Subscribe to our social channels to get the latest news about Hungary!
The 5 biggest culture shocks our expat readers faced in Hungary
Change language:
Have you ever had that “oh, wow” moment when you were presented with a situation in another country that seemed utterly weird or illogical to you? Culture shock is a real thing, especially in Hungary, according to many expats. Here are the 5 biggest culture shocks that left our readers completely baffled when they first came to live in Hungary.
Being asked to take off your shoes at an elegant gathering
“To this day, one Hungarian habit I can’t get is asking guests to take off their shoes – many foreigners are flabbergasted when coming over for a dinner or a social occasion, all dressed up and glitzed up, to find themselves asked to walk around in a pair of hotel slippers or, even better – funny bunny slippers with ears. It seems one of the major ways to completely ruin the elegance, dignity and relevance of a gathering. You just can’t take a person seriously in a suit and tie who has slippers on his feet. You really make an effort to show respect towards the host by doing your best to put together an elegant appearance, and then they ask you to dismantle it by walking barefoot for the whole evening and looking at other people’s feet, socks and tights.” – Goran, Serbia (52)
People loudly blow their noses in public
“I can’t forget that day when I first took the metro to my university, and a middle-aged man casually fished out a measly tissue that must have seen days from his pocket and started loudly blowing his nose next to me. He went on enthusiastically for a good half a minute until he emptied all his ‘content’ while the other passengers didn’t even bat an eyelid. Ever since I keep observing the same thing. Wherever I go, I notice someone taking out a tissue from their pocket, blowing their nose loudly and putting the tissue back in the pocket. I’m startled by the intensity they put into it and the sound that comes with the act. Blowing your nose really seems like a serious business over here. At times, it comes across as if locals want to outdo one another and show off who can blow his or her nose louder. They do sound like a trumpet. That’s definitely one of the biggest culture shocks that come to my mind.” – Yadira, France (22)
Read more: How to make friends as an expat in Hungary
Lengthy complaints to the simple question “how are you?”
“What struck me first when I came to Budapest were the often pessimistic, negative answers I was given for asking another person how he or she was doing. It was especially true in the case of elderly people. My girlfriend’s family lives in a small village on the Great Hungarian Plain and whenever we visit them I always brace myself up for an endless rant about health issues, politics and the country’s failing economy. In my culture, when we get together with friends and family, we usually focus on positive news and conversation topics. I’ve also noticed that people rarely smile at you on the streets or in shops and restaurants. At first, I thought it was because I’m a foreigner but they are no different towards locals either. In their defense, my girlfriend explained to me a bit of the cultural background behind this cold demeanor, and now I get that it has to do with locals’ general wariness towards strangers due to the long years of communism and living under other countries’ occupation. So I don’t let things discourage me anymore. Just keep smiling and, after some time, people will warm up to you!” – Karim, Egypt (36)
Dear Eleonora, you might consider expanding this theme to a part 2 and beyond. 5 is just a taster to the ‘culture shocks’ – there are many more. Since I have Hungarian family and had been coming to Hungary for many years (since the early 1960’s) I thought that I would be prepared for these ‘shocks’ upon moving here. How wrong I was.
Dear Kati, I’m happy that you think it’s worth expanding the theme. If you want to share some culture shocks you’ve experienced personally, let me know 🙂 Maybe, I could include them in the next part.
Asking an Hungarian how they are doing? Such weirdness couldn’t be found on 9gag
Pretty worthless article from my perspective. Especially these facts were described previously plenty of times on this website
Who DOESN’T take off shoes when entering a house, their own or other peoples? That is why we have what we refer to as ‘mud rooms’ or ‘entry ways’. Yes most of us have a container of slippers to offer however, for myself I always take really pretty ballerina slippers or really pretty flip flops if I am not wearing stockings or socks. That way I am respecting their floor by not wearing hard soled shoes or heaven forbid, high heeled shoes which can damage certain types of floors. In places where there is real grass, soil etc or high traffic areas with petrol on the sidewalks even, no one should be bringing that into the home on their soles. I once had a visitor from Florida visit. He had never been in a place further north where weather is very changeable and outdoor surfaces are not all asphalt and hard-packed crushed sea shells. When we got to my co-worker/friends lovely home & we all took off our shoes at the entryway closet he refused at first. He could see that the hallway & sunken Living Room were light beige carpet, that the surrounding area was blonde hardwoods and vynil in the kitchen. He honestly thought that he should be allowed to leave his shoes on. That is all anyone remembers about him.
When I visited home some time back I was shocked at the blatant molesting of one another as couples were out in public & even late in evening on buses, that of intoxicated women who’d been on dates. Social acceptance of such public behaviors sets a really bad example for younger people and makes singles feel even more isolated, at any age. And all that dirty urinating and smoking everywhere! Disgusting.
“Culture shock” also works the other way. When we came to the US in 1950, we couldn’t understand how people could reply “I am fine,” when they were actually quite ill. And I don’t know when this “removing your shoes” became a Hungarian habit. I have never heard of it back in Hungary in the middle of the last century.