TOP5+1 interesting facts about the Hungarian language

As one of the world’s most melodic languages, Hungarian can surprise us in many ways. Do you know what is the most important unique characteristics of the language, how many people speak it worldwide and why we will speak Hungarian in heaven? Hereby, we reveal all the answers.

Among the world’s most difficult languages

Despite the fact that Hungarian has no similarity with any other languages, it is not the most difficult language in the world. Still, it is among the world leaders in terms of difficulty. According to some linguists, it is ranked among the TOP3, while other sources define it as the seventh most difficult language after Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Estonian, and Finnish.

Its most important characteristic

The Hungarian language – spoken by 13 million people worldwide – has a very high compression capability. This means that long sentences can be expressed only in a few words – reported by A Világ Titkai. By way of example, you can describe your feelings and emotions with simple words like Segíthetek? (=Can I help you?); Szeretlek (=I love you); or Hiányzol (=I miss you).

The unique meaning of the word ‘farmer’

In the Hungarian language, the word ’farmer’ has two meanings. Similarly to other English-speaking countries, it can refer to a person who owns or manages a farm. In addition, however, Hungarian is the only language in the world where the word ‘farmer’ is used for jeans as well. Therefore, do not get confused if a Hungarian tells you that “you look great in this farmer”. 😀

Read also: Hungarian slang you should know!

Double number of vowels

In the case of western languages, only seven vowels are used. However, in Hungarian, we can differentiate 14 vowels, both the short and the long versions. These are the followings: a-á, e-é, i-í, o-ó, ö-ő, u-ú, ü-ű.

The third most melodic language in the world

According to the Italian linguist, Giuseppe Mezzofanti (18th-19th century) – who wrote in 58 languages and spoke in 103 tongues – Hungarian is the third most melodic language in the world. It is only preceded by Italian and Greek in the TOP3 – reported by Magyarorszagom.

+1 Why we will speak Hungarian in heaven?

The complexity of the Hungarian language was included in a charming joke as well that was told by Pope Francis’ during his visit to Budapest last year. As Eduard Habsburg, German-Hungarian Catholic writer and ambassador of Hungary revealed, Pope Francis began his visit to Budapest with a kind joke, saying “Why will we speak Hungarian in heaven?” And the answer is: „Because it takes an eternity to learn it!”