how to find English speaking contacts for my son ?

Hello Jens,

Welcome on board !

Please. note that I have created a new thread on the Hungary forum from your post so that members can guide you.

All the very best,

Bhavna

Hello friends,
my name is Jens, German/South African - my son (17) and I will be moving to Hungary in Jan/Feb 2023 near Zalakaros. My biggest concern is how to find English speaking contacts for my son. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

You all must have a wonderful Christmas time,
best regards
Jens
-@jens31

Does your son speak German? Or only English?

Zalakaros is quite far away from anywhere of a significant size with stuff going on.

When will he be 18? Easier for him to travel if 18.   If he's going to college, you could send him to Austria.  There are several courses taught in English over there in colleges in places like Wiener Neustadt.

Many young people do speak English here.

Zalakaros is near the lake Balaton area? There is a hot springs in town.

Might be rather quiet this time of year.

I'm guessing at his age if he is arriving alone then he has family here?

My son spent time alone in Hungary when he was about 22 years old.

He had a HU girlfriend at the time and his grandparents lived in Hungary.

He was able to join a English spekaing club in Budapest, not sure what's out in the countryside.

If he finds some sort of local hobby then hopefully he will meet other yooung people.

I do know as an American , many Hungarians thought my boy had money and would often try to stick him with the bills when eating out etc.

Many young people do speak English here.
Zalakaros is near the lake Balaton area? There is a hot springs in town.
Might be rather quiet this time of year.
I'm guessing at his age if he is arriving alone then he has family here?
My son spent time alone in Hungary when he was about 22 years old.
He had a HU girlfriend at the time and his grandparents lived in Hungary.
He was able to join a English spekaing club in Budapest, not sure what's out in the countryside.
If he finds some sort of local hobby then hopefully he will meet other yooung people.
I do know as an American , many Hungarians thought my boy had money and would often try to stick him with the bills when eating out etc.
-@Marilyn Tassy

That's always the same here - you'd think they'd get it by now.

Open your mouth, hear you're a foreigner and they think you are loaded. 

I've adopted a dumb persona when dealing with people and usually let Mrs Fluffy do the talking.

Many young people do speak English here.
Zalakaros is near the lake Balaton area? There is a hot springs in town.
Might be rather quiet this time of year.
I'm guessing at his age if he is arriving alone then he has family here?
My son spent time alone in Hungary when he was about 22 years old.
He had a HU girlfriend at the time and his grandparents lived in Hungary.
He was able to join a English spekaing club in Budapest, not sure what's out in the countryside.
If he finds some sort of local hobby then hopefully he will meet other yooung people.
I do know as an American , many Hungarians thought my boy had money and would often try to stick him with the bills when eating out etc.
-@Marilyn Tassy

That's always the same here - you'd think they'd get it by now.

Open your mouth, hear you're a foreigner and they think you are loaded.

I've adopted a dumb persona when dealing with people and usually let Mrs Fluffy do the talking.
-@fluffy2560

Me too. My husband actually has a minor fit if I speak in public, he is waiting to get ripped off if they hear English.

At it is, he speaks PERFECT HUngarian but he doesn't use the slang etc. they do these days since he was gone for over 40 years.

He speaks like a gent from decades ago and often other Hungarians ask where he is from !

I suppose class and manners are a thing of the past?

I sometimes feel sorry for him, no matter where he is, the US or Hungary everyone asks where he is from.

He usually lets it slide but once in awhile he gets mad because he knows for a fact his relations were in HUngary 1,000 years ago. We can however only s far prove going back over 500 years...

All the records are in the National Archives... His family were large wealthy land owners way back when and they kept detailed recrds of crops, taxes paid etc. All still on the books. In fact on file in the archives there is an unopened sealed ( with sealing wax) letter from some King to one of his relations who was high up in the church.

I wonder if we could possibly open it up since it is addressed to our name? Doubt it.

He has always been more comfortable with real down to earth people, one big reasn he loves Hawaii, the people pride themselves oon not having,"Dad Kine Attitude".

....All the records are in the National Archives... His family were large wealthy land owners way back when and they kept detailed recrds of crops, taxes paid etc. All still on the books. In fact on file in the archives there is an unopened sealed ( with sealing wax) letter from some King to one of his relations who was high up in the church.
I wonder if we could possibly open it up since it is addressed to our name? Doubt it.
He has always been more comfortable with real down to earth people, one big reason he loves Hawaii, the people pride themselves oon not having,"Dad Kine Attitude".
-@Marilyn Tassy

I'd open it. Why not? What are you waiting for?!  It might be a receipt for lodgings at the Inn and stabling for 4 horses.  Could be  as simple as that!

Mrs Fluffy has an aristocratic connection but all that Commie oppression took it away.

There really should be some compensation for what they stole.

I have a Polish contact whose family estate was taken by the Communists - she received an adjustment related to her share of value and ended up with an apartment in the middle of a large city.  She didn't get her land back.  I think there wasn't much she could do after they allocated her that. 

There's also a guy not far from us who told us his house and land was compensation due to some issue during the Communist time. No idea of the details.

We never actually held the letter in our hands.

You only have access to online files and records.

To see something that old you probably need special permission from the director or sign your name in blood.

They aren't available for the public.

We saw it online and well as records going back 500 plus years.

You must register when entering the archives and state your purpose etc.

No one helps you get into the computer or files, you must do all the diging yourself. It took us the longest time to even open the files up.

The place is crawling with researchers not just anyone off the st.

It was all business inside .

Not like a public

library setting at all.

