Ausztrál Tom - The Joy of Learning Hungarian video references

Hey there,

I just uploaded my latest video, which is primarily in English for a change. As usual, here is some further explanation about some of the themes/ideas in the video.

Why an English video?

Someone forwarded me some Reddit threads where my videos were being recommended as a resource to Hungarian language learners. I thought this was a bit strange because what would a non-Hungarian truly take from my other videos? So I thought why not do an English language video, and at the same time I really wanted to give to Hungarians some perspective about the challenge and benefits of learning Hungarians. Obviously the video is satirical/exaggerated but it was all inspired by true events.

Passport-Passeport-Utlevel 

It is truly unfair that when an English speaker learns for example German or French (this also applies in the other direction, and also between many languages), that so many times you can just guess what a word means. (e.g. 'passport' vs. 'passeport', or 'international' vs. 'international') My first language was French, and almost every English word with '-tion' is the same as in French (and not by accident of course, due to historical reasons). So while it's cheap, and often inapt, you can understand what's going on. These parallels just aren't as frequent in Hungarian.

Obviously this applies to Hungarians learning other languages too. But I must add, this challenge may also be why Hungarians who learn English tend to speak really well I find, because you simply can't take the easy ways out as much.

Dear Csaba

Very inspired by true events, and this one is for all languages but I feel it especially with Hungarian due to the above point. How often have you wanted to express something very specific, or come across as funny/sincere/heartfelt/direct, and you just can't get it across yet.

Then despite slaving over an email or text, you read it back and you sound really blunt or childish or serious. I know I feel this all the time, so I completely exaggerated the idea with the story about Csaba saving orphans from a jungle fire with the visuals to match.

Also, emojis... what a godsend for conveying emotion.

Hungarian 'grenades'

To this day, I will still come across a concept or a word or a reference that I'll never understand. It happened the other week when I stumbled across the word 'nyaktekereszi mellfekvenc'. So I took to Twitter to understand what's what. Then the answer is never simple and I got to hear all about its historical connections, and the other complex words in the collection.

That said, I love it! Hungarian always keeps me on my toes. (especially when I realise I didn't even put the hyphen in the right place)

Hunglish / Jo fej

In the video I say that if you learn a few basic words
you can obtain the rank of 'jo fej', then I have a discombobulated broken Hungarian conversation with a fake Hungarian.

I'm not one to preach, so first of all it was just meant to be a weird interaction. But in reality, I want to point out that foreigners should just TRYYYYYYYYY to learn words and use them when Hungarians are in their lives. Even if you latch on to one word and you drop it into conversation sometimes, it's a small sign of respect (though depends on the word haha). I don't get it when kulfoldis live in Hungary or have Hungarian partners and they can't say 'good morning'. I just don't get it. Even if you've got a terrible sense for language, I'm pretty sure there are words they can pronounce and remember.

Hungarovision

Ah my favourite one. So many everyday objects have some kind of Hungarian origins, due to inventors or just something that was popularised in Hungary. And for that reason, I've noticed that Hungarians bring so much unique perspective to things. They just know a lot backstories behind everyday objects, and it makes me wonder 'How do you see the world?'

Hence this Hungarovision gag, suggesting that Hungarians just have Terminator vision that shows them all the facts and figures about items. Honestly this Hungaro vision part couldn't been 1 hour long there are so many inventions.

The same applies for Salami, I don't know what the Hungarians around me see which I don't see, but they just seem to know what's good and what isn't.

Eavesdropping

As I say in the video, Hungarians are everywhere! They really are, I hear Hungarian on the street a surprising amount in Australia. But my point here with the gag is that 99% of conversations you overhear are completely banal. Sometimes you hear some funny stuff, but it's mostly nothing special.

These were some themes. Each one could be elaborated on, and I my depiction wasn't too weird :) Get in touch if you can relate! And remember lol: