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Mini language lesson #21: Eszperente language
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In this episode, we would like to invite you to a little game. The speakers of the Hungarian language have a so-called eszperente language, the gist of which is that you have to express yourself with words that only contain the vowel ‘e’ while being grammatically correct. Yes, it is as tough as it sounds, but why not give it a go? 🙂
Most Hungarians probably remember the eszperente language as a fun game played with friends, schoolmates in breaks. Some teachers even implemented it as part of the grammar lessons. It is an excellent mental challenge which makes you realise how many words contain the letter ‘e’.
There are only a few languages that can create such linguistic bravura.
First and foremost, the Hungarian alphabet is made up of 44 letters, out of which 14 are vowels. The main character of this article is the 9th letter of the alphabet. What makes it special is that it is also a word in itself, meaning ‘this’.
As you might know, we have accents in the Hungarian language, which in this case means that ‘e’ has a partner in crime: ‘é’. Syllables containing letter ‘é’ are usually allowed in the game.
Keep in mind that we are not linguists in any way, we’re just as dazzled by the curiosities of the Hungarian language as foreigners are. So this series doesn’t aim to explain the etymology of words, it’s more of a fun take on our language. We try to bring Hungarian closer to you with witty learning cards made by Daily magyar, a language-enthusiast person, whose posts give an insight into the complexity of Hungarian grammar. But don’t worry, it’s all done in an easy-going way so that it can make learning fun.
It is believed that the roots of the game lie in the famous Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi’s poem titled The Tisza when he writes (in eszperente): “Which language would dare to compete with you?” (Mely nyelv merne versenyezni véled?) Well, our language is exceptional for sure.
The resemblance between the name eszperente and Esperanto is obvious. It is believed that it was Frigyes Karinthy who named eszperente after the Esperanto language. Many people mix the two, but those stand for very different concepts.
