Learning Hungarian for beginners

Hi Jamie,

Welcome to Expat.com!

you may want to put an advert in the Budapest classifieds > classes section as well.

Hello Jamie,

my daughter's american baby-sitter likes this school at "Balassi Intezet" very much.
bbi.hu/index.php/hu/kepzesek/maygar-nyelvoktatas
Good luck,
pottyke

Hi Opalla, you might find you can get online tuition using Skype or equivalent services if you can't get to Hungarian classes in a major city. I should really look for something like that as I'm not making much progress with picking up the language. You will probably find like me that the language is the biggest challenge when relocating to Hungary. I am 51 and find I can't retain new information as easily as I could 20 or 30 years ago. In rural areas hardly anyone speaks English but in towns you find some people can speak German, which is a relatively easy language to master.

Hello! If you find 'Balassi Institute' expensive, I know that Debrecen University has courses as well and some of them are given in Budapest.
Also, I recommend you to take a look the book: 'Teach Yourself Hungarian'. It's not a grammar's book but it's useful for everyday situations.
Cheers!

Hello, I would suggest to meet my 6.5 year old son for language exchange. :-)

To Jamie , who asked the question...

The choice between private tutor and school classes is one of a) cost, b) learning preferences and c) availability.

A professional private teacher will cost 'up to' twice as much per session as a school class. Perhaps that's enough to know. For b) a private tutor enables you to ask questions and go at your own pace - whereas schools can be a bit steamrollerish, depending on your teacher. For c) location and time are flexible - and there are hundreds of p/t 'tutors' but only a few genuine schools.

Personally, I would suggest starting with a school class. There is a shared competitiveness which keeps you focused.

I have attended two schools in the last nine months since coming here. InterClub was over on Buda, Bertalan Lajos ut 17. It closed after my one term, but I'm told it has opened again at the same place under a new name. If so, the (one) teacher is probably the same and, overall, not a bad choice.

For the autumn term I joined the Debrecin school at Báttory utca 4, Pest. The Debrecin Summer School (in Debrecin) has a good reputation, but they also do evening classes in Budapest, as above. My class tutor was excellent, spoke in English quite a lot, and wasn't a would-be performance actress! Unfortunately, this January, no class mates returned and neither did the tutor. So I was allowed to sample an alternative tutor, but gave up after two weeks (4 classes).

This (male) tutor insisted on speaking 100% Hungarian and I couldn't keep up. My grammar was the right level but my vocabulary too limited. A display of charades, stage-playing and brow-beating to get us to understand each new word or principle seemed an economically inefficient teaching and learning method - for me, anyway - when a 10-second English explanation could save 10-minutes of Hungarian histrionics! But... other students liked this method.

Schools start next term sometime in March. If you can find a choice, I'd try to claim a sample class initially (if allowed) before committing - then you might get a teaching style that suits you. Google for Hungarian schools in BP and include the two I've mentioned.

If you need more (subjective) advice, just ask...

blilla wrote:

Hello, I would suggest to meet my 6.5 year old son for language exchange. :-)

Szia Blilla!
I am an Australian interested in language exchange - please message me if you are interested! I would be happy to meet with your son or you!

Stephanie99 wrote:

Szia

Szia is informal, and is what one uses typically for people you know or to children. Better to use "Jò napot" for people you do not know, and especially for those older than you, upon greeting.

The younger generations are less formal about all this, but just keep in mind that you can actually insult some Hungarians meeting them for the first time and using an informal greeting style.

klsallee wrote:

Stephanie99 wrote:

Szia

Szia is informal, and is what one uses typically for people you know or to children. Better to use "Jò napot" for people you do not know, and especially for those older than you, upon greeting.

The younger generations are less formal about all this, but just keep in mind that you can actually insult some Hungarians meeting them for the first time and using an informal greeting style.

I apologise if I inadvertently offended anyone - probably what I should have said was "kedves".

Nah, you're good in this case, Blilla started off with the similarly informal "Hello". Internet forums usually use informal language anyway.

Language exchange with kids is fun: I knew a guy who spoke no Hungarian, noone here spoke his language at the time (communism...), he was hosted by a guy whose wife was a kindergarten teacher, and allowed him to come sit in a corner and listen to the kids all day.
He learned Hungarian with a lisp(? common speech impediment of 4yos) but otherwise perfectly :-)


Back to the topic, I know another guy, he's Hungarian, great English teacher, he's super funny, and he should be able to do the same in reverse: teach you guys Hungarian.
He likes to teach via the Internet: skype, e-mail, google docs, etc.
I'll ask him if he's interested.

szocske wrote:

Nah, you're good in this case, Blilla started off with the similarly informal "Hello". Internet forums usually use informal language anyway.

Thanks!

