Hungarian - TAC 2011 team Ő, to the South East... Other forums - Unilang's discussion forum for Hungarian - WordReference's discussion forum for Hungarian General collections of links - A wide-ranging site on many aspects of the language (e.g. grammar, education, professional organizations) General treatment and descriptions of Hungarian's learning difficulty - Wikipedia's article on Hungarian - A website on language difficulty for native speakers of English - Script, Grammar, and the Hungarian Writing System. from ERIC (compares the Hungarian script, grammar and writing system with those of English to show potential effects on foreign language learning) - A Contrastive Analysis of English and Hungarian Sentence Prosody. The Hungarian-English Contrastive Linguistics Project, Working Papers No. 6. from ERIC (comparison of prosody in English and Hungarian) - A Contrastive Analysis of English and Hungarian Grammatical Structure. Final Report. from ERIC (compares grammatical structures of each of English and Hungarian with special attention to features that would hinder most the efforts of an English-speaking learner of Hungarian) - Essay “Grammatical Difficulties of Hungarian Students in Learning English” which may be useful in an indirect way by showing what English-speakers may need to be aware of when learning Hungarian based on analyzing the aspects of English that are difficult for Hungarians. Dictionaries and other databases - A database on various language families including Nostratic (source of some of my material under the 'Difficulties' section) - Online English-Hungarian/Hungarian-English dictionary - Online version of the Hungarian explanatory dictionary by Gergely Czuczor and János Fogarasi from 1862 (despite being only in Hungarian and its age, it's still full of useful information and most head-words or roots are listed with some hints about inflection (i.e. grammatical endings)) - Hungarian version of Urban Dictionary, Népszótár (in Hungarian only) Online courses or downloadable textbooks/instructional videos - Basic Hungarian Course by Aaron Rubin - AFS Hungarian Course - eMagyarul 1 and eMagyarul 2 (interactive courses that are in Hungarian only and may be better for brushing-up than learning from scratch) - Hungarian in Hungary from Langmedia at Five Colleges Center for the Study of World Languages - Hungarotips - Le hongrois avec András (course for French-speakers) - Let's Learn Hungarian! - Magyaróra - Curs online de limba maghiară (basic online course for Romanian-speakers) - Tanulj magyarul! (Lerne Ungarisch!) (notes on Hungarian grammar for German-speakers) - "Spoken Hungarian" from ERIC (textbook only) - English-Hungarian phrasebook from ERIC - FSI Hungarian Graded Reader from ERIC - FSI Hungarian Basic Course Vol. 1 from ERIC (textbook only) - FSI Hungarian Basic Course Vol. 2 from ERIC (textbook only) - “A complete practical grammar of the Hungarian language; with exercises, selections from the best authors, and vocabularies, to which is added a Historical sketch of Hungarian literature” from 1853 and hosted on archive.org (likely on account of it being in the public domain). - Magyar nyelvi gyakorlatok kezdőknek és haladóknak (sets of exercises in grammar for beginning and intermediate students - in Hungarian only) Literature and authentic texts - Hungarian electronic library which has online texts from Hungarian literature and should be suitable for learners wanting to tackle authentic literary material. - Collection of texts sorted by author at Digital Literary Academy from the Petőfi Museum of Literature - Online collection of Children's literature in Hungarian from the International Children's Digital Library. Bookstores in Hungary - List of bookstores in Hungary Stores outside Hungary that deal in Hungarian books or have material of interest to learners of Hungarian - Bay Foreign Language Books Ltd. - The European Bookshop - Otto's Import Store & Deli - Pannonia Books - Schoenhof's Downloadable/streamed media - Lists of radio stations and television stations in Hungary (stations' websites have content that is playable as a stream). Edited by Chung on 20 March 2015 at 6:15pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7385 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 16 21 September 2005 at 11:38am | IP Logged | ||
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Chung, thank you so much for this amazing review of Hungarian, I will upload it tomorrow. I must apologize for having taken so long to include such a good review. Thanks again!
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| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7385 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 16 22 September 2005 at 4:09am | IP Logged | ||
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The Hungarian Profile is now online.
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| ElComadreja Senior Member Philippines bibletranslatio Joined 7247 days ago 683 posts - 757 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Cebuano, French, Tagalog | Message 4 of 16 25 September 2005 at 4:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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Just out of curiosity, which of those courses you mention would give you a comprehensive amount of grammar? Is there a grammar book you could suggest that would fill in the holes?
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| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7165 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 5 of 16 26 September 2005 at 7:52am | IP Logged | ||
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If you want to practice grammar, then use the FSI course It's the most expensive ~ $450 US for both parts but it has the most exercises.
If you just want a handy reference, look for Carole Rounds' book: "Hungarian: An Essential Grammar" published by Routledge. It costs about $30 US. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| nox Diglot Groupie Croatia Joined 6870 days ago 62 posts - 62 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English Studies: German | Message 6 of 16 11 February 2006 at 8:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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I didn't read the hungarian profile, but from tourists i have met i remeber there are 4 'types' of the U letter (i dont know exactly, maybe like ,,ů..) and over 40 letters in the alphabet. One guy told me a very few people can write the language correctly.
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| Linas Octoglot Senior Member Lithuania Joined 6921 days ago 253 posts - 279 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Lithuanian*, Russian, Latvian, French, English, German, Spanish, Polish Studies: Slovenian, Greek, Hungarian, Arabic (Written), Portuguese | Message 7 of 16 12 February 2006 at 4:24am | IP Logged | ||
These are in fact u,,,. u like u in "put" like oo in "cool" , have no exact equivalent in English but they are more or less like labialized versions of i in "bit" and ee in "beet" Some of consonants that look differently than in English c = ts cs = ch cz = ts(only in some proper names) dzs = j gy = soft d ny = soft n ly = y s = sh sz = s ty = soft t zs = zh Hungarian spelling is phonetical, very consistent and logical, so there are indeed many people who know how to write the language correctly(certainly more than those who know how to write English :))) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7165 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 8 of 16 13 February 2006 at 10:40am | IP Logged | ||
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Oops. I listed the consonants but forgot to mention the vowels in my profile.
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