A request.

[peterlin]

Hello,

I think this is my first post in the Hungarian forum. I am what you may call a language geek. On day-to-day (err... rather week-to-week) basis I deal with Iranian and Caucasian langs, but I had my stint with Hungarian as well (at Debreceni Nyári Egyetem during the hot summer of 2001).

But to the point - I was just recently doing my summer-planning and I thought it might be a good idea to try to revive my Hungarian (I never really used it after that memorable summer). I'm not expecting anything spectacular - mind you, I have a family, a job and a dozen other hobbies - just achieving some respectable level of passive knowledge would suffice.

Still with me? My request or rather two requests are:

1) I found a book called "Hungarian Graded Reader" (downloadable, with audio) at FSI language courses website. The book seems fine, but it was written about 40 years ago - I'd greatly appreciate if any of the resident Hungarians checked if the language of it is perhaps a bit outdated (and if it is - in what regards)

2) I would also appreciate having a Hungarian e-mail pal with whom I could discuss not only the language stuff but also all the issues related to our Central European homelands (I am Polish if you didn't figure it out). I will probably pester you with questions on this forum, but e-mail is somehow more convenient for me.

My address: kutya_harap[@]interia.pl (you know what to do with those brackets, right?)

[CoBB]

1) I found a book called "Hungarian Graded Reader" (downloadable, with audio) at FSI language courses website. The book seems fine, but it was written about 40 years ago - I'd greatly appreciate if any of the resident Hungarians checked if the language of it is perhaps a bit outdated (and if it is - in what regards)

I don’t see anything strange about it. Hungarian hasn’t changed much in the past century anyway. And the sound recordings are also pretty good, they are fairly natural considering they are being read out loud, and the speakers don’t try to exaggerate individual sounds to make them all fit the written letters (which is a mistake most courses seem to make, i.e. being chronically afraid of the fact that the length of a vowel or a consonant can be different in speech than in writing). The pace is also ideal, neither overly slow, nor fast.

Semmi furcsát nem vettem észre benne. A magyar nyelv nem változott sokat az utóbbi évszázadban. És a hangfelvételek is egész jók – elég természetesek ahhoz képest, hogy felolvassák őket, és a beszélők nem próbálják eltúlozni a hangokat, hogy pontosan megfeleljenek az írott betűknek (ezt a hibát sok oktatási anyagban elkövetik, azaz betegesen félnek a ténytől, hogy egy magán- vagy mássalhangzó hossza más lehet beszédben, mint írásban). A tempó is tökéletes, se nem túl lassú, se nem gyors.

2) I would also appreciate having a Hungarian e-mail pal with whom I could discuss not only the language stuff but also all the issues related to our Central European homelands (I am Polish if you didn't figure it out). I will probably pester you with questions on this forum, but e-mail is somehow more convenient for me.

I guess I’ll leave that to the others. Lately I can’t even properly keep up my current correspondences.

Azt hiszem, ezt a többiekre hagyom. Mostanában még a jelenlegi kapcsolataimat sem tudom rendesen ápolni.

[peterlin]

Thanks for the reply.

FSI courses in general are top-quality work. The problem is that in case of some languages (say, Turkish, Greek) 40 years makes a difference (esp. as regards vocab & usage). I didn't expect that to be the case with Hungarian, but knowing next to nothing about its history, I preferred to check up on this. Thanks for clearing the issue up.

Speaking of Hungarian language history. Is there any short account of it (written in Hungarian or not) available online?

Also, could you recommend any modern Hungarian short story writers? I especially like witty/erudite/post-modernist/playing-with-conventions ones like Eco, Borges, Pavić, Akunin, Sapkowski. From what I've heard, Karinthy Frigyes seems like a step in the right direction. Anyone else?

[Levo]

Thanks for the reply.

FSI courses in general are top-quality work. The problem is that in case of some languages (say, Turkish, Greek) 40 years makes a difference (esp. as regards vocab & usage). I didn't expect that to be the case with Hungarian, but knowing next to nothing about its history, I preferred to check up on this. Thanks for clearing the issue up.

Speaking of Hungarian language history. Is there any short account of it (written in Hungarian or not) available online?

Also, could you recommend any modern Hungarian short story writers? I especially like witty/erudite/post-modernist/playing-with-conventions ones like Eco, Borges, Pavić, Akunin, Sapkowski. From what I've heard, Karinthy Frigyes seems like a step in the right direction. Anyone else?

Örkény István: Egyperces novellák - the bests!!

[vmbentley]

Peterlin,
Nagyon, nagyon köszönöm a tőled ajánlott weboldalt! Ez nagyszerű és igen hasznos! Az majd sokáig elfoglal engem!

Thank you very much for the suggested webpage. It's great and very useful. It'll keep me busy for a long time.

-Vince

[CoBB]

Peterlin,
Nagyon, nagyon köszönöm a weboldalt, amelyet ajánlottál! Ez nagyszerű és igen hasznos! [s]Az majd[/s] Sokáig le fog kötni engem!

Az „elfoglal” helyett „lefoglal” kellene, de a „leköt” még jobb.

[vmbentley]

Kösz!