Hungary is known to be an amazing country. It offers a lot of tourists attractions for all types of travellers. Home to some of the well preserved European architectures in the world, this would be a dream come true for engineers, painters and even photographers alike. Hungary has proven to be one of the most searched tourist destinations in Europe. Despite the many attractions that Hungary has, listening to their language is also something to look forward to when travelling to the country. Even though the country is situated in Central Europe, it is worlds apart from its neighbouring country’s language. You will find a lot of interesting facts about the language spoken in Hungary. It is a hard language to learn It is spoken by only a few The longest word in the language consists of 44 letters Two words for the colour red Names are back to front The Hungarian language actually came from Asia Words can be crazier in Hungary Magyar is the real term for the Hungarian language 1. It is a hard language to learn The Hungarian language is complex and unique. You might have your fair share of head-scratching moments. A lot of linguists might tell you that it is a language that is so hard only a few percentages of people that started to learn the language actually finish it. From its confusing rules and its construction, a lot of people would put it somewhere in the top 10 hardest languages to learn in the world! Even when the language is complicated and hard to learn, there is nothing said about it being impossible. The Hungarian language is just a language that requires extra effort and devotion. 2. It is spoken by only a few As a complicated language to learn, the Hungarian language has its ups and downs. One of the many benefits of learning this language is that you can brag about it once you know how to speak it. An estimated 13 million people could speak the language perfectly and identify it as their native language. This includes the people who consider it as their second. Even with that big number, it is one of the languages that only a few people can speak, write, understand. Another thing that contributes to the steep decline of native speakers is the massive influence of popular languages entering the Hungarian-speaking territories. Since the English language is used on a universal scale compared to their native language, many people opt to teach their children the English language first hoping they learn the Hungarian language as they grow up. Because of the limited use of the language outside the country, the Hungarian language is now facing endangerment. The government has taken certain actions so that the Hungarian language will be preserved for the future. 3. The longest word in the language consists of 44 letters Yes, a word this long exists. The longest word in the Hungarian language is composed of 44 letters. Now go ahead and try to say this, it would take you about a minute to finish the single word – Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért. While Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért is not really used in the daily lives of the Hungarian population, it still is a record holder for its ridiculously long set of letters. Roughly translated to ‘due to your (plural) repeatedly not being possible to be desecrated’ this 44 letter word is a stark example of how hard the Hungarian language can be. 4. Two words for the colour red When you are talking about colours and their names, you expect things to be as simple as they should be. But not the Hungarian language. It has two words for the colour red! ‘Piros’ and ‘vörös’ both mean red. There are some rules about the use of these words. One is the additional stress when describing a thing that is coloured red. However, other people would say they are interchangeable. Here is an example. When you are talking about the colour of wine, then you should use the word ‘vörös’. But blood and flowers can be either. It is up to you to find out which of the word for colour red is appropriate for. 5. Names are back to front You might be confused with this, but you will find out why in the next list. The Hungarian names start with your surname first before your given name. Instead of Thomas Brown, people in Hungary would introduce themselves as Brown Thomas. A lot of tourists would be caught off guard by this since they think the language has European roots. Also, because the other countries that surround Hungary do not follow these rules. This situation results in a lot of confusion. Even tourists would mistake a Hungarian by their surnames. Even if you would still use the given name in a casual setting, you should be aware that when a Hungarian introduces themselves, the second name is their given. 6. The Hungarian language actually came from Asia Linguists have deduced that the language that is spoken in Hungary actually has more resemblance to those languages heavily influenced by Asian languages like the Finnish and Estonian languages. Also, the similarity between the format of how the Japanese Introduce themselves and the Hungarians is an excellent example that the Hungarian language has more Asian influence rather than European ones. 7. Words can be crazier in Hungary We have talked about the 44 letter word that was created by the Hungarians, but when we delve deeper, the language can actually create words that can be longer than 100 letters! Yes, that is a fact! This is because the language is an agglutinative language. This means that grammatical components can be added to give a certain word a more detailed meaning. But the longer a word is, the more confusing it gets. Although none of these words is used daily, the Hungarian language can birth world breaking words if they tried. 8. Magyar is the real term for the Hungarian language Although popularly known as ‘Hungarian’. The language actually has its own name and that is Magyar. While the Hungarian people do not mind this language being identified as theirs, Hungarian is actually an alternate name for Magyar. Magyar can also be used to refer to the people who speak it.
