An Overview of the Hungarian Language
Hungarian language, also known as Hungarian Magyar, is a member of the Uralic language family’s Finno-Ugric group, spoken predominantly in Hungary but also in Slovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia, as well as in isolated populations around the world. Hungarian, like the Ob-Ugric languages Mansi and Khanty spoken in western Siberia, belongs to the Ugric branch of Finno-Ugric.
Since the 13th century AD, the language has been written in a modified Latin alphabet, and its orthography was standardized with the arrival of printing in the 16th century. The acute accent (ó ) denoting long vowels—doubled in the case of long front rounded vowels ( )—as well as unique representations for sibilant sounds (e.g., sz corresponds to English s) are all features of Hungarian spelling.
The History of Hungarian
Despite its location in Europe, the Hungarian language is not an Indo-European language (just like Finnish, Turkish and Basque). According to some theories, the Hungarian language is part of the Ugric branch of the Finno-Ugric languages (the largest subgroup of the Uralic languages), but there are other theories that suggest Turkic or other Asian connections.
The Khanty and Mansi languages, which are related to Hungarian and belong to the Ugric branch of Finno-Ugric languages, are the closest languages to Hungarian. These languages are near to each other, but far enough off from Hungarian for a Hungarian speaker to understand nothing from them.
Interesting Hungarian Language Facts:
- There are 14 vowels – The five vowels of the English language pale in comparison to Hungarian’s total of 14.
- Its longest word has 44 letters – Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért meaning “for your [plural] continued behaviour as if you could not be desecrated”.
- There are two words for colour red – “Piros” and “vörös”
- It is one of the hardest languages in the world to learn
Learning Hungarian
SGenuine traditional Hungarian culture survived for a long period in an untouched countryside characterized by rootedness. Peasant dress, food, and entertainment, including folk songs and folk dances—the rituals of weddings and Easter and Christmas holidays—continued until the mid-20th century. The drastic (and in the countryside brutal) modernization of the second half of the 20th century nearly destroyed these customs. They were preserved, however, as folk art and tourist entertainment.
Learning Hungarian with Overpass Apps
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