Deutsch and magyar

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Chung
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Re: Deutsch and magyar

Postby Chung » Thu Jun 10, 2021 7:23 pm

To add a few more resources that you might like...

I posted elsewhere about a YouTube channel that's full of short movies with English subtitles. Of interest is one of the Hungarian videos (which actually won the Oscar in 2017 for best live action short), Sing (original Mindenki "Everyone"). It's entertaining enough but of special interest for a learner is that it also comes with subtitles in Hungarian. I've already watched the video a few times with and without the Hungarian subtitles to train my ear but also to read the actors' speech. It also helps that by turning on the Hungarian subtitles, the English subtitles often get masked. I find learning Hungarian this way to be quite enjoyable not least because of the movie itself but also because I can see how I could use less familiar vocabulary and structures in a given situation.

One small example involves the use of felőlem which is a calque of the German von mir aus. The choir leader uses it here after one of the kids confronts her about how she's instructed some of the others to lip-sync during rehearsals and performances when she feels that their poorer ability would detract from the overall sound. Seeing language "in action" like this sticks a lot better with me than trying to learn it while reading a regular text or using it as part of some exercise done on my own. In other words, the combination of hearing, reading and seeing it works well for me. In addition, the movie's dialogue is uncomplicated since it mainly involves kids in fairly familiar settings so there's little in the way of very low-frequency vocabulary and rarely-encountered structures.

If you're interested and want an alternative to that other channel of fairy tales that I listed, then check out some of the installments from the series "Magyar népmesék" which have been uploaded here with optional English subtitles.

If documentaries are more your thing, then there's Hogyan működik? which is a Hungarian version of In a Nutshell / Dinge Erklärt. All of the videos in "Hogyan működik?" have optional Hungarian subtitles in case you don't catch what the narrator says.

Lastly, I've also started watching videos in the channel "Hungarize" which is run by a couple of Hungarian teachers. I especially like the series "2 perc magyar" which focuses on teaching vocabulary or new structures typical for a situation or topic. An example is this video about ways to express doubt beyond using nem tudom. I hope that they'll create more videos. They speak only in Hungarian but you can turn on subtitles in English or Hungarian as needed or desired. I find that their videos are an improvement from the nominally intermediate or advanced playlists on HungarianPod101.
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Dagane
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Re: Deutsch and magyar

Postby Dagane » Fri Jun 11, 2021 4:31 pm

Chung wrote:Lastly, I've also started watching videos in the channel "Hungarize" which is run by a couple of Hungarian teachers. I especially like the series "2 perc magyar" which focuses on teaching vocabulary or new structures typical for a situation or topic. An example is this video about ways to express doubt beyond using nem tudom. I hope that they'll create more videos. They speak only in Hungarian but you can turn on subtitles in English or Hungarian as needed or desired. I find that their videos are an improvement from the nominally intermediate or advanced playlists on HungarianPod101.[/color]

en

Thank you for your invaluable help!

I have started to explore some of these resources for listening. The fairy tales are good, I grasp the gist of the each story but they also frustrate me a little when I don't understand something important.

I am loving the "2 perc magyar" series. I think they are perfect. They have subtitles, they teach me a little bit of vocabulary and they are so short I can play them even when I'm busy, as many times as I need to make sure I understand everything. I listen to the video a first time to pick new words, a second time reading the subtitles and then as many times as I need to understand the teacher just by listening. I will keep doing this and I hope it improves my listening comprehension before the end of thia month if I manage to do it everyday. Then I could try the same with the films with subtitles :D.
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Dagane
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Re: Deutsch and magyar

Postby Dagane » Sun Jun 13, 2021 3:32 pm

de

Ich habe zwei Freunde, die seit letztem Jahr in Zürich wohnen. Einer davon habe ich während meiner Klassen kennengelernt, und ich habe ihn versprochen, uns in August zu treffen. Ich bin noch nie in der Schweiz gewesen und ich freue mich darauf, ihnen wiederzusehen und das Land zu besichtigen. Sie haben mir gegen die hohen Kosten gewarnt, aber ich werde keine Unterkunftskosten zahlen. Also, schon gut.

