Culture Shock! Hungary: A Guide to Customs & Etiquette (Paperback)

~ Zsuzsanna Ardo (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A comprehensive - and often hilarious - expose of the Hungarian psyche, culture, language... a brutally honest jab at the Hungarian ego. Very insightful. A delight to read and often had me laughing out loud. --The New Hungarian Voice

Fascinating, in-depth guide to the Hungarian psyche. --Hilton Destinations

She doesn't shy away from difficult areas. Insightful in a way that regular travel books are not. Her writing is seasoned with plenty of sometimes sarcastic humor, which makes it an enjoyable read. --Budapest Sun

All explained and given their proper context in such a way as to create a real sense of a society and how it continues to evolve. It had the effect of making me want to book my tickets and experience it all for myself. --EC Culture Magazine

Insightful & thorough. --Perceptive Travel

All explained and given their proper context in such a way as to create a real sense of a society and how it continues to evolve. It had the effect of making me want to book my tickets and experience it all for myself. --EC Culture Magazine

Insightful & thorough. --Perceptive Travel

All explained and given their proper context in such a way as to create a real sense of a society and how it
continues to evolve. It had the effect of making me want to book my tickets and experience it all for myself. --EC Culture Magazine

Insightful & thorough. --Perceptive Travel --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

Culture Shock! adds two new "At Your Door" city lifestyle guides and one new country guide. The release of more Revised and Expanded Culture Shock! country editions continues with thirty-one now available. With over 1.5 million copies sold worldwide, the Culture Shock! brand name is recognized as the leading reference source for international customs and etiquette.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 302 pages
• Publisher: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company; Expanded edition (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558687661
• ISBN-13: 978-1558687660
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,450,016 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reflections of a native son., January 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Culture Shock! Hungary (Culture Shock! A Survival Guide to Customs & Etiquette) (Paperback)

Seldom does a book that is written for a narrow readership, in this case tourists and businessmen, become a success beyond its intended audience. What elevates "CULTURE SHOCK! HUNGARY" above the level of a Traveller's Guide Series is both the quality of the writing and the intimate knowledge of what overdrives this nation of 10 million restless souls. It is like a firmly held mirror, an unflinching but affectionate insight into the character of a nation.
If you are lucky enough to witness Zsuzsanna Ardo's meticulous undressing of Hungarians and their culture, you realize that she leaves very little mystery for any self-respecting Magyar to hide behind. To the embarrassment, or if you will to the delight of a native, who believes that he or she is comfortable with all the intricate layers of social interactions, the language and the "unpredictable excitement and character building" Hungarian history, even for them the "CULTURE SHOCK! HUNGARY" is full of fresh and original information that provokes conventional wisdom. With her warm satire she is experiencing life head-on in Budapest and the relentless and unavoidable hospitality of the countryside and its people. Whether it be a late evening stroll on the banks of the Danube or on the Margit bridge, challenging snow and ice on the hills of Rozsadomb, or a hot summer swim in Lake Balaton, her eye is always sharp and correct.
"...while surfers get hooked on the gentle waves and brisk breeze in the glaringly corny sunset, complete with golden-red reflections across the calm waters of the lake. No picture postcard of Lake Balaton can be such perfect kitsch as reality itself.."
Most enjoyable are her repeated journeys into the Hungarian psyche which explain and become the basis for all the advice and experiences she provides so abundantly. Her street wise comments on the personal and impersonal ways of greeting someone, the telltale handshakes, the persistent eye contact, the formality of kisses wherever they may land, the invitations and/or the un-invitations to a visit... are like a hilarious anthropological study.
"Some argue that laboring on building and nurturing and consensus-based love relationship with a Hungarian is, overall, like teaching a raven to fly underwater. This is grossly unfair... to the ravens. There is consensus all right as long as you consent to whatever your hero desires..."
"...status markers in social relations (are) a rather sophisticated system for keeping and reducing psychological distance, imposing and refusing hierarchy or intimacy."
Obviously she is afflicted by the same genes of passion, humor and unbridled need to inform and/or set things straight, as the people she is writing about.
"Whenever it is momentarily blue, manic, or depressive, the admirable lack of self-irony with which some Hungarian egos indulge themselves by fits and starts guarantee the heavy-duty nature of their state of mind. ...their oscillations between euphoric drives to get ahead and melodramatic soul-tearing driven by paranoid fatalism are sizzling and spectacular."
Ouch! She exposes universally and correctly the Hungarian nerve; it is up to the reader to differentiate among the joys and obstacles and to decide if he or she is adventurous enough to visit or even to stay in this very hospitable country, better yet, to befriend a "demonstratively woe-stricken... mega-sensitive" Hungarian! Her view is compassionate but sobering of a society where fantasies of even the possibility of grandeur, sentimentality and "an intensely vague discomfort or inarticulate ethnocentricity", is the norm; as if she would say, "I love the place and all of you guys, but you are so..." It is a well deserved roasting. And when she is in her more somber mood, a well deserved warning. Noticing the heavy drinking and smoking and a "decidedly non PC diet" she muses: "Traditionally, many Hungarians embrace premature death with gusto."
"Hungarians eat just about everything that you are not supposed to, prepared in the way it shouldn't be, and consumed in deadly quantities. Naturally, they enjoy it tremendously. And they want to make it sure their visitors enjoy it too."
But her satire is not just idle remarks of society's shortcomings and idiosyncrasies. She admirably provides a long list of agencies and social services where Hungarians, visiting businessmen and tourists can turn to, to redeem themselves.
With her academic background in Linguistics and Literature, Ardo's casual introduction to the Hungarian language, that is difficult by any standard, is like a friendly persuasion. Her unusual but well researched approach is a very convincing short course in Etymology. Surprisingly revealing even for those who think they can speak Hungarian.
Page after page Zsuzsanna Ardo, who was born in Hungary but presently is a British citizen, proves an important point, that only from a safe distance, preferably from as far as possible, can one truly look at his or her homeland objectively.
I would recommend the book to anyone who wishes to have a less bumpy ride through this little country in the Danube basin. It is unfortunate that the book is available only in English, because "CULTURE SHOCK! HUNGARY" should be a must, a specially required and liberating reading for all Hungarians too.
Kid from Pataj, Steven Domonkos.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Confederacy of Magyars, July 29, 2003

