10 facts about the Hungarian Language
The Hungarian language is a very difficult language to learn for foreigners because it is unique and complex.
The Hungarian language is only spoken by around 13 million people and is not a majority language.
Hungarian is the third melodic language after Italian and Greek.
The Hungarian language is a very rich language and contains unique phonetics of consonants.
Hungarian is known to be the oldest Euroasiatic language compared to all other European languages.
The Hungarian Csángó dialect is a preserved dialect that closely resembles medieval Hungarian.
A lot of places, cities, areas, and landmarks in various countries are named in the Hungarian language.
In the Hungarian language, nouns have over 200 forms and use grammar forms that differ from most languages.
Hungarian belongs to the Uralic family of languages.
The Hungarian language contains many borrowed words from Iranian, Turkic and Slavic languages as well as Latin and German.
Origin of the language
Hungarian originated in Asia
History of the language
It is thought that Hungarian originated during the 1st millennium BCE.
Learning the language
It takes 600 hours to learn Hungarian as an English speaker.
Hungarian language for beginners
Ten basic words to start learning in Hungarian:
Love=szeretet
Family=család
Sun=nap
Home=itthon
Moon=hold
Rain=eső
Stars=csillagok
Goodbye=Viszontlátásra
Hungary=Magyarország
Hello=Helló
I am a great admirer of mystery and magic. Look at this life - all mystery and magic.
Harry Houdini
Illusionist, magician and escape artist
The only things you regret are the things you didn't do.
Michael Curtiz
Film director and filmmaker
In London, November isn’t a month, it’s a state of mind.
Antal Szerb
Writer
Fun facts about the Hungarian language
Longest word
Consisting of 44 letters, megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért is the longest word in Hungarian, meaning “for your behavior as though you could not be degraded.”
Two words for red color
There are two words for the color red, piros and vörös. One denotes the color while the other denotes intensity.
Reversed name
In the Hungarian language, people write their surnames first and then their first names which may seem like an uncommon practice to many.
Asian influence
Unlike other European languages, the Hungarian language has significantly been influenced by Asian languages.
True name of the Hungarian language
Magyar is the actual name of the Hungarian language and is used to refer to speakers of Hungarian.
Longer words
The Hungarian language can easily create a world record by creating words longer than 100 letters.
Presence of vowels
The Hungarian language has 14 vowels which is far greater than the vowels of English or other languages.
Flexible word order
Hungarian has a flexible word order, and there are several ways to join different words and create a sentence.
A strong connection to the roots
Hungarian has stayed true to its roots and contains 68% of its original words in contrast to other languages.
Its true roots are in America
Hungarian was found on the Runic Stone at the Yarmouth County Museum and may have been the first language.