These are the most difficult Hungarian words for foreigners to pronounce
Hungarian is often said to be one of the most difficult languages to learn and to pronounce. Sometimes even we Hungarians struggle with the pronunciation of some of our words and expressions. Let us introduce you to the Hungarian words that foreigners find the hardest to pronounce.
As Hungarian is considered one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn, it is completely understandable that beginners sometimes fail to pronounce certain words correctly.
Noizz reminds us of the situation when we are trying to teach a foreigner the word “egészségedre” (“cheers), but they can’t imitate the pronunciation even after the fifth hearing.
It is, of course, one of the most difficult words to pronounce. The list doesn’t seem that far-fetched: it is full of phrases with a lot of consonants or even a lot of sz-letters (“sz” is pronounced as “s”).
- viszontlátásra (“goodbye”)
- egészségedre (“cheers”/”bless you”)
- magánnyugdíjpénztár (“private pension fund”)
- bakancszokni (“boots socks”)
- használtruha-kereskedés (“second-hand clothing shop”)
- liszteszsák (“flour sack”)
- mézeskalácssütés (“gingerbread baking”)
- cukroszacskó (“sugar bag”)
- rizsszem (“grain of rice”)
- uzsiszsák (“lunch bag”, full “uzsonnászsák”)
- csütörtök (“Thursday”)
- tűzoltóság (“fire department”)
Bonus: Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért – the longest Hungarian word with 44 letters. It approximately means “for your [plural] continued behaviour as if you could not be desecrated”.
What is the Hungarian word or expression that you struggle with the most? Let us know in the comments!
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13 Comments
I stopped at mézeskalácssütés :p
Basically every official (governmental or legal) word is difficult.
Határozas or Határozastalan is the hardest in grammar.
I wish there were some government sponsored media programs catered to spreading Hungarian culture and language for foreigners like BBC, TV5, DW-TV etc…
Holdvilág is my favorite Hungarian word. Actually, gyönyörű is a beautiful word, too (no pun intended). Magyarul is my favorite language. No other language in the world sounds so amazing. Originally, I am from Russia but the past 33 years I live in the United States.
Of course, multi-syllable words are more challenging, and to the above I would add “ gyógyszertár” (drug store), “fütyülő” (whistling) and the one syllable “gyöngy” (pearl).
With the exception of the bonus word, I have no problem with pronouncing any of the words listed. I grew up in the USA, and consider English my “first language”. But I always spoke Hungarian at home with my parents. I also regularly email relatives in Hungary, and watch Hungarian news programs posted on YouTube. So I am continually expanding my Hungarian vocabulary. One other thing I should add: I am a college music major (piano), so I have a good ear! Yes, Hungarian is a unique and beautiful language. I am so lucky that I grew up with it!
“Egeszsegedre’ the correct meaning is : “to yhour health.”
gyomolcs, Gyorgy,
Das Wort (egészségedre )
Heißt, auf deine Gesundheit
Aber wenn ich ganz genau übersetze dann heißt das auf deutsch auf deine Ganzheit !
Háziállatkereskedés =pet store
What I find grammatically confusing is combining two words into one word. Háziállat, odafut, elmulik, pályaudvar…. Even though I grew up speaking Hungarian at home as my first language, I never had formal grammar schooling. I am working on that using a great language learning app!
Never ask a young lady if she is hideg (hideg vagy?). I learned that the hard way. Cold vs. frigid (not able to bear children).
Fázol, ugye, M. Ken? Szükséged van a kabátomra? Közel vagyok a helyes választól, gondolkozom.
Poggyászkiadás az első szót amit láttam a repülőtéren. In Dutch this sounds like pogostickjacket(ssszzz??)kiadas(szszszsz huh) . Miért azok az Éles ékezetek? Talán túl számítógépesen fordított az azelőtt.
Nem akarok kiabálni a szövegemmel ezen az oldalon. Kedvenceim vannak : ‘pannekoek’ van egy kicsit rossz szó hollandul (Marco van Basten legalább nem tetszik neki) Hívam egy barátomat a (az ő Rágalmazása után) palacsinta. Mi? Palacsinta! , az van pannekoek, pannekoek. Az érdeklődés hiányaik körülöttem rendek, de marad egy kicsit szomorú rám.
Figyélj meg. Word jokes are projectilevomitted here.
Fák= well f*** but with more passion.
Együgyű bolond: 1st sounds like what it means, but I nagyszerű! Bocsánat amikor rendetlen. 2nd is blond which is a little more neat than dumb, used for girls.
Rendőr, yeah they run through doors or they have to keep running :’).
Out of your bol(head): BolbÓl!
Egészségedre remembered as ff sjekkie draaien (rolling a sigaret not with green Dutch garden decoration :p)
Sofőr, pretty much the best quality of this language, phoneticism is amazing, did dutchies invent the sál? (scarf) hahaha. Legjobb maradnak az ők nemzeti a névei. Zoltán Gera sounds manly as a pile of chest hair topped with a gallon of testosterone, unlike Eelco van Deutekom I dunno.
I never heard of to next to me Towards around us, then not from around us away. Gezellig! Group good not group bad.
Nő = neuh (uninterested ‘no’) Nők = Women (sZép)
lát már (Diss. Forget about it or do U see already is greatness to me in Dutch.
Az ők elnökük ‘vernőkt’ it over there, maybe because the EU had a guy meeting him’Ujjram orrban aki nem Befüle van, with a bit of alcohol. Jobban érzi magában nyilvánvalóan egy Stadion. (cool home for Ukrainians being putin a place while the cause isnt put in place már Ja). Szeretem a magyar nyelvet!