Ich hoffe nur, dass ich nach der Rückkehr keine Quarantäne machen muss. Auch muss ich sie nicht machen, wenn ich im Ausland gehe. Andererseits könnte ich keine Reise machen.
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Dagane
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Portuguese (A2?)
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Re: Deutsch and magyar

Postby Dagane » Sun Jun 20, 2021 6:21 pm

en

lots of work - mental exhaustion - not much energy

hu

Ismerek egy magyar embert, aki meleg. Vele ez a szituáció egy kis problémás, mert a munkatársaid Kelet-Europából jöttek és ő gondolja, hogy a kollégák nem viselkednek megértéssel. Én tanácsolm neki, hogy a munkatársaival beszélni kéne. Ezzel a szituációval semmi gond Londonban. Az emberek egyeszerűen nem bánnak, ahogy én sem. De ő ijedt is. Nem értem miért, és nem tudom, mi mást mondhatnék neki.
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Dagane
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Posts: 172
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2016 6:08 pm
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Languages: I regularly use:
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English (C2)
German (C1+)
Hungarian (A2?)

I formerly studied:
Galician (B2?)
Dutch (A1)
Czech (A0)
Portuguese (A2?)
French (A1?)
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Re: Deutsch and magyar

Postby Dagane » Wed Jun 30, 2021 10:11 am

en

I have not done much in June so far. I tell myself that the increased pressure at work made me feel tired often. Although this is true, I can see that my motivation has waned.

Yesterday something unusual happened. I had a conversation with my partner's father, who's a Hungarian monolingual. He made an effort to speak slowly. The topic of the conversation was travelling - such a traditional language learning topic, right? - and I understood everything! There were literally two words I needed an explanation for. My speaking was pretty awful. Embarrassingly so! However, I made all of my points through and my partner refused to translate. No English allowed.

As a result, I came to some realisation of my strengths and weaknesses, and I will try hard to really go back into Hungarian and hit the books!
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Dagane
Orange Belt
Posts: 172
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2016 6:08 pm
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Galician (B2?)
Dutch (A1)
Czech (A0)
Portuguese (A2?)
French (A1?)
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Re: Deutsch and magyar

Postby Dagane » Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:57 am

de

Ich habe nicht viel seit meiner Prüfung gemacht. Außerdem lerne ich während der Sommer nicht viel. Meine Begeisterung, um Sprachen zu lernen, ist nicht so stark als zuvor. Mein Sprachniveau ist niedriger geworden, aber ich habe keine größeren Probleme, um die Sprache zu benutzen. Na ja, es passiert.

Letzten Monat habe ich zwei Bücher gelesen. Ein davon ist "In Gottes eigenem Land". Ich habe es sehr langweilig gefunden. Es ist einen historischen Roman und es geht über Mühlenberg, denen Anstrengungen die Luthertums in Amerika gegründet haben. Das zweites Buch heißt "Die Lieblingsgedichte der Deutschen". Das habe ich ja interessanter gefunden. Dabei habe ich herausgefunden, dass ich Schiller nicht zu viel mag. Andererseits habe ich die Schönheit der Rilkes Poesie entdeckt, unter anderem.

Schließlich habe ich sechs Folgen einer kurzen Sendung ferngesehen. "The Same Sky" hält sich um einen Spion der DDR, den einer Frau in Westen verliebt machen muss. Jede Woche spreche ich auch eine Stunde lang mit meiner Freunde. Ich habe ja das Gefühl, dass mein Niveau niedriger als zuvor ist. Trotzdem kann ich mit ihnen über alle Themen ohne Probleme kommunizieren, aber die Meisterschaft meiner Rede schlechter geworden ist.
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Dagane
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Posts: 172
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2016 6:08 pm
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Dutch (A1)
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Portuguese (A2?)
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x 263

Re: Deutsch and magyar

Postby Dagane » Wed Aug 18, 2021 4:55 pm

es

Ayer volví de visitar Suiza por primera vez. Fueron cinco días recorriendo ciudades pulcras, bañándome en ríos y lagos, viajando en tren y haciendo un poco de montañismo.

