Let’s Learn Hungarian!

Sziasztok!

Thanks for all of the recent feedback we’ve gotten from so many of you. Györgyi and I love to read your comments and hear how you are using the language and enjoying the podcast. It’s also very motivating for us, so please keep it up! I apologize for not responding to your comments and emails lately, but we’ve been real busy with our upcoming move back to Hungary. Györgyi has already moved back, and I’ll go myself in September.

As for the podcast, I was hoping to get one more with Györgyi done before she left, but it didn’t work out. I would like to continue the podcast though, so perhaps I’ll do a few survival lessons solo until I see her again.

Well thanks for listening everyone, and again if you have anything to say, we’d love to hear it.

Minden jót,
Steven

Lesson 10 is finally here! Thanks for the long wait, everyone. This lesson’s dialogue relates an actual situation that happened to us recently, so there’s a lot of authenticity to it (unfortunately). Also, we have a review of the previous lesson’s material, listener questions, and Györgyi recites from the great Hungarian poet János Arany!

See below for the script for this lesson’s material and the new vocabulary. Try and memorize as much as possible so you’ll be ready for the review next time.

Feel free to ask us if you have any questions about this lesson or Hungarian in general, or just to let us know what you think of our podcast. Just leave a comment on this post or on any other one. Thanks for listening!

Answers to last lesson’s quiz question:  Duna, Tisza, Dráva, Száva are four rivers that ran through pre-war Hungary.

A copy of János Arany’s epic poem, “A Walesi Bárdok” in both English and Hungarian can be found here.

Music: Once again we bring you music from the brilliant Budapest-based Mookie Brando and the Second Cousins, “There Are Days.”  Find out more about Mookie and his excellent band by going to http://www.mookiebrando.com/ Thanks so much to Mookie and his Cousins for allowing us to use their music on the podcast.

Download Lesson 10 here (MP3 audio, 30:00)

Dialogue for Lesson 10 (informal speech):

Györgyi:  Szia, én vagyok.

Steven:  Szia, minden rendben?

Györgyi: Hát, nem, sajnos.  Baj van.  Nem megy a kocsi.

Steven:  Nem megy a kocsi?  Jól vagy?

Györgyi: Igen, jól vagyok.  De a kocsi nem működik.

Steven:  Hol vagy most?

Györgyi: Az úton.  Vagyis, a sztrádán.

Steven:  A sztrádán?  Hűha.

Györgyi: Légyszi, segí­ts!

Steven:  Jó… na, most meg a mobil nem működik.  Lemerült.

Dialogue for Lesson 10 (English translation):

Györgyi:  Hey, it’s me.

Steven:  Hi, is everything ok?

Györgyi: Well, no, unfortunately.  There’s a problem.  The car isn’t moving.

Steven:  The car isn’t moving?  Are you ok?

Györgyi: Yeah, I’m fine.  But the car isn’t working.

Steven:  Where are you now?

Györgyi: On the road.  That is, the expressway.

Steven:  On the expressway?  Oh boy.

Györgyi: Help me, please?

Steven:  All right… uh oh, now the cell phone doesn’t work.  The battery’s dead.

Vocabulary for Lesson 10:

walesi – Welsh

Walesi vagyok. – I’m Welsh.

Én vagyok – it’s me

baj – problem

Baj van. – There’s a problem.

megy – going, moving

nem megy – not going, not moving

működik – working

nem működik – not working

út – road

az úton – on the road

vagyis – that is…, I mean…

sztráda – expressway, highway

a sztrádán – on the expressway

hűha – oh boy!

légyszi – please (informal)

segíts – help me! (informal)

Legyen szíves, segítsen! – Help me, please! (formal)

Kérem, segítsen! – Help me, please! (formal)

mobil, mobiltelefon – mobile phone, cell phone

lemerült – the battery’s dead

Csináljak egy képet rólad? – Shall I take a photo of you? (informal, said to one person only)

Hello all,

The next lesson is being prepared and will be out in a few days. Until then, enjoy this lovely song by the Hungarian rock band Kimnowak, “Gyémánt” (“Diamond”). It’s been played to death on Hungarian radio, but still I find it haunting and tender. Lead singer Péter Novák is the key to the song’s beauty.

We’re getting into the action on Twitter a little late, but hey, “jobb későn, mint soha.” (“Better late than never.”)

We’ve just set up a new Twitter account of our own, which we’d like to update regularly with posts in English and Hungarian, plus a “Word of the Day” feature that I’d like to update everyday that I have access to a PC and Internet connection.

We’re actually in the process of moving over here at Let’s Learn Hungarian HQ and the Internet will be turned off in a few weeks, so this really isn’t the best time to start doing this.  Still, I’ll keep it up for as long as I can, then resume when I have net access again.

If you’ve got a Twitter account, feel free to follow us and ask questions about the language or Hungary. We’ll do our best to answer.

Steven

p.s. We hope to have a new lesson out this week!