Why do Hungarians have such a bad reputation?
Hungarians are not welcoming but grumpy all the time; do not ask them for advice because they will mislead you…have you heard any of these lately? Well, we have, and do not have the slightest idea why there is so much misinformation about a country.
A happy Syrian student posted a cheerful post in the ‘Hungary Expats’ group on Facebook: he shared his view about how Hungary is misleadingly characterized as a country full of people who are pessimistic, not helpful and unfriendly.
According to him, this is all false: “Hungarians are humble and proud people with so much dignity and I can say I love them!” – he writes in the post.
Photo: Facebook.com/Hungary EXPATS
Others have also shared their experiences in the comment section:
“Many people have bad opinions about Hungarians and the Country itself due to their politicians but the reality is totally different…” – writes Radhia.
Cristina agrees with the writer of the post: “I agree Adnan Samman. Obviously, you will meet eventually people in bad moods someday …but tell me where in the world you can not find that.”
Katherine says she “had nothing but Hungarians being really really nice to me. Some of the jolliest people I’ve ever met.”
But why do people think Hungarians are pessimistic?
According to a survey, foreigners usually think that Hungarians are honest (maybe too honest sometimes) and well-mannered but not exactly optimistic. Well, there may be some truth in that: it turns out from the World Happiness Report 2018 that Hungarians do find the touch of grey in every silver lining. Hungary takes the not-so-elegant 69th place on the list, considering countries such as Moldova (67th), Kosovo (66th), and even Kazakhstan (60th) are ahead of us in how satisfied they are with their lives.
World Happiness Report 2018
Hungarians do have some things to worry about, such as the concerning political climate or the ever-worsening state of Hungarian health care, but it is not true that Hungarians are overall unfriendly and pessimistic.
Since tourism is flourishing, there are more and more foreigners coming not only to Budapest but to other cities in the countryside, too, so there cannot be that many problems with Hungarians’ attitude towards visitors. Also, besides being affordable and safe, foreigners said in a recent study that they appreciate Hungarians’ friendliness.
What about stereotypes?
Several sets of stereotypes exist about most countries: Americans are allegedly loud, all Canadians are extremely polite and kind, while Italians are seen as extremely gesticulating people.
These stereotypes might be funny up until a point but let us admit: there is not much empirical and scientific evidence behind them.
Although stereotypes can be useful when talking to another person, they are over-generalized beliefs and one can falsely assume too many things based on them. They also facilitate and encourage prejudice in our everyday life and more serious decisions, too.
There is another problem with stereotypes: they almost always focus on the negative side of things.
It would be so much easier to consider things from the positive side. For instance, when foreigners say that Hungarians are too ‘resourceful’, we could remind them that it may be our natural creativity and inventiveness. Or, when they say we eat too much fat and paprika, let us make them taste our wonderful meals. And when they say we argue a lot, let us explain that we are not insincere but simply insist on our true opinions.
Featured image: www.facebook.com/Dailymagyar
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9 Comments
Here in Canada, Hungarians are not trustworthy. See Steve Horvath. ( Steve’s casting in Oshawa)
For me the Hungarians are the most unsymphatic people on earth.
They’re very aggressive
They’re absolutely untrustworthy
They’re mentally disturbed
They steal
They always lie
They have at least 3 Identity in 1 Person
They’re cadger
They disturb everyone surround them (to get attention I think)
Keep distance is best Option if u meet Hungarians!
To be honest as a Hungarian i can agree that some of us are like that but you have no reason to say that you should stay away from all of us. That is hurtful. Hungarians are one of the most misunderstood persons in Europe
Name a single country or ethnic identity where you can draw conclusions about the group based on indivuduals? Invariably, people who state “all Elbonians are smelly and pilfering” probably had a bad experience with an individual or subgroup. e.g. if your sole experience in a place like Sydney was getting caught up in a shootout between middle eastern bikie gangs… you could be excused for being hesitant about visiting Sydney again, but saying that all Australians are middle eastern bikies would be absurd.
I am proudly Magyar (whatever that means! More genetic crossover than a year old ham sandwich in the sun!) and I completely understand some of the so-called stereotypes, but they are not *archetypes*, just reflective of certain types of character. If you don’t know me, you’d think I was a humorless aloof uneducated moron, but that’s because I ignore you if I don’t need to talk to you 😎 But people who know me would claim you were dealing with a completely different person.