El motivo del viaje fue visitar a unos amigos que viven en Zúrich, uno de los cuales es alemán. Nos movimos por el área germanoparlante del país. Con mis amigos hablé alemán, más o menos, un 40% del tiempo (el tiempo restante, en inglés). El flujo de la conversación cambiaba de idioma de manera bastante natural y según las circunstancias.

Ahora bien, lo que me sorprende es que, excepto en el aeropuerto, conseguí entablar conversaciones con los locales únicamente en alemán. Nadie sintió deseos de cambiar al inglés y, claro, eso me hizo sentir bien. Lo malo viene cuando los suizos se confían, piensan que como hablas Hochdeutsch decentemente lo vas a entender todo... y pasan a hablar dialecto. La madre que los parió :shock: :lol:. Escuchar Hochdeutsch era descansar los oídos; en dialecto entendía lo que cuadraba y, como yo les hablaba, al parecer, buen alemán, no sentían deseos ni de cambiar a una versión más estándar del idioma ni de hablar inglés. En fin, no hubo malentendidos de modo que todo bien :lol: . En la tele, más de lo mismo. Pude distinguir perfectamente a los que hablaban dialecto de los que no. Cuando no, kein Problem. Y cuando sí, pues... a echarle imaginación.

Me gustaría volver a Suiza para visitar algo de lo mucho que me queda por ver. A todo esto, dos tópicos, uno cierto y otro mentira: ¿Es cara Suiza? Pues sí, para salarios extranjeros, sí. ¿Son bordes o sosos los suizos? ¡Para nada! Me sorprendió lo divertido que puede ser Zúrich, lo relajados que parecen los suizos y lo bien que se lo saben pasar :) .
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Dagane
Orange Belt
Posts: 172
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2016 6:08 pm
Location: London, UK
Languages: I regularly use:
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English (C2)
German (C1+)
Hungarian (A2?)

I formerly studied:
Galician (B2?)
Dutch (A1)
Czech (A0)
Portuguese (A2?)
French (A1?)
x 263

Re: Deutsch and magyar

Postby Dagane » Fri Aug 20, 2021 4:44 pm

en

I am still struggling with Hungarian and it is mainly because my motivation to learn languages dwindled. I suspect the British lack of summer weather and the overload of work make a difference too. One year ago I was a newcomer to the language, my workload was laughable and the weather felt tropical, and I couldn't stop researching and listening to the radio and so on and so forth. That all finished last September as my to-do lists spiraled up. Then I decided to take a management course and had to pass a couple of exams. My German exam followed a few months later. All the while my Hungarian material was laying somewhere, pretty at hand but not on my desk. Hungarian went into maintenance mode far too early and I hit an untoward plateau.

The thing is, I do enjoy learning Hungarian. As soon as I dive into it, it sparks my interest and challenges my mind, and I love it. However, I "forget" all about it the minute I stop learning and I then feel terribly lazy about the whole study thing. I realise I need to spend more time with the language and that my attention is currently scarce and divided.

So what am I doing? I designed a little daily table whereby I aim to spend 30/40 minutes a day with Hungarian, divided into 3 time slots early in the morning, during lunch breaks and after work. The table focuses on passive skills for the time being, but it may well develop. Typically, I would do reading one day (intensively in the morning, extensively in the evening) and listening the next (extensively in the morning and the evening and intensively at lunch) while taking in some vocab during my lunch break. I feel the FSI course has given me enough grammar for now even though I haven't finished the second volume yet, and I prefer to focus on recognising grammar features through actual texts and videos rather than learning more.

