Beginner's Hungarian (Beginner's Guides) [Paperback]

Katalin Boros (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0781802091 | ISBN-13: 978-0781802093 | Publication Date: September 1993

These language lessons are developed around common situations, such as going through customs, checking into a hotel, and accepting and extending an invitation. Basic language skills, including vocabulary, grammar, and phrases, are taught with remarkable insight. Historical and cultural information complete this language guide.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Hungarian --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Katarina Boros --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 101 pages
• Publisher: Hippocrene Books (September 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0781802091
• ISBN-13: 978-0781802093
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,574,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is a very disappointing purchase; I give it ZERO stars., May 22, 2008

By 

Pali Sarasotaban "Hungarian Language Learner" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginner's Hungarian (Hippocrene Beginner's Series) (Paperback)

As a foreign language teacher with over 40 years' experience teaching, I found the book poorly edited from the pedagogical standpoint (although I did not find typos in English).
The author packs much too much information about the language in the dialogues in an apparently haphazard way, despite the contexts she attempts to provide. The dialogues themselves are often rather useless, other than if you are in the same circumstance as the event depicted (hardly will happen). Further, the author's assignments are plain insulting and demonstrate a lack of pedagogical awareness An example: translate the English text into Hungarian (page 74). The durn text is already in Hungarian, silly! There are several items that follow this inanely-organized book that would make a teacher blush--or be put on "job target" for poor teaching behaviors. The author uses numbers, for example. Fine, but she doesn't translate them into Hungarian, so you are practicing, say 282 or 35 (Lesson #1), but the number is not given in the Hungarian text (kétszaznyolcvankét for 282). Perhaps the idea is not to bother the reader with the little things--but that is not it. Numbers are given wayyyy at the end of the book, when the serious student has already wished to get his/her money back for the purchase. The vocabulary for each lesson is missing words that you would like to know: "35" and "rajuk" are two in Lesson One. Then, grammatically speaking, a serious error. Pp. 38-40, the author uses "Ön" and "Önök." (They are the polite singular and plural forms of address. On page 57 (note the sequence), she provides a table of personal pronouns. Guess which two are missing?! And when do they appear? Page 66, and ONLY through the examples on p. 67 is the learner supposed to figure out which form (3rd person singular, plural) should be used with these items. The use of the familiar form "te" instead of "ön" makes for some stupid choices, lamentably. The best example of this is page 106, "Expressions: Hanyas a méreted? is possible if you are talking with a friend. But in the same lesson as the lady who goes shopping with her husband and hears this from a stranger? The context is all wrong, of course. (That's what I mean by inconsistent editing, or someone who is not a Hungarian speaker and a teacher and an editor.) There are other howlers, of course, and I conclude with the best--in English, on page 82. "Kinél vacsorázol?" is given. Its meaning, PER THE AUTHORl--get ready: "At whom do you have dinner?" (When was the last time you saw such poor editing?!)
Perhaps the colloquial usage, "Whose home are you having dinner at" was deemed too too clear. (Remember, there is no rule that says one must not end a sentence with a preposition.)
So, dear fellow learner of Hungarian (and that is what I am, a self-teaching learner of the language), you must search elsewhere for a book that will teach you. This book will frustrate you in many ways, and is simply inadequate. I am surprised that the consultants, one of whom is a textbook author for Hungarian, was listed and agreed to have her name on the acknowledgement. This is not a noteworthy book except perhaps for those of us who can use it as a guideline to point out how not to teach someone a language through book form. Sad, very very sad. I began learning Hungarian by myself about 2 years ago, off and on, and had I encountered this book first, I would have stopped right there. The book is a complete disincentive to learning.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pleased, December 28, 2011

By 

Jonathan Jennings - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginner's Hungarian (Hippocrene Beginner's Series) (Paperback)

This is a very good book for pronunciation. The information is overwhelming at first, but as a polyglot I know that languages TAKE TIME. If your patient you will find this to be a very helpful book. It is short and shouldn't be the only Hungarian book you buy.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite for beginners, March 27, 2008

By 

H. Mayson (PORTLAND, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginner's Hungarian (Hippocrene Beginner's Series) (Paperback)

The audio CD begins with a pronunciation guide to introduce you to how to pronounce both consanents and vowels in Hungarian. The conversations are presented in two parts, one at normal pace then a second time with pauses for repitition. The part afterwards is the audio of the vocabulary used in the conversation. What I don't like about the audio is that there is no English translation following the Hungarian vocabulary. If you want the translation of the vocabulary you need the book to look at it.