Tragic Silence - Beszel Magyarul?
A Basic Hungarian Glossary
"Beszel Magyarul?" - Or, "Do you speak Hungarian?"
I certainly couldn't before I started work on Tragic Silence - I don't think I'd even heard it spoken by anybody! But I knew that if a good portion of the story was going to be set in Budapest, and my main character was going to be Hungarian, I'd have to learn as much as I could about her country, culture, and language.
Here is a selection of very basic words and phrases that I learned, with the pronunciation as best as I can make it!
I certainly couldn't before I started work on Tragic Silence - I don't think I'd even heard it spoken by anybody! But I knew that if a good portion of the story was going to be set in Budapest, and my main character was going to be Hungarian, I'd have to learn as much as I could about her country, culture, and language.
Here is a selection of very basic words and phrases that I learned, with the pronunciation as best as I can make it!
Jó napot (YO nah-pot): Hello
Szia (szIa): Hi
Viszontlátásra (VISS-ont-LAH-tass-rah): Goodbye
A nevem... (Oh nev-vem): My name is...
Örvendek (UR-ven-dek): Pleased to meet you
Igen (Ee-gen): Yes
Nem (nem): No
Köszönöm (KUSS-uh-num): Thank you
Beszél Angolul? (bess-zel on-GOH-luul): Do you speak English?
Sajnos nem beszélek Magyarul (SHOI-nosh nem bess-zel-ek MAR-djar-uul): I’m sorry, I don’t speak Hungarian.
Szia (szIa): Hi
Viszontlátásra (VISS-ont-LAH-tass-rah): Goodbye
A nevem... (Oh nev-vem): My name is...
Örvendek (UR-ven-dek): Pleased to meet you
Igen (Ee-gen): Yes
Nem (nem): No
Köszönöm (KUSS-uh-num): Thank you
Beszél Angolul? (bess-zel on-GOH-luul): Do you speak English?
Sajnos nem beszélek Magyarul (SHOI-nosh nem bess-zel-ek MAR-djar-uul): I’m sorry, I don’t speak Hungarian.
I really tried as hard as I could to get everything as accurate as possible. I've never visited Hungary, didn't know anybody from there or who spoke the language, and I couldn't visit for research either. So I was quite nervous about attempting something like this - I had to work with what I could find. I know there may be some inaccuracies, for which I respectfully apologise, but I still hope you enjoy the story!