Can you speak Hungarian?

Yes, I think it is rather rude not to learn a few phrases like please and thank you even for a short time visitor.
I used to try hard to learn Hungarian here and there when I was still living full time in the US. We wanted to teach our son how to speak Hungarian but as my husband was a HU immigrant in the US, HU was still communist and we had no real plans on living in Hungary at that time, we thought it best to have my husband learn as much English as he could and not confuse our son.
My husband worked so hard and such long hours in the US to give us a comfy lifestyle that he had no time to teach our son Hungarian.
Just like my father who's native language was Slav, my husband never thought our son would need to use Hungarian as he was American.
I almost would be glad if everyone in Hungary didn't speak any English, I know my Hungarian would be very good by now. Every time I ever tried  to speak Hungarian someone jumps in and speaks English, I got lazy and no longer try.
I wouldn't mind learning Hungarian but at age 62 and being a bit lazy these days, I just use and abuse my husband , my own personal translator.
I think he sort of enjoys me depending on him since I used to be rather independent in my youth. Karma.
I now do have more sympathy for people in the US who can not speak English, shoe on the other foot so to speak.

Priscilla wrote:

It is widely agreed that speaking fluently Hungarian is essential for a successful integration in Hungary. Do you agree?

Yes.

But not everyone wants to assimilate into local society. For example, there is a large German speaking EU expat population where I live, and there are enough of them they can essentially function outside of the local society to a great extent. And many stores and shops here have employees that can speak some German, so there is little incentive for them to learn much Hungarian.

Priscilla wrote:

Where can one attend a language course in Hungary?

There are plenty of different sources to learn Hungarian. Of course, the trick is to find someone competent. Not everyone offering teaching and tutorial services is really a professional or skilled at teaching or training.

Personally, I recommend contacting a local high school or university and asking someone there for suggestions for courses or tutors. At a University ask someone in the languages department, if they have one. And at a high school ask for the English teacher, if they have one, or the Hungarian language teacher (who will probably speak English).

By the way, this also goes the other way as well: There are many here offering to teach English (or do translations), also with widely varying levels of competence.

But not everyone wants to assimilate into local society. For example, there is a large German speaking EU expat population where I live, and there are enough of them they can essentially function outside of the local society to a great extent. And many stores and shops here have employees that can speak some German, so there is little incentive for them to learn much Hungarian.

Hence why Brexit happened......."Foreigners" not wanting to mix with locals and speak their language, to the point the locals eventually want those "Foreigners" out of their country. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your view, there are not enough "Foreigners" living in Hungary yet to make the locals want a "Foreigner"-Exit.

I really started to pick up Hungarian when we used to stay for 6 months or so with my elderly MIL.
She had a way of talking in Hungarian to me like I was a baby, would say the same word several times until I got it.
Not many people can teach like a mother.
I can not speak at a conversational level at all in HUngarian and have forgotten allot of what I used to know since my MIL passed on and we have limited contact with family here in HU.
I can however go to just about any grocery store and ask for items in at least a form of broken Hungarian, can order by myself food items at the farmers markets by myself in HUngarian and just basic things like that.
If I need a more complicated item, I usually ask my husband to write out a note for me in Hungarian and hand it to the clerk.
Silly but it works out fine for me.
When I was sort of being taught Hungarian in the US by Hungarian friends, I soon realized the took allot of joy in teaching me how to swear and learn rude phrases, their sort of joke, made me stop learning because I thought people just think it as a joke anyways.
I remember once in the US my older sister who at the time had a HU boyfriend invited a group of Hungarian friends to her house for a dinner.
They all were still just learning to speak English then.
She had a super high IQ and actually taught herself to speak some HUngarian in a very short time with her boyfriend giving her corrections when needed. It was amazing how fast she was at learning but things always came easy for her with learning and codes, abstract ideas etc.
Not everyone has a quick mind like that, I know I don't.
Sort of a crazy story, my sis was 5 years my senior, she was learning what was in her time about the only way for most women to get a career to learn all the secretarial skills.
She took up short hand in high school, was the teachers pet, the A+ student, the one who understood the signs the first time around, she would write letters for fun in short hand etc.
I wanted to be just like my big sis so I enrolled 5 years later into the same class with the same old teacher.
I happened to be the worst student at short hand that ever passed through her door!
In front of the whole class she looked at my homework and said, I can't believe you are Myra's sister.
I am not dummy but not a 145 IQ either...Some people have different talents, mine is not languages or coding.
In my defence however, I was enrolled in that shorthand class a good 2 months later then the rest of the class. Not so easy to play catch up.
Same now with learning Hungarian, I think my best years of learning are behind me. Teaching a old dog new tricks can be done but what's the point?

petercori wrote:

"Foreigners" not wanting to mix with locals

Or if the locals do not want to mix with "Foreigners". Which is also a possible reason for the Brexit vote. These things go both ways.

For example, in my village, if you were not born here (i.e. parents live in the village or in the local region), you are typically considered a "Foreigner". So if you were born in Budapest, speak perfect Hungarian, but just moved here, you are still seen by many as essentially a "Foreigner". It really can be just a state of mind in the locals. Be it a village or a nation.

And let us not forget some local attitudes one may encounter toward groups like the Romani.

Simply stated: some people can not tolerate differences in others. And those people who differ are viewed as "foreign".

Not everyone wants to be assimilated. Nor should they be forced to do so IMHO. The consequence of choosing to remain "foreign" can be made to be significant, such as not being part of local life (social, political, economic), to nudge people toward assimilation. But in the end, again IMHO, that should be left as an individual decision.