By	John E. Fisher (Philadelphia Pa) - See all my reviews

In preparing for my initial vacation trip to Hungary in August 2003, I read the usual travel guides, Frommer's, The Green Guide, Lonely Planet and best of all, Andras Torok's "Budapest-A Critical Guide". While these books describe the where, Culture Shock-Hungary supplies the who, what, why and how of the magnificent Magyars.

The 2003 New Expanded edition is a joy to read. It's fast paced and lively- a real page turner. It made me laugh out loud several times. The last time I laughed so much while reading a book was when I read "Confederacy of Dunces" some twenty years ago. If this book wasn't part of the Culture Shock series, it may well have been called A Confederacy of Magyars. Read and delight in the sections on Traditions and Values and Image and Self Image to find out.

For a foreigner, the part on the Hungarian language, Magyarul, is especially interesting. Having studied Hungarian for a year when I was in the Army and let it slip away because of non-use, the language section rekindled old memories. The study of the enigmatic Hungarian language could well prove to be a lifelong task although it is said that Sissi(emperor Franz Joseph's wife) learned it in no time flat and became the darling of the Hungarians. This book should be a favorite of Magyarphiles everywhere.

If you are planning a vacation trip to Hungary or do business there ( there is a whole section devoted to business etiquette and customs), read this book to understand what makes Hungary tick.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Guide to Customs and Etiquette, October 18, 2002

By	A.Trendl HungarianBookstore.com "What is your... (Glen Ellyn, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Culture Shock! Hungary (Culture Shock! A Survival Guide to Customs & Etiquette) (Paperback)

The subtitle to "Culture Shock!: Hungary" is appropriately "Guide to Customs and Etiquette." Zsuzsanna Ardo helps readers know the reality of Hungarian living. She has a well-flavored take on her home country, making this an enjoyable and comprehensive book. There is more than paprika spicing up Hungarian people.

While many guides to Hungarian culture are either long histories of various cities or ideas for tourism, "Culture Shock" provides the personality of the modern Hungarian.

I looked for a comparable book and found none. This is the best introduction to Hungarian culture and etiquette on the market.

To know a country, you must know the people. The sites and history don't cut it. There's the sociology, ideas and customs. Zsuzsanna Ardo provides us with everything from language pointers to how to do business, to core values.

As far as the language section, you expect more than a traveller's lexicon. Look for an explantion of Hunglish (basically how Hungarians add their suffixes to English words to Hungarianize them). Learn how to articulate the variants in their complex vowel system, and how a slight slip can get you exactly what you didn't think you asked for. She explains the nuances of stress and unstressed syllables. There's a short etymology lesson too.

Business, romance, and, of course, culinary matters are adequately surveyed.

The details of Hungarian living are covered very well. Apparently, there's more to buying a watermelon there than here in the United States.Driving under the slightest influence of alcohol is warned against, as they've stricter rules than in the US. Buying a renting a home, what spas are all about, and what's really going with paprika is thoroughly discussed. The pulse of real living and how you can fit in is superbly introduced.

I fully recommend "Culture Shock!: Hungary" by Zsuzsanna Ardo.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com