Teach Yourself Hungarian (Teach Yourself (McGraw-Hill)) [Paperback]

Teach Yourself Publishing (Author), Zsu Z. Pontifex (Author), Zsuzsa Ponifex (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0844238643 | ISBN-13: 978-0844238647 | Publication Date: October 1994 | Edition: Book and Cassette

A complete course in written and spoken Hungarian, ideal both for beginners and for those seeking to build on existing language skills. The carefully graded course is based on the Council of Europe's guidelines on language learning with the emphasis placed on practical communication. The first five units introduce enough "survival language" to enable the learner to get by in most everyday situations. The remainder of the course will give the learner a thorough grounding in Hungarian grammar and vocabulary as well as useful background information on Hungary.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Hungarian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Zsuzsa Pontifex was born in Hungary and has a degree in Hungarian and English from Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest. Since 1990 she has been running Hungarian Language Services (HLS), a language school and translation/interpreting agency which teaches Hungarian to diplomats, businesspeople and private individuals. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Teach Yourself; Book and Cassette edition (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0844238643
• ISBN-13: 978-0844238647
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,384,290 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #36 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Hungarian > Instruction

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Up to date, colloquial, and conversational, but not thorough, June 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Teach Yourself Hungarian (Teach Yourself (McGraw-Hill)) (Paperback)

Insufficient exercises and shallowness in the explanations of grammar are the biggest problems with this book. Use it as a supplement to a more thorough text, though, and it is very useful. The dialogues have very good content and the recorded versions are excellent--easy to listen to and not at all dry or stilted. The tapes also have question-and-answer sections where you can practice your spoken Hungarian. It's better than the average Teach Yourself books, so if you like that style you can expect satisfaction from this.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It rather circles its intended purpose., July 12, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Hungarian: A Complete Course for Beginners (Teach Yourself Books) (Paperback)

Teach Yourself Hungarian could do a little better. It's great if you're going to visit Hungary and not gain full proficiency, but it seems to fail being an effective grammatical text. First mistake--it starts off with dialogs, afterwards giving you a lengthy vocabulary list. The book may be for you if you can learn off of phrases alone, rather than taking apart each phrase and looking at a language word-by-word. If you are truly looking to 'teach yourself', may it be suggested to try something else

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I doubt the other reviewers actually read the book, February 20, 2003

By 

Chris Loether (Pocatello, ID United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teach Yourself Hungarian (Teach Yourself (McGraw-Hill)) (Paperback)

I found Pontifex's text the best Hungarian language course on the market. The first five chapters focus on the necessities of the traveler (numbers and shopping, eating, bus and train travel etc.), while the others are more focused on a progression of grammatical concepts. She does give a large amount of vocabulary words per lesson (ca. 100) which may intimidate the beginner. I found the exercises useful and entertaining. If you work your way through this book and actually learn the material, you will be able to talk reasonably well when you go to Hungary. I did!