Yes one can draw conclusions about hungarians since it is prevalent in vast majority of Hungarians. They are racist towards Asians, Indians and Middle Eastern. Only until they know that these same Asian or arabs are rich than all of sudden they will become nice. Yes you might be nice or funny to some you perceive of value like Westerners coming from US, etc. This is a hostile country towards foreigners especially people coming from the east. This has not happened overnight but this propaganda has been fed by the government and state media for decades. Unfortunately, hungarians have too little exposure and knowledge about the world to realize what they have become. Sorry, to be straight forward but that what you claim to like straight talk. This may come as a shock but it is the truth. Meyer is right.
@Meyer, as a Hungarian, I must correct some of the stuff you said.
1. I’m not aggressive and actually I am trustworthy
2. Yes I am mentally disturbed lol
3. I don’t steal (seriously, where did that come from)
4. Yes, I do always lie (think about this statement and you will realise how stupid you are)
5. Nah, I only have 2 personalities, does that mean I’m not a Hungarian?
6. I’m no cadger
7. In fact, I’m the kind of person who is awfully afraid that he disturbs others. Many of my compatriots I know are also like that.
Keeping distance from Hungarians is indeed a good idea, but let me take this a little further — keep distance from all humans and you won’t ever have to deal with assholes. But what you’re proposing is discrimination by nationality which is not really nice, and also you’re depriving yourself of a lot of pleasant experience and you say no to a number of possible friendships for no actual reason.
I have a feeling that you judge 10 million people by their government and some extremists. There are extremists in every country and you’re naive if you think we have a say in who’s ruling over us. Stop demonising Hungarians (or any other group), most of us are really just like other European people.
@Meyer, as a Hungarian, I must correct some of the stuff you said.
1. I’m not aggressive (I despise aggression) and actually I am trustworthy
2. Yes I am mentally disturbed lol
3. I don’t steal and neither do most Hungarians (seriously, where did that come from)
4. Yes, I do always lie (think about this statement and you will realise how stupid you are)
5. Nah, I only have 2 personalities, does that mean I’m not a Hungarian?
6. I’m no cadger
7. In fact, I’m the kind of person who is awfully afraid that he disturbs others. Many of my compatriots I know are also like that. And many are just simply nice people
Keeping distance from Hungarians is indeed a good idea, but let me take this a little further — keep distance from all humans and you won’t ever have to deal with assholes. But otherwise what you’re proposing is simply discrimination by nationality which is not really nice, and also you’re depriving yourself of a lot of pleasant experience and you say no to a number of possible friendships for no actual reason.
I have a feeling that you judge 10 million people by their government and some extremists. There are extremists in every country and you’re naive if you think we have a say in who’s ruling over us. Stop demonising Hungarians (or any other group), most of us are really just like other European people.
I have met and lived with many wonderful H people.Except for a few most were friendly ,polite ,eager to please for praise alone.They are very talented ,smart,can complete whatever they set their mind too.I felt very safe during communist rule but not so under western influence as they have copied the worst of western habits.It is still a beautiful country with fantastic food,music,conversation.You must not judge by bad experience with a few cab drivers or girlfriends.
It’s never about “the Hungarians”, “the Russians”, “the Poles”, “the French” or “the Germans”, it’s about the actions of Governments.
Anybody that claims such collective traits is usually lacking personal experience with said groups and is often too emotionally immature to examine their beliefs.
I am no paragon of rationality, I get angry and petty and overall pathetic sometimes, often times too.
But I just thought it had to be said.
Usually influenced or even directly made by rich and often times criminal assholes who have some degree of immunity through wealth and instituational corruption.
Qatargate suspect Eva Kaili set for release to house arrest – the EU corruption probe ensnared the celebrity Greek politician, who has been detained since December.
Meanwhile Hungary/Polands government back each other in avoiding suspension of EU voting rights that would allow this corruption persecution to happen more frequently.
This is why “the Hungarians” have a bad name.
Anf I feel contempt “the Germans” and “the Poles” that ruined the possibility to repair German tanks in Poland through greed of various stakeholders of the deal.
The Hungarian government and the subverted, undermined democracy/governmental structures it has created is hated.
And rightfully so.
By his own statement Orban plans to “stay in EU as long as Hungary gets more cash than it gives”.
This is simply ignoring the reality that this exchange creates more wealth than just the pure monetary values.
It is short-sighted, jingoistic and divorced from reality.
But there are enough people in Hungary that are ignorant enough to believe these lies or ignore tha danger (to their own wealth too, mind you – just look at Brexit) they pose.
Don’t get messed up by perverse incentives created in state corruption in your Government, Hungarians.
This is a thing here in Germany too.
Or do you seriously think we aren’t subsidizing these car industrialists at the expense of nationwide quality of life and fiscal sustainability ourselves?
I don’t profit from cheering on German greed and neither do you profit from cheering on Hungarian greed.
Together!
Sincerely, Anon.