Hungarian Learning Resources
Introductory Resources for Learning Hungarian
The resources on this page will give you a pretty quick introduction to the language with some immediately useful vocabulary for a minimal cost. (see also the Web Resources page below
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In-Flight Hungarian: Learn Before You Land, Living Language This provides a good introduction to some basic vocabulary and expressions. The pamphlet shows the phonetic pronunciation as well as the Hungarian and English for each word/phrase/sentence, but nothing else. 20 page pamphlet + CD - $10 - $15 |
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Beginner's Hungarian, Katalin Boros While there’s much useful information, it’s not well organized, nor well explained. Vocabulary lists in each chapter are in random order making it difficult to find words. Luckily there’s a Hungarian glossary in the back of the book, but no glossary for looking up English words. There are lists in the back expressions ordered by the initial word of both the Hungarian and English expressions. 166 pages, no CD - $8 - $15 |
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101 Languages of the World, Transparent Languages Installs a proprietary application on your Mac or PC and then you “load” the languages you want from the CDs. 273 mostly useful words/phrases. An integrated help system provides useful background on some of the gramatical concepts and constructs, for example possessives, plurals, etc. 4 CDs (no text or manual) - $15 - $20 |
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Learn Hungarian, Talk Now Plenty of exercises and drills with hokey visual and sound effects. While pretty basic, the drills can help you learn the vocabulary pretty effectively. Keeps track of progress of multiple users so can be shared by a number of people. 1 CD (no text or manual) - $15 - $22 |
Intermediate to Advanced Learning Resources
When you want to dive deeper and learn some grammar and how the langauge works, try the following very useful resources. Make sure to get the editions with the CDs!!
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Teach Yourself Hungarian: Complete Audio CD Program, Zsuzsa Ponifex This is a very practical and useful guide to the language. Chapters are organized not only from basic to more complex, but also by useful topics for example, Pronunciation, Shopping, Lifestyle, Past Actions and Events, Writing Cards and Letters, etc. Also extremely useful are the chapter exercises with answers in the back of the book. The English-Hungarian and Hungarian-English dictionary sections in the back are minimally adequate but don’t include all the words introduced in the text. 376 pages + 2 CDs - $18 - $30 |
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Colloquial Hungarian, Carol Rounds & Erika Solyom Another equally useful resource. Includes lots of interesting cultural information. 317 pages + 2 CDs - $15 - $25 |
Reference Books
When you want to get beyond the self-paced lessons, here are some useful reference books that are generally available (e.g., Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc.)
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Hungarian Verbs And Essentials of Grammar, Miklos Torkenczy This is definitely NOT a beginners book. It is however an essential reference for those who really want to learn the intracasies of the language. There’s a very useful 12-page topical vocabulary appendix. 128 pages (no CD) - $10 - $15 |
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Hungarian: An Essential Grammar, Carol Rounds A reference with many more examples and explanations than Torkency’s book listed above. Still, it’s a reference; not a book for easy learning. 314 pages (no CD) - $28 - $32 |
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Magyar - Angol Dictionary ** Under construction ** Dictionary.
TBA |
Resources on the Web
You can get a very good start for zero money with some of these web resources.
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Hungarian Lessons, Lilla Hudoba Good introduction to Hungarian by a native speaker. Provides examples with explanatory text. There are also exercises wtih answers. The “meat” of each lesson is at the bottom of each page requiring one to scroll past some content which may or not be useful. Sound files can be downloaded as MP3 files so you can pull them into you favorite music program and download them to your favorite MP3 player. Free - Many downloadable sound files |
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A Hungarian Language Course, Aaron Rubin
Reasonably good introduction to Hungarian. Free - No sound files |
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Before You Know It "Hungarian Before You Know It Deluxe helps beginners and advanced learners to master Hungarian with Perfect Recall. The software teaches everyday words and conversational phrases with advanced pronunciation practice and provides MP3 audio for your iPod or other player." Free "Lite" version; full DeLuxe edition for $39.95. |
Live Radio Stations on the Web
URL: http://www.magyarportal.hu/magyar_adok/VilagRadioTV.htm
Here’s the place to listen to live radio. Includes talk shows, news and music (clasical, pop, folk). Explore the possibilities.
Just listening to “real” spoken Hungarian really helps “tune” the ears to the complex patterns of the language. And, as your studies progress and you learn more of the language you’ll pick up more of the words in the broadcasts, then some of the phrases and then whole sentences (I hope! ;-)).
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