The uniqueness of the Hungarian Language

Have you ever had any chance to listen Hungarians talking to each other?hungarian language

If yes, what was your first thought? Was it strange, funny or did it sound like alien speech coming from Mars?

I'm always very curious to hear what others are thinking about the Hungarian language.

Please let me share one short story with you, about what I have experienced in Germany - when I was around 17 years old -, how foreigners see our language.

I was learning in a High school, which was specialized on German language and my school had a very good relation with a German High school. Every year we hosted German students and also one group from our school were entertained by them as well.

One spring I had spent two weeks with my group in Germany. One day we were visiting Hamburg and after a long one-day walking we sat down in the harbor close to a kiosk to take some rest.

Of course we were talking and joking with each other and laughing a lot. What else does a group of 17 years old students do :)?

Once I noticed that a lady - who was working in the kiosk-, is curiously listening us and she come closer to us little by little. After 10 minutes listening she was so nosy that she finally came to us and asked me:

"What is this funny language? I like very much how you are talking; it is so funny, that I have to laugh…"

I told to her, this is Hungarian language.

She was very surprised, because she had never thought that Hungarian sounds like this. So, that was the first impression when I started to be interested in what other people think about the Hungarian language.

Are you also interested in Hungarian language?

I have collected here some facts about this nice, but very difficult language.

Later you will also find some useful words and phrases which you can use if you decide to visit Hungary.

Some facts about the Hungarian language

Even for foreign visitors who are skilled at languages, Hungarian usually remains a sealed book. Learning Hungarian is different from learning most other European languages. There are no similarities, no opportunities for comparison, and no short cuts to understanding this language.

The reason is that Hungarian has nothing whatsoever to do with the great Indo-European family of languages: it belongs to the Finno-Ugric group. Its only relatives within Europe are Finnish and Estonian and its only other relatives are certain languages and dialects in Siberia and Central Asia.

Hungarian is an agglutinative language, i.e. grammatical forms are made by adding suffixes to the root syllable.

How to pronounce the Hungarian language?

Stress is always on the first syllable of any word.

The accent (') does not mark the stress but indicates a long vowel (and occasionally changes its pronunciation). In all syllables the vowels are sounded clearly and fully.

In the Hungarian language the difference between "stressed" and "unstressed" syllables is slight. Two vowels together (ai, ei, eu, etc.) are always pronounced separately.

Useful Words & Phrases

English-speaking visitors should have few difficulties being understood in Budapest. In the past German was more widely understood elsewhere, but today most of the youngsters can speak English. So if you need help, I recommend asking young people on the street. Most probably they can help you, as obligatory to learn English in the school.

But it might be a good idea to learn a few phrases of Hungarian.

Enquiries

Numbers

Time/Days of the Week

Out Shopping

In the Restaurant

Food and Drink

Accommodation

Getting Around

Emergencies

I hope you find this small article about Hungarian language and the Hungarian words and phrases useful.

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