We basically did a quick once over, I coppied down the family motto written in Latin.

Still have that around here somehwere.

Saw a couple of family crests, different fractions of the same family hench 2 crests.

I know back in the early 1980's my Hungarian/American step mom tossed out a very old document my father was given by his mother from way back when in former Austria /Hungary. Something to do with him inheriting being town mayor and some lands... She thought they would never be used or needed. Well, IDK, some of my family living there is on some very nice land on the lake...

She did a big house cleaning and threw them away. Dad was mad for the longest time.

They story on my husbands side is his father grew up in some big mansion in NE Hungary and even had a fancy car as a young man before WW11.

He had servants growing up etc.

Well, after the commies took over it wasn't ever spoken of again.

He didn't want to chance one of his children big mouthing at school and alerting anyone to put them all in a re education camp.

He blew his money way before the war anyways...

One reason my in-laws divorced, he couldn't adjust to be a normal Joe post war and would spend all his money on himself instead of his wife and children. He would dress up and sit all day having drinks and reading the papers in a club. He had a small shop of his wn which my MIL got for him but he closed it early every day to go sit with his former rich buddies talking BS and playing cards and reading newspapers.

Funny because my husband dislikes everything elitist.

I guess the old commie brain washing worked, just took a full generation to kick in.

The thing is in the 1980's our niece was dating some guy, they broke up and then he started being mean to her. He said he wanted to pay her back because his grandparents had been servants on her gradfather's family home... OK that's a bit weird and creepy.

One more thing, the archinves did not allow any photos or PDF to be made...

We never actually held the letter in our hands.
You only have access to online files and records.
To see something that old you probably need special permission from the director or sign your name in blood.
They aren't available for the public.
We saw it online and well as records going back 500 plus years.
You must register when entering the archives and state your purpose etc.
No one helps you get into the computer or files, you must do all the diging yourself. It took us the longest time to even open the files up.
The place is crawling with researchers not just anyone off the st.
It was all business inside .
Not like a public
library setting at all.
We basically did a quick once over, I coppied down the family motto written in Latin.
...
Funny because my husband dislikes everything elitist.
I guess the old commie brain washing worked, just took a full generation to kick in.
The thing is in the 1980's our niece was dating some guy, they broke up and then he started being mean to her. He said he wanted to pay her back because his grandparents had been servants on her gradfather's family home... OK that's a bit weird and creepy.
One more thing, the archinves did not allow any photos or PDF to be made...
-@Marilyn Tassy

That all sounds a bit odd. Surely if it belongs to your hubby's bloodline, then it's yours to read any time! In any case, I always thought these sorts of thing were free to look at. After all, if it's in the library, it's there to be looked at, not secreted away. 

Maybe they can x-ray it and unfold what's inside digitally. As I said could be that your hubby is in line for the throne and owns half of Buda or it's a shopping list or proof that many Hungarians are indeed aliens.

It's mystery that should be solved.

It is property of the HU gov. by now.

We really aren't about to hire a lawyer etc. or go to court of a letter that is hundreds of years old.

For all we know it could just be a laundry list!

It is property of the HU gov. by now.
We really aren't about to hire a lawyer etc. or go to court of a letter that is hundreds of years old.
For all we know it could just be a laundry list!
-@Marilyn Tassy

Maybe they already looked at it and don't want to share.  But why?   

In any case, surely the information in there is no longer secret and unlikely to be a big deal. 

I expect it's not going to be a bombshell  Dan Brown style with Tom Hanks parachuting in. 

Maybe it shows your hubby's ancestor was appointed interim Pope, Chief Rabbi, Leader of the main Buddhist temple, Head of the King's Guard, Dragonslayer or something like head of the Illuminati.

You'd have to think historians would be curious too, especially with that seal on it.

Well, not to brag but some way back ancestor of his was appointed Viceroy...Sort of a big deal I suppose.

Anoher was the private doctor to one of the kings and yet another was big in the church.

Funny how low that line has become, just common folks nowdays...

Slightly moody and agressive a time judging by my in-laws personalities but all that interbredding has to show somewhere!

Being on the wrong side of politics back then could cost you your head so no wonder they are a sensitive and moody at times. They are basically nuts ...

My husband really isn't much interested in the past glory or people he never knew. We did visit the small city in NE Hungary where his father grew up. Some event was ging on and all the museums were open. The lady working there told us to come back when her boss was working, the director. She told us she would know all about the old noble families from the area.That was years ago, never went back, that's how seriously interesed my husband is in the past.

Our son is more interesed but it doesn't matter, he has no children and really who cares?

I do know my BIL and his wife had some tiff with the second family of their father's.There was a document they swear they saw and held that should of gone to my BIL as the first born son but their step-sister has it.

It was not allowed to even be in thier hands, belonged to the state since it was commie then.

It was written in dog skin ( dog tags) and had all sorts of seals on it etc. Some paper stating they were who they claimed to be and that someone had been knighted...

It woud be nice if it really does exsist to take a photo of it at least.

I do know for a fact that post WW11 my FIL was called into the police station to explain his surname.

They said it was too,"snobby" and demanded he change the spelling.He refused and went all over the country digging out old chruch and city hall records to prove they never purchased the name or what went with it.

He was told to change the spelling to Tasi, he just thought he had lost everything but he wasn't about to lose his name too.

Not sure how we got so off topic,

I do know that just because someone speaks your mother language it doesn't mean you have much in common with them.

Once the thrill of being able to be understood kicks in then you realize maybe this person is not your cup of tea