People generally ask me, when I tell them I'm spending the summer in Budapest (teaching English even), if I speak Hungarian.
I don't. It never crossed my mind to learn Hungarian.
Here is everything I know about Hungarian:
1. It is in the Ugric language group
(along with other winners like Finnish, Estonian, Mari, and Udmurt. small group.)
2. It is not Indo-European
(like English, Spanish, German, Russian, etc... uh even Hindi and Urdu are Indo-European)
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| Me, in Budapest |
3. It has ties to Elvish
(awesome)
Fortunately for my odds of surviving the summer, I know more about Budapest than I do Hungarian because after I studied in St. Petersburg last year, Bryan and I spent something like 36 hours in Budapest. It really made an impression - it's beautiful (on the Danube), cheap, and the people are the friendliest of anywhere I traveled. Fun fact: Buda and Pest were two cities (on opposite banks) which were united in 1873. Here is some of my, albeit limited, knowledge about one of Eastern Europe's most up-and-coming cities:
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| ~$50. Very cheap. |
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| Hidden bakery in the castle district |
Oldest Crown Jewels in Europe,
housed in the most beautiful parliament building in Europe
(note red-domed building in background).
(note red-domed building in background).
Sounding out beginning Hungarian phrases is actually painful (my advice- stick to Indo-European). Liv Tyler sounded so much better tackling the unique inflection and coordinating suffixes of a Finno-Ugric-inspired language. Sigh.
I really should study for exams.
T minus 14 days until departure!
Jó éjszakát (Goodnight) <------ don't ask me to say this. too soon.
:) emily
