The Hungarian Language

The isolated Hungarian language is unique, but notoriously difficult. A study of British diplomats concluded that Hungarian was the hardest European language to learn. It is almost completely isolated from other languages, only distantly related to Finnish. The most daunting obstacle is the byzantine grammar. Words constantly need to be conjugated with certain suffixes that indicate grammatical information like plurality. As an example, my textbook gives the word "megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért", which is the word "szent" with several prefixes and suffixes tacked. Obviously this is an artificial example, not an everyday word, but Hungarian is still a tricky language. The pronunciation also has some tricky consonants that English speakers aren't used to. On the bright side, the spelling is very standardized and simple.

I'm taking a two-week intensive Hungarian course. Mercifully, I'm just learning survival phrases, so it's not too hard at such a low-level. We have class for 5 hours and fifteen minutes daily, with light homework. I'm actually having fun with it, as we embarrass ourselves practicing Hungarian with each other, sing songs, and play games. The school also organizes cultural activities, like hikes and day trips, and I've posted about some of them.

Most young people in Budapest know basic English, but few signs or public announcements have English. However, the locals aren't always good at the English they know. One time, I went to order lunch, and was so confused by the shopkeeper's questions that I just told him "yes", and ended up getting different food! I look foreign enough that most people address me in English, but I have had strangers talk to me in Hungarian. Middle-aged people generally don't speak English at all, so language can be a serious obstacle. Sadly, when they were growing up, the Communists forced them to learn only Russian, so they never had a good opportunity to learn anything besides Hungarian and Russian.

I'm enjoying language school, and with any luck I'll soon know enough basic phrases to be understood in practical situations. Already my pronunciation is much better.