Learning the Hungarian language for those who live or plan to move to Hungary is a key step towards a comfortable life, professional development and successful integration into society. As of January 1, 2025, knowledge of the Hungarian language will become a prerequisite for obtaining permanent residence in the country. In this article we will look at what may seem simple in Hungarian for beginners, what difficulties may be encountered on the way, and share useful tips that will help to facilitate learning and speed up the process of mastering the language.
Hungarian belongs to the Finno-Ugric language family. Its relatives are the languages of small peoples of Russia (Khanty, Mansi, Udmurt), and in Europe – Finnish and Estonian. Hungarian differs significantly from other European languages in grammar, vocabulary and structure. One of the peculiarities that cause difficulties for learners is the complex system of cases – there are 25 of them, although the most common are 18. Nevertheless, therein lies its appeal: its melody, logic and richness of linguistic nuances make Hungarian truly unique.
The Hungarian language is not only a means of communication, but also an important symbol of Hungarian culture and national identity. To truly understand Hungarians, one must learn, or at least start learning, their language, because it reflects their inner world and identity.
The famous Hungarian linguist D. Kalmar once said the following about the Hungarian language: «flowery like Turkish, deep like English, fluid like French, sweet like Italian, serious like German, lush, structured and persuasive like Greek, brilliant like Latin – it contains, in short, all the virtues that the learned world can wish from a language».
So why not immerse yourself in the wonderful world of the Hungarian language?
A question that often arises is whether there is something easy about learning Hungarian?
Of course I do!
- There are no genders or gender agreement. Unlike many other languages, you don’t have to memorize what gender a word is and how to change forms accordingly.
- The stress always falls on the first syllable. You don’t have to think about where to put the stress, because it is always on the first syllable.
- Words are pronounced as they are written. Hungarian orthography is predictable: you see a word and can read it correctly without surprises.
- Vowel harmony. The Hungarian language’s syngarmony sounds more complicated than it is. The vowels in words agree with each other according to certain rules, which becomes intuitive over time.
- There are only three tenses: present, past and future.
What is difficult about learning Hungarian?
Phonetics. Phonetics is the most important part of learning a language. There are both long and short vowels in Hungarian, so at first it causes problems and may cause misunderstandings. Also, there are pairs of words that differ in the spelling and pronunciation of one vowel letter. A classic example is the word pair “agy” (brain) and “ágy” (bed). Or the pair “utal” (to translate (money)) and “utál” (to hate) – a slight difference in pronunciation, but the meaning is radically different. Agreed, here the difference is not so harmless anymore. But this problem can be solved quite easily by practicing pronunciation and listening.
Vocabulary. Hungarian is rich in unique vocabulary, which makes memorizing words difficult for beginners. Most of the words are not similar to European languages, and learners have to master a large number of new, unparalleled words. However, there are pleasant exceptions – quite a few Slavic and Turkic loanwords.
Cases. The Hungarian language can scare you with the number of cases – there are 25 of them. However, the most frequently used are only 18, and many of them correspond to prepositions in Russian, which helps to understand their use over time.
When learning any language, we encounter difficulties.
Photo by Peter Raika
How to make learning Hungarian more effective?
- Define your goal. Understanding why you are learning a language and what it will do for you helps you stay motivated. When we start a business or go to get an education, we ask ourselves “Why do I want to do this? What do I want to get out of it? What opportunities will it give me?”. So it is with language learning we need to understand why we are learning it. The goal should be specific, realistic and measurable. For example: “By December, I will be able to order a coffee in a Hungarian cafe and talk to the barista.” This is much more effective than the vague “I like Hungarian, I want to try to learn it”.
- Develop an action plan. A systematic approach is important for learning any language. It is better to learn a little bit every day (10-20 minutes) than once a week for hours. This could be learning new words, watching videos, flipping through a textbook, listening to songs, or something else.
- Start by learning the alphabet. Once you learn the letters and sounds, you will not only be able to read but also pronounce words correctly, and that is half the success in learning Hungarian.
- Surround yourself with the Hungarian language. There are apps for communicating with native speakers, Facebook groups where you can find someone to talk to. Do you like listening to music? – listen to Hungarian artists, like podcasts – watch/listen in Hungarian, watch Youtube or Instagram in the evenings – watch videos in Hungarian. Watch your favorite movies and TV series in Hungarian. You will not understand everything at once, but over time you will get used to Hungarian speech, and gradually you will start to understand not only individual phrases and expressions, but the whole text, they will become clear and natural for you to use.
- Contact a teacher. It is possible to learn the language on your own, using self-studies or manuals. If we talk about teachers, then at the very initial stage you need the help of a Russian-speaking teacher who will help you master grammar and form the necessary language base. At later stages, you can turn to a native speaker to work on pronunciation and conversation. The main thing is that you should not be afraid to use the learned expressions and words in your speech right away, don’t be afraid to talk to native speakers. It will be difficult at first, you will not understand everything you are told, but it is definitely worth it. Hungarians appreciate even small attempts to use their language.
If you need to prepare for obtaining residence permit and Hungarian citizenship or you need to learn interesting, colorful and unlike other languages – Hungarian language, we will gladly assist you in this urgent issue.
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Ulyana Kutuzova
Uliana graduated from the Faculty of History at Lomonosov Moscow State University and has an excellent command of Hungarian at the level of a native speaker.