Beszél Magyarul?

I get asked a lot by people, "How's your Hungarian?"  I am sad to say it is not very extensive.  I took 10 weeks of class this fall and that got me the basics, bare bones kind of basics.  It's challenging to learn a language when you are speaking English all day, live with English speakers, and interact mostly with English speakers.  It's not that I don't interact with Hungarians, 10 of my students are Hungarian.  They are not speak in Hungarian at school unless at snack, lunch or recess.

Just a little background on Hungarian.  It is a very difficult language for English speakers to learn.  It's closest language relations are Finnish & Estonian but even that's a stretch for some people.  It's a language where the grammar structure is very flexible.  It is not (pronoun/subject) (verb) (noun) form to make a sentence.  There are 12 vowels, and multiple other letters (cs, cz, sz, gy, ly, ny, etc.)  It also has multiple suffixes and prefixes which change the meaning of a word.  However, it is a very phonetic language.  Once you know the correct pronunciations, which can be a challenge, you can read just about anything, however you may not understand it.

Here's my small lexicon of Hungarian I know ...

Basic greetings/pleasantries:
    Jó reggelt- good morning (before 9am)
    Jó napot (kívánok)!- good day, wishing you a good day,

    Jó estét- good evening

    Hogy vagy?- How are you? 

    Bocsánat (or Bocsi- for short)- pardon, excuse me

    Köszönöm (köszi- for short)- thank you
    Szívesen- your welcome

    Igen- yes

    Nem- No

Numbers- I know them but I am not very good at using them or hearing them when I need to pay for items.  

     egy- one

     kettő- two

     három- three

     nagy- four

     öt- five

     tíz- ten

     

Foods- this is probably my largest area of vocabulary comes from.  I can read and understand a lot more of these than I generally have to speak.
    Alma- apple
    Ananász- pineapple
    Paprika- peppers
    Sárgarépa- carrots
    Körte- pear
    Dío- walnuts
    mák- poppy seeds
    csirke - chicken
    

Here's my roommate Megan & I at our local grocery store.  I get to practice my Hungarian here.  

Phrases I know:    
   Nem beszélek magyarul.- I don't speak Hungarian.
   Beszélek kicsi magyarul. - I speak a little Hungarian.
   Beszél angolul? - Do you speak English?
   Es minden- that's all  (As in "that's all I want to buy.")
   Tessék- multiple meanings but often used to mean, "your next," "for you," "here it is"
   Csak nézelődök- Just looking  (A response when a store clerk asks if they can help you.)


Important Adjectives: 
   kisci- small
   naygon- big or very
   szép- nice
   
Of course that are random words that I know but I really can't carry on much of a conversation with native Hungarians.  I do know how to be polite with my words (at least I trust I am)and that is very important here.  

Want to know a funny little insight into my language learning?  When I'm out walking, or riding the bus I practice reading words to myself from signs I see.  :)  I also really enjoy when we learn songs in Hungarian from church or at school.  It's so beautiful.

So when you ask me "How's your Hungarian?"  or "Say something in Hungarian."  I'll probably respond with "beszélek kicsi magyarul" and continue the rest of our conversation in English.  


Szia!  Hallo!  Viszontlátásra!  (Good-bye)