I'm going to go to the Budapest Polyglot club next Thursday and see if I can start picking up some conversational Hungarian.
I learnt the alphabet (so I can read) and I know heaps of nouns, but my conversational skills are severely lacking. This was highlighted when I met my partner's extended family out of Budapest and no one spoke a word of English! Really difficult to get to know the family with such a language barrier.

Can't you get your partner to teach you?

fidobsa wrote:

Can't you get your partner to teach you?

Ha! You'd think so... But some people are not made for teaching. He teaches me a few things but we end up arguing! Best left to an independent third party.

Hi Jamie
Just found your question on expatblog.
How did you get on with learning the language?

I'm about to move to Budapest and I'm looking for tuition also.

Josh

Hi Josh,

Welcome on board

I will invite you to please drop an advert in the Language classes in Budapest section as it might eventually help you out

Thank you

Maximilien

Ironmaddison wrote:

How did you get on with learning the language?

I'm about to move to Budapest and I'm looking for tuition also.

One option: private tutors are available here in the directory:

https://www.expat.com/en/business/europ … -teachers/

Nagyon köszönöm szépen

Hi Ironmaddison,

Please keep it in English

Thank you

Maximilien

Yes, getting the formal of speaking Hungarian is still important if you meet older Hungarians.
I had been going to a friendly ladies only gym in Budapest a few years back.Was there 6 days a week and it got very unformal at times, had a good time there.
One of the workers at the front desk was a women who helped out and lived in house where the gym was.
She was much older then anyone, perhaps in her mid 70's or early 80's.
Everyone knew me and knew I could barely speak much Hungarian, I was the only American going there at that time.
Everyone was leaving and we all said Szia to each other even though I was in my mid 50's and most of the other gym goers were 25 years younger then me. I turned to the older women at the desk and without thinking said Szia to her.
Boy, her face just dropped and the vibes got heavy. I remembered quickly on my feet to say sorry and then said Csokolom. She then smiled at me, all was good.
After that I got a bit afraid of speaking much to Hungarians who do not know any English.
My MIL only spoke Hu to me and we stayed with her for 6 months at a time. I could understand almost everything she said directly to me as she spoke to me like I was a baby, it worked in my case, going extra slow and repeating herself several times until I got it.
I still however had such a bad heavy American accent that my husband said I should forget about speaking HU since no one can understand me very well and I mispronounced so many HU words.
Not a encouraging experience, these days I know I have not advanced in my Hungarian at all.
Some people have a knack for languages I it seems I do not have it.
Being always around born Hungarians you would think would make it easier to learn but in my case not so. They expect progress at a fast rate, I think going to a school with all beginners is the best way to learn, being around locals is too much pressure to go fast.
All native HU speakers I know always keep saying how hard it is to learn HU and that even after more then a decade of learning some people just can not be understood in Hungarian. They want perfection which is hard to do, silly really since I know so many in the US that still can't speak English without accents and missed words, why the double standard? Really don't know.
I have been laughed at for trying so many times that I quit, used to try m y hand at ordering in Hungarian and had waiters making faces,people giving me the wrong items or too many items, I know it was not always my mistake, They were messing with me on purpose, not sure why since I really was trying.
My husband and friends make a big deal about using all formal words and using the correct combo of HU wording to sound the best and be direct. Way too much for a newbie to learn from them.
They are actually appalled by even younger Hungarians who speak in the first tense and use un formal words and slang Hungarian.
They say the Hungarian language is dying because of people using short cuts, don't know about that since I no longer even try to learn or speak it.40 years and still never caught on to it.
My husband lived in the US for 40 some years, didn't know more then 3 words of English when he arrived in the states.
He was forced to learn English on his feet or be lost.
He says unless a person is a child learning a language it is never going to sound correct.
He still makes mistakes in English and has a totally different personality in each language. In Hungarian he is funny, like a clown people are always laughing and smiling around him, in English he is serious, takes too much brain power to think of the words and say what he wants to say.In Hungarian is feels smart and himself, in English he says he feels silly. I only know the silly person, not the intelligent Hungarian with humor, sad to think I married Dr. Jykell when maybe Mr. Hyde was more interesting.
Hard to express yourself if you try learning later in life.
My father spoke Slav and English well but he grew up speaking Slav and learned English around age 7 in the US. His mother never learned English in the US.
He had no accent in English or in Slav( he spoke Ruysn/Polish /Ukrainian form of Slavic)
Not sure if it is my husbands experiences or fact, he says it takes allot of willpower and practice to learn a new language and takes many years to perfect, if one is too old they will never really lose their accent and never truly be themselves in a new language. Sort of depression news...

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I still however had such a bad heavy American accent that my husband said I should forget about speaking HU since no one can understand me very well and I mispronounced so many HU words.

I have the same problem. It is a difficult language for my American English mouth and tongue to comprehend.

Despite trying, I can not roll a German "R" either.