News From Abroad: Students, Professor Finding Hungarian a Challenging Language

For the fall semester, Robert Mohr, assistant professor of economics, is in Budapest, Hungary, with 15 students from the Whittemore School who are studying at Corvinus University. Over the course of the semester, Mohr, who will be teaching while at Corvinus, plans to keep the UNH community updated about the Budapest study abroad experience through regular columns in Campus Journal. Below is his second column.

While I have adapted well to Hungarian life, I have failed to make much headway with the language. Hungarian has few similarities to English or any of the romance languages. Even modern words of English origin, like szendvics (sandwich) or dzsesssz (jazz) are difficult to recognize, and written words generally offer few clues to proper pronunciation. I admit that I have taken some shortcuts and renamed some of the more difficult place names. For example, Vörösmarty Ter has become “Lion’s Square,” for the lion fountains my son loves to climb. I, of course, mean no disrespect either to Hungary’s most famous poet or to our own EOS professor who shares the name. Likewise, Városliget is “City Park” and the Széchenyi is simply “the City Park swimming pool.” As I stay here, I am hoping to start referring to these places by their rightful names, but for now I’m managing the best I can.

Our UNH students have had to deal with considerably more difficult linguistic challenges. Expressions like, “please don’t shut off my electricity, I’m not responsible for charges dating back to January,” “I think I might need stitches,” or “my dishwasher is on fire,” are not found in any typical Hungarian phrasebook. Nonetheless, the students handled these situations admirably. Electricity was restored after a late night call to the apartment manager; a cab driver will take you directly to the local clinic with no more instructions than the sight of a bloody leg; and, in response to fire, our students didn’t panic and enlisted a native speaker to get help from the fire department.

One of the pleasures of our group trip to Eger was the services of a tour guide. Zsófia faithfully explained to us the town’s rich history, which included stories of invading Turks, oppressive Hapsburgs and of course valiant Hungarians. She showed us numerous architectural and historical details we otherwise would have missed. For all of these insights, I was grateful. Most of all, however, I appreciated her Hungarian language skills. Entrance fees and schedules were easily negotiated. Special restaurant orders were accommodated. If the Americans wanted ketchup with their fries, it could be done; if the water arrived bubbly, not flat, the mistake was corrected with just a few words. The boys in the group also realized this opportunity to get help with language issues. So that they would be prepared for the next emergency, they asked her to help them with the pronunciation of important phrases like, “cheers,” or “may I buy you a drink.”

When the bus dropped us back at Deák Ferenc tér (or as I call it, “metro-center”), I knew that our linguistic vacation had ended and it was time to rejoin life in Hungarian. I vowed to increase my vocabulary. Since it was dinnertime, my 3-year-old son reminded me of a place where I could start with an easy word. The Hungarian for McNuggets is McNuggets.


Faculty members planning trips abroad with students or for research purposes who would like to participate in our new “News From Abroad” feature are encouraged to contact CJ at campus.journal@unh.edu.