7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not the place to start., April 18, 2007
This review is from: In-Flight Hungarian: Learn Before You Land (English and Hungarian Edition) (Audio CD)
As some of the other reviewers noted, Hungarian is a unique language. It is not related to the other Central European languages, it is not derived from Latin. Heck, it isn't Indo-European.
This is important when considering what to buy when trying to learn the language in that it means: 1. you are not going to recognize individual words because they are not similar to the same word in French, Italian, Spanish, German or English and 2. you are not going to be familiar with the vowel or the consonants. There are sounds unknown to English in Hungarian.
So why am I babbling on about this? One of the first phrase this ill-thought teaching method tries to teach you is " I don't speak Hungarian very well". Or Nem nagyam beszelek magyarul. They say it once (at normal speaking rate!), give you time to register just how completely unprepared you are to repeat what you just heard and then they move on to the next phrase. I kid thee not. I would bet that sometimes as they were recording this stuff they found it hard not to laugh.
The third section does cover numbers and is probably the most useful section of the CD. One word at a time when learning this unique language is about right. I have a Hungarian neighbor and when she (w/ infinite patience) tries to teach me words, I usually require three or four attempts to get them right.
They are no sections devoted to individual pronouns, verbs, etc. There are sections (like the one on restaurants) where they give you individual words like plate, etc. Those are useful. The book is a necessity the first few times you listen to each section. The phonetic pronunciations are essential and help you to pick up on things like the Hungarian tendency to stress the first syllable. And the book helps you to pick up on individual words.
I guess that what I am saying is that this is not necessarily a bad product. It is certainly not what I would recommend to anyone that needs a quick intro to this language. When I find that product, I will review it.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Basic & Elementry words to help you get by, March 30, 2006
This review is from: In-Flight Hungarian: Learn Before You Land (English and Hungarian Edition) (Audio CD)
20 page booklet, accompanied with a CD. This booklet contains the basic essential words/phrases you'll need to communicate, but I wish they had some more.
The CD is ok, but the Hungarian prases are being said a bit too fast, as such quite often you miss it, though, looking at the booklet at the same time can help a lot.
Overall, if you go to Hungary, this set (booklet & CD) can help you communicate using basic words. And the price is fair also.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
In-flight Hungaruab: :Learn Before You Land, November 14, 2006
This review is from: In-Flight Hungarian: Learn Before You Land (English and Hungarian Edition) (Audio CD)
Lousy: for example, they quickly give you the pronounciation (only once) and do not leave adequate time for you to consider what was just pronounced. THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT FOR HUNGARIAN BECAUSE IT IS A VERY UNIQUE LANGUAGE.
I have tried othr In-flight languages and find them barely acceptable. If you already knew most of the words...they may be able to help you pronounce them...BUT only if the example was repeated a couple of times before going to the next word.
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