American gets to know Hungarian culture – VIDEO
YouTuber Fiona Bones – who lived in Hungary for most of her childhood – has released a series of videos, introducing her friend, Gabby, to the Hungarian language, attempting to teach her a few phrases, and to Hungarian food.
In her first video “Teaching American How To Speak HUNGARIAN,” Fiona says she lived in Hungary when she was a child and that she thinks she speaks Hungarian pretty well but admitted to having trouble sometimes with spelling.
Fiona asks her friend if she knows where Hungary is located, to which the answer is “somewhere in Europe.” She then takes out her phone for the list of words and phrases she is going to teach Gabby. These include simple words, tongue twisters and Hungarian sayings. Gabby has some trouble with the tongue twister “görbe bögre” (“crooked mug” in English), but then they proceed to curse words and keep laughing about how much quicker she got it right than regular words.
They go on to Hungarian sayings, and Fiona translates the meanings, Gabby finds them funny and even asks in what scenario the phrase “majd ha piros hó esik” (“if red snow falls”) would even be used. She is also shocked by the phrase “a kerítés nem kolbászból van,” which translates to “the fence is not made of sausage,” but means something along the lines of “money doesn’t grow on trees.” The difference between the phrases really showcases the difference between the American and the Hungarian cultures.
Gabby asks what the Hungarian language is made up of, the way in Brazil it is a mix of Spanish and French and Fiona says that Hungarian is its own thing and tries to explain a bit of grammar and how there are 18 more letters in the Hungarian alphabet than in the English one, which pretty much shocks Gabby. All in all, Gabby did really well with the pronunciation of the words, and the video received a lot of positive feedback, both in English and in Hungarian.
In the next video, “American Guessing Weird Hungarian Word Meaning,” Fiona makes Gabby guess the meaning to Hungarian words. Fiona starts off by clarifying that she has very small Hungarian ancestry, she is mostly Italian; however, she went to school from 1st to 8th grade in Pest, Hungary.
Fiona selected Hungarian words that kind of sound like English words or are written similarly, but have completely different meanings. After trying to guess a couple of them, Gabby says “you guys have really strange words. At least to an American.”
While Gabby did not manage to guess many of them correctly, her reactions to the meanings were very entertaining. After getting through the list quicker than expected, they went back to the comments on the previous video, because many people requested difficult words for Gabby to say.
They try the longest Hungarian word (“megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért,” which means something like “for your continued behaviour as if you could not be desecrated”), which Fiona has never said before either, she tries and succeeds, while Gabby sits shocked next to her.
Gabby tries to say it first syllable by syllable and does very well, but when Fiona hands her her phone, so Gabby can try to read, it does not go as well, but after a few tries she kind of gets the hang of it.
Lastly, Fiona teaches Gabby how to ask “are you Hungarian?” Which Gabby gets quite quickly, then they say goodbye in Hungarian.
In their latest video, Fiona shows Gabby a traditional Hungarian food, lángos. They found a place in California that makes lángos, which they were a bit surprised about.
They had sour creme, garlic and cheese as toppings, and Gabby was excited to try. After her first bite, she is obsessed. They talk a bit about the food, its texture, its taste for the viewers who may not know it.
“You guys must try this. Wherever you are. You gotta have some, it is so good!” Gabby tells the viewers.
For quick Hungarian lessons, check out THIS article.
Check out a recipe on how to make lángos HERE.
Source: Daily News Hungary