Hi!

I think it is definitely essential to learn Hungarian if you wish to make contacts within the local populations and not only with expats. Many Hungarians speak English or other languages but to really reach out to people, learning the language makes a huge difference.

I also go to public doctors, not private, since I am self-employed and therefore only benefit from Social Security, it is then a must to communicate in Hungarian.

I have lived here for the past 5 years but really started to put in effort to learn the language 3,5 years ago and the work has paid off. I am able to have conversations in Hungarian, even if I still don't understand everything, I can say what I wish to say and this is already a huge step.

IMPORTANT ADVISE: Language schools are great for learning the basic, elementary things, but once you make progress it is very hard to find a group of students who share your level, and learning will slow down, just when you're beginning to make progress, and feeling more independent. My advise is to then towards a private teacher. It is more expensive, but not by much (language schools aren't cheap) and the learning will be much faster.

Good luck!!!

Hi

Yes I do speak Hungarian, since I a a Hungarian American living in Budapest, if anyone need help i am glad to do so.
Gabi

There are two huge factors that really make a foreigners quest to learn Hungarian difficult.

1: From my experience the language teaching standards are quiet poor in Hungary. Language teachers usually use mostly old fashioned methodologies and use mostly the grammar translation method to teach. This is true with every language be it German, Russian, English or whatever. They used these methods when teaching Russian in schools years ago and simply use the same methods now with other languages. They use these same poor methodologies when teaching Hungarian to foreigners. As a result foreigners in Hungary find it hard to remain motivated while attending these classes and simply drop out. They learn very little practical spoken Hungarian that they joined up for in the first place. Immersion conversational teaching methods (direct method)have not made it to Hungary just yet. Hungarian teachers like to practice their English too while teaching Hungarian in my experience.

2: Hungarians switch to English when you begin a conversation with them in Hungarian. They will speak to you in very poor English despite you speaking to them in Hungarian. This occurs a lot in bars and restaurants in Budapest. It seems ok for them to speak poor English to you but not for you to speak poor Hungarian to them. This makes it hard to practice your Hungarian in real life situations and stalls progress. Some foreigners simple get lazy and unmotivated when this happens and simple give up and just use English as a means of communication in Hungary. I tell people im from Belgium, speak Flemish and speak
only a little English (it works). 


I do not find the language difficult. It is very different however it is very logical and makes sense once you get your head around it. Using smart phone apps, listening to the radio, practice speaking it everyday, watching TV and just listening to conversations around you will be of much more benefit to you than lessons.

Brian32 wrote:

Immersion conversational teaching methods (direct method)have not made it to Hungary just yet.

It has. But you usually have to use a private tutor then. I know one language instructor who teaches like this.

You just have to find the right teachers.

Normally, those are Hungarians who lived abroad for many years in another (such as English speaking) country so do not have to "practice" their own language skills. And if they also have a language certificate, even better. There are not many here, but there are some. You just have to hunt for them. And be willing to pay their price.

Brian32 wrote:

Hungarian teachers like to practice their English too while teaching Hungarian in my experience.

Yes, this is all too common and quite bad. Anyone who does this should not be offering language services. It is not professional behavior.

Brian32 wrote:

I do not find the language difficult.

I find that most people who say this can usually already speak at least two languages. Then the brain is already somewhat wired for languages. For those making Hungarian (or any language) their first foreign language, as an adult, it is usually much harder.

Hi Priscilla,
To answer your Q, yes I do speak Hungarian, (not perfectly, but am getting better everyday) and I find there is a marked difference in how Hungarians communicate with me, compared to how they communicate with those who don't speak any of the language. It seems to put people at ease, in any situation where there is a language barrier, even if only a few words are spoken and an honest attempt is made, to speak what is a difficult language to learn. Most Hungarians are used to people not speaking their language, and it must come as a pleasant surprise to hear people try. On occasion, I do encounter some smirks and a slightly derisive response in English, but that is easily ignored.  I learned some Hungarian from my dad, as a child, and continued my studies in earnest at a language school, after arriving in Hungary a year and a half ago. Do I think that speaking the language helps one get by on a day-to-day basis; yes absolutely! I believe that if you want to live happily in a place, you need to speak the language, especially here. Any official errands really require some fluency in the language and I prefer not to be dependent on someone else for communication. It also deepens the experience of living in a place, helps one make local friends, and it's more fun for me! Kindest regards, Christine

I don't speak Hungarian. I work for UN, hence the language used for communication is English. So I don't have an issue.

I think it is essential to learn the Hungarian language as one stays in Hungary to enjoy this country as much as possible. The Hungarians are nice, kind people and it is worth the effort to learn a little bit of their language and do activities or communicate with them. It is not easy to learn this language, but my motivation as a student of Hungarian studies was to be able to translate the Hungarian literature to Swahili.
Now I can go to hospitals, offices,etc without any problem of communication. I also do interpretations for my friends when they look for houses or official documents. I do many activities with my Hungarian friends or schoolmates. It is not easy for one to learn the language if one will not use it at the work place or with the locals. This is a language that needs a lot of practice. I have been here for 5 years and I can say I speak the advanced level of Hungarian language. I help other foreigners to learn the language and teach Hungarians the English language.
I do enjoy exploring the Hungarian culture as I dance the Hungarian Folk dance and participate in pig slaughtering festivals.
I wish you all the best in learning the language. Now we can also learn Hungarian on Duolingo on the internet for free. Then try conversations in Hungarian. Insist that you want to speak in Hungarian. This is what I did and it worked.