Customer Reviews

Just Enough Hungarian

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I must agree with the other reviews that while this book is adequate for survival, it is no more than that.
It has no notes on Hungarian grammar (which is VERY different from English) and only a minimal dictionary and hints on pronounciation.
Ditto the phrases themselves - they do cover the essentials, but nothing more than that. That said, at least they are all correct, free of mistakes!

Still, if you just go for a short trip to Budapest, you'll probably find this book adequate.
But if you want something better, I recommend Lonely Planet's Hungarian phrasebook, published in March 2005.

But do bring a phrasebook if you want to explore Hungary in any depth - apart from those working in the tourism industry, few Hungarians speak English, especially out in the rural areas.

Well, it does what it sets out to do. If you're looking for a quick, rough and very practical guide to speaking Hungarian, this is it. It is, above all, practical. You won't be able to chat with anyone, but you will be able to ask about the location of just about anywhere or when things are open or closed or just about any other travel-related issue. Each of the chapters is divided up by when you are likely to need certain phrases. So there's a hotel/accomadations section, a restaurant/market section, etc. And, very useful, the book also gives possible answers and translations. With this book, if you encounter someone who doesn't speak English, you'll be able to get your questions answered.

But if you're trying to learn Hungarian at all, this is not the book for you. The pronounciation is very, very rough - although to its credit, the book doesn't pretend to reflect the exact way a word is pronounced. Still, I think it could mention a few more points about how to pronounce some of the letters or letter combinations.

It's "just enough" - but no more.

I was deployed to Hungary last year and this book was extremely helpful. It not only spells out commonly used phrases but tells how to pronounce them. It also gives tips on Hungarian pronunciation in general, as well as the alphabet. I showed this book to our Hungarian translator and he said it was very accurate. I whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone traveling to Hungary!

...So we won't make much effort writing a book. This guide to the Hungarian language begins with an explanation that locals will "feel gratified" that you're making an attempt at Hungarian and will "probably go out of their way to understand you." The editors' view is that Hungarian is very difficult to pronounce, so why bother with much of a pronunciation guide, so "just wing it." Hmm, well. To be fair, they do offer phonetic transliterations beneath each phrase that approximate the proper pronciation while still being pronounceable by English speakers. Still, since they offer three (whoo! three!) pronunciation hints in the pronunciation guide, they might have made a point of also mentioning something pretty major such as "J' apparently is pronounced as a "Y". However, they let you figure that out as you go along. Again, to be fair, the book is very economical and should be sufficient for a short trip.

It is very practical, for tourists and for everyone, who just wants to be able to speak a few words, or just wants to please some Hungarian friends. You can find pretty much everything you need to say, without learning the extremely complex and difficult Hungarian grammar. It's basically a dictionary with useful sentences.
The only weakness is, that the pronounciation is sometimes somewhat off, at least when pronounced by American.

I had a business trip to Hungary in June 2005. I was there for 2 weeks and Just Enough Hungarian was a huge help. I used it in conjunction with another guide and was able to have a great and successful trip.