Hello again everyone! What a pleasure to start the new year with you.
If you're game, let's go through the latest video which I uploaded this week. It's a classic nyelvlecke, which is always requested. I'm not 100% clear why an ausztral nyelvlecke is of interest. Isn't it perhaps the least relatable video you could ask for?? But what do I know.
I do have to note that there is a SATURATION of content on Australian slang on the internet now, and it's full of these cringe expressions no one ever says. I really want to tell you things that you might actually hear or notice, or touch on things that symbolise an Australian mentality, because I think that kind of stuff is even better! So here we go.
We start by mentioning how everything has been a little topsy turvy here (Mivel itt a dolgok a szokásosnál is jobban a feje tetejére álltak). A lot of foreigners make this 'upside down' joke and to be honest it always catches me off guard because it's not really front of mind thanks to old mate gravity.
I didn't belabour it but this video was late for a few reasons. We had a strong lockdown here for months where we weren't allowed to be outside for non-essential reasons for a while, and even when things opened up slightly that pandemic atmosphere really saps the spirit. Second, I started a new job and that's always a busy time, third this video was intended to be outside and the 'La Nina' weather event (lots of rain) meant it was bad weather all the time. The weather was a bit ordinary on this day, but was remarkable in comparison. And then lastly, it was Christmas and who has free time then.
While in lockdown, one of the most common activities was cooking Hello Fresh. Hello Fresh is a subscription services that delivers meals you cook, and I wanted to make the joke as if I had been requesting Porkolt in a Carte-D'or tub. Because I can't think of a better way to store porkolt.
Getting to English computerised voice to pronounce a Hungarian sentence is always a bizarre exercise, you have it type it in like 'rend-deh-lay-shay-val'.
In introducing the video I say, "fejezd be a csavros kiflid". You try coming up with an English translation for that one! I did the below. Up and Go is a breakfast milkshake thing and I bet about 0.01% of people got that one.
I was also delighted to be able to say 'nincs kecmec' (a greatly underrated expression) before the 'Beszeljunk ausztralul', at which point Land Downunder plays. The last time I used Land Downunder briefly (on the Ausztral Nyelvlecke #20) I got a copyright strike and the video was blocked. Didn't happen this time! I noticed that one person in the comments caught the subtitle here when the song plays:
An uninteresting fact about this video is that I filmed most of it in the wrong quality. But quite frankly the lower quality adds to the nostalgia. It happened to be an extremely windy day as well, so I used this wind buffer thing on the microphone which proved to be pretty effective. It's that big fluffy thing in my pocket. It looks like this below and hazisarkany is obsessed with it! She'll steal it off the table then I'll find again strewn about the house.
A lot of people shared this image with me so it felt like a great way to bring up our Ausztral-Hungarian Birodalom. This is not my map! It was shared to me about a dozen times and they all had different sources. I'll give the owner credit if they ever come forward. Otherwise, I've been talking about the Australian-Hungarian empire since a video in 2020 and I just love how it has taken off. You guys are so funny with your ideas and how you join in on the joke. Massive champs the lot of you.
The sequence that follows of the cool things in the birodalom is my favourite part oft] the video. They were:
- Tengerparti barbeque-k a
trópusi Hegyeshalmon
- Weekends away in
Vombathely
- MÁV expressz Kiskunfélegyházáról Wagga Wagga-ra
- Flat-white tejbegríz
- Puli kutya-tasmán ördög keresztezési
program
- Há kettő Ó x Mézga Család crossover újraindítás
I left one out of editing, maybe I'll use it again later, it was "Trans Danubian/Indian Pacific vasút". Based on your comments the clear favourite was: Weekends away in Vombathely.
I also like the idea of Flat white tejbegriz. Flat white is an Australian invention whose global popularity astounds me. I remember my parents opting for a 'Flat White' at some suburban bevasarlokozpont cafe in the '90s, and now it's served in overpriced hipster cafes everywhere. And it's not particularly special and distinctive, but why not!
I love how this H20 x Mezga Csalad reboot worked out. Also, I was really surprised that the H20 show was so popular in Hungary (everywhere really). There are lots of Australian kids' series like that which air at like 4pm on a weekday, and when you're a kid you like them but you don't think much about them. You certainly don't expect people around the world to have a special connection to them.
I love the narrative of the mermaids attacking Geza at the beach. The sound of 'OH NAUR" is from a famous Tik Tok of someone exaggerating the Australian way of saying "Oh no".
The first segment is all about 'mate'. It's charming when foreigners use 'mate' but they tend to overuse it when in reality you're meant to slip it in there to punctuate a sentence, or maybe say 'mate' instead of an understated way in place of 'friend'. But there are so many exceptions that it's dangerous territory that one.
Wow how "Kecske, mate!" took off! I especially love the couple of people from Kecskemet who wrote to me about it.
