The top 10 most interesting stereotypes about Hungary and Hungarians

American writer, reporter and political commentator Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) was the first person who introduced the term and definition of stereotype in 1922; a term still used today. According to Lippmann, a stereotype is a distorted picture or image in a person’s mind, not based on personal experience, but derived culturally. Every nation has its own stereotypes, and Hungary is not an exception. Many tourists visit the country every year and leave with new opinions, but even people who have not visited Hungary before in their lives have their own beliefs. Let us see the ten most interesting stereotypes told of Hungarians by foreigners.

10. The Hungarian language is beautiful

The first thing a foreigner meets with every time visiting another country is its language. The Hungarian language welcomes tourists on billboards, newspapers, signs and in conversations as well. Of course, people visiting the country cannot read the written Hungarian language, but on the other hand, they have many opinions about our spoken native language. The exciting thing about it is that nobody can compare it to another language.

Almost every review and opinion about our mother tongue says that the Hungarian language sounds beautiful, smooth and it is pleasant for the ears, but there are many debates about comparing it to other languages. There are several comparisons, for example, to Finnish, Swedish, Turkish, Russian, and even Italian language.

Furthermore, many believe that our language is like Sindarin language (fictional language from The Lord of the Rings) or other imaginary ones. While being told that our mother tongue sounds unique and beautiful to foreigners, it has a significant drawback as well. It has such a difficult grammatical system and hard to understand its logic, learning Hungarian for a foreigner is worse than a nightmare.

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9. “I not speaking English”

Half of the Hungarian people do not speak foreign languages. According to a statistical survey by the European Union, only Romania and the United Kingdom are ahead of us considering foreign language learning; of course, it is understandable why English people do not take this seriously. This is a frequent experience for people visiting Hungary because many times they have hardships in communicating with Hungarians.

Luckily, Hungary improved a lot in the last ten years. If not in the countryside but in bigger cities and in Budapest there are restaurants with English-speaking waiters and waitresses.

Serving foreigners in restaurants and pubs is not a problem anymore, but talking with them on the street and telling them information or directions is still something many Hungarians struggle with.

8. Hungarians love to eat

According to foreigners, Hungarians take dining as seriously as French people. Many Hungarian households cook their own meals, and the Sunday-lunch is still considered to be a sacred thing in the country. Meals, consisting of three courses, are exceptional and unique experiences for foreigners trying out the Hungarian cuisine. Eating has many other roles in our country, not just biological and traditional ones. Hungarians eat when they are sad, happy, to sum up, it is the central part of our culture.

CLICK HERE to read about ten Hungarian eating habits that make foreigners go nuts

7. Paprika, and a little more paprika

Despite being a small country, the Hungarian gastronomy has a worldwide reputation. Even people who have not been to Hungary are familiar with the famous Goulash soup and pörkölt. Besides our traditional meals, there is another factor which is known by every foreigner.