It has been a week. The morning time slot is built in into my routine. I wake up, have breakfast and look forward to learning. Before I realise, the time is over and I must run to the gym and then from there to work. Depending on the daily crisis at work, I may or may not stick to the midday routine, and after work I'm usually mentally gone for a long while and have to play catchup with chores and other stuff :roll:. I discovered I don't mind reviewing vocabulary shortly before going to bed, so I may amend my table to do that... Let's see.

The bottom line is that I really want to learn this beautiful language and, although it is proving challenging because of my daily life, current motivation level and priorities rather than the language itself, I will find my way to fluency :D.
4 x

Dagane
Orange Belt
Posts: 172
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2016 6:08 pm
Location: London, UK
Languages: I regularly use:
Spanish (N)
English (C2)
German (C1+)
Hungarian (A2?)

I formerly studied:
Galician (B2?)
Dutch (A1)
Czech (A0)
Portuguese (A2?)
French (A1?)
x 263

Re: Deutsch and magyar

Postby Dagane » Thu Oct 21, 2021 12:39 pm

en

The last two months were eventful. I travelled to Switzerland and Spain, said goodbye to friends who left London and wrote a fair amount. Writing in Spanish is my main focus since the end of April and I don't see that changing any time soon. I secured 4 publications in anthologies and magazines during this period. A Mexican friend, with whom I've been discussing poetry for 13 years, won one of the foremost poetry awards in Spanish recently. We both were surprised! This only keeps me going.

After my German exam I sensed a steady decline in my command of the language. This is no longer the case. I think my skills stabilised and I use the language on a regular basis even though I no longer study it.

The Polyglot Conference is October's big surprise. I signed up last minute to rekindle my interest in Hungarian and oh boy it did. The event turned out to be loaded with Hungarian classes and talks. I've met fantastic people. Some study Hungarian since 1-3 years ago and I discovered that my level... is not bad at all! My Hungarian is of course broken and full of mistakes, but now I realise I had a very low opinion of myself because I could only compare my skills against natives'. Now I can make a fairer comparison, I see I can perfectly follow and engage in conversations adequate to my level. This realisation raises my mood.
4 x

Dagane
Orange Belt
Posts: 172
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2016 6:08 pm
Location: London, UK
Languages: I regularly use:
Spanish (N)
English (C2)
German (C1+)
Hungarian (A2?)

I formerly studied:
Galician (B2?)
Dutch (A1)
Czech (A0)
Portuguese (A2?)
French (A1?)
x 263

Re: Deutsch and magyar

Postby Dagane » Sun Jan 16, 2022 8:05 pm

en

Happy New Year you all! I have neglected the forum for the last few months and I have not dedicated much time to study languages either, but I have also made some progress despite it all.

At the Polyglot Conference I met a Hungarian native speaker who runs weekly conversations for a reduced group of learners. I am very thankful for that. Even when I am too busy or lazy to do anything much, I usually manage to squeeze in my weekly hour of speaking practice, during which I get corrections and can ask burning questions. This is so since last October. As a result and since I barely hit the books nowadays, speaking has become my strongest skill. I often find myself speaking for one full hour without the aid of English, not even for explanations. It has also had an indirect effect on my listening and I find videos addressed to A1-A2 learners far too easy.

I (and my native speaking partner) believe that my level is now somewhere in between A2 and B1.

hu

Siesztok! Tavaly nem tanultam sokat magyarul, mert a nyelvet nem részesítettem előnyben. Az tanulás helyett, akartam verseket írni. Pedig de egy magyar nőnek ismertem is, akivel magyarul szerdánként október óta egy óraig beszélek. Az én szintem jobbnál jobb van a beszélgetéseim miatt. Tehát gondolok, elég folyékonyan mondok ki.

Mostanában hallgathatok magyarul jobban is. Azt tudom, mert vannak könnyű videoim Youtube-on, amiket nem értettem először. Most tűnnek nekem túl könnyű. De nem olvashatok könnyedén. Egy könnyvvel magyarul probálok, de az olvasás mindig nehéz. De nem bánom, mert az én szókincsem javít meg az olvasás miatt.
3 x


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