In the part where I outline how the intonation of mate changes the sentence, i did indeed test this on the locals and they were surprised to realise how powerful it is for modifying the meaning. So you're in safe hands. The song in the background was Mit Sem Erdekel by Carson Coma, and the voice was Ili of course.
Then was the joke that I got confused between mate and Máté, with an obvious reference to Csák Máté. This is a joke based in reality as my phone always autocorrects mate as 'Máté'. Honestly, I can't help but smile when I see the name Máté.
The latest guest star got a rousing reaction from everyone! This is an Australian sea lion. I took the footage at Taronga Zoo and can't believe how it ran over to me. I was going to call him Bodri at first but then I was informed that's just for curly-haired dogs. Is that true??
For context, we talk about some ways not to use mate. (there's no such thing as mateball if that wasn't known)
Now in the next segment we start with a parody of influencers promoting a product they probably don't care about, but at the same time I also wanted to share my gratitude for all the cool comments on the previous video. It's also the chance to bring up Elk*rtuk.
When i first saw the word 'elk*rtuk', it took me a hot minute to figure out what the word was because of its styling and because I'm an angel as pure as the driven snow. So I wanted to make a joke that it's called Elk Star Retweet UK (plus i would watch such a loopy-sounding movie). Then instead I give up an instead enter everyone in the draw to win tickets to El Nacho Libre instead. This is a movie from the early 2000s with Jack Black. It's actually called Nacho Libre, but oops.
I wanted to make some kind of joke that it's "the #1 movie Elk*rtuk" and put up their IMDB score of 1.0 out of 10." but it wasn't working. Even though it should be clear that I'm ridiculing Elk*rtuk, I am waiting for that commenter to scold me for promoting blatant propaganda. There's always one and you just never know how to respond. But either way, time to learn about farm calming. I think this is an expression that says a lot in a few words.
We give the example of:
- Hallottad, hogy bezárják az Euro Centert?
- Calm your farm, there’s always Duna Plaza.
Eurocentre is a shopping centre in Budapest's third district, and when I worked briefly in Budapest I would go there all the time to Fornetti, Spar and Fozelek Falo. So of course my heart aches for its demise.
Duna Plaza looks really strange, and my main memory of it is struggling in its blocky carpark.
Then I wanted to give the example using the topic of Hunglish. Every eight weeks or something it happens on Twitter that someone comments on how Hunglish is a burden on humanity. Then a bit of a online rabble breaks out before it simmers down and the world keeps turning. I'd be curious what your view of Hunglish is. In my dealings with it, it's usually used in a playful context with the speaker being fully conscious that they're using it. But you'd know better than me, I speak Hungralian after all and sometimes those commenters may need to calm their farms.
Calm your farm is a suitable sentence to practice your sing-song English long vowels. As i said in the video, I have trouble not using diphthongs and long vowels in Hungarian, it takes conscious effort to clip them but even slightly improved usage of these vowels will make English sound more natural. Otherwise you risk sounding like a Szijjarto 6000.
His English is obviously very good but he just has quite a robotic delivery, which was a great chance to mash up him speaking with the song Intergalactic by the Beastie Boys.
When I was filming that part of the video there was a gentleman who walked behind me (it's at the end of the video). I can only imagine what he thought of me filming that video there but he seemed like a good sport and a top-notch bloke.
Now lastly, in the third segment we are talking about Australian upwards intonation .And we start by talking about how hardcore Hungarians are because your mice feed off human tears (nem itatja az egereket) and your ice creams lick back (a fagyi visszanyal).
Then it's time to bring up that Hungarian question intonation where you emphasise the second-last syllable. I had to practice this intonation but it's a lot of fun when you get the hang of it. I love the little rollercoaster graph at the end. Oh before I forget, at the title card for this video the footage of the rollercoaster is from Final Destination 3.
When talking about the Australian upwards intonation, I feel like I'm giving away all my secrets. I use it all the time naturally when speaking to you all in Hungarian so I probably need to work on it. But if you want to make fun of me, I definitely recommend using it.
At the beginning of this little conversation I say Azt a fuzfan futyulo rezangyalat, which I also said in Nyelvlecke #20. Several people have brought this one up to me! I didn't expect that to gain traction.
And then we conclude the video! You're all good Aussie blighters and I couldn't be prouder of you all.
And then we conclude the video! You're all good Aussie blighters and I couldn't be prouder of you all.
I hope you enjoy this vid. January videos hit different because there's a sense of newness and frivolity. Last year's January video was the mango tutorial, which is just a frothy goofy video with good vibes.
Hope you're looking forward to the year ahead. No matter what I'll certainly be deepening my understanding of Hungarian language and culture, and I imagine that includes pushing out some vids along the way :)
