Hungarian survival guide

You may notice reading this site that place names have not always been translated – that’s because you will not find them in English on your map. Here is a brief glossary: 

borozó - wine bar
csarnok - hall
étterem - restaurant
hegy - mountain, hill
híd - bridge
liget - park, grove
kert - garden
nagykörút - Grand Boulevard
palota - palace
pályaudvar (pu) - railway station
panzió - guesthouse, B&B
park - park
part - shore
pince - cellar
söröző - pub (literally beer house)
sziget - island
tér - square
tó - lake
udvar - courtyard
utca - street
út, útja - road, road of (a person or group)
vár - castle
város - town, city
vendéglő - inn, restaurant

Hungarian is very phonetic, you say what you see – spare a thought for Hungarians as they grapple with the vagaries of English spelling. Remember also that all letters are pronounced, so tea (tea) is pronounced as two syllables.  

Vowels             as in

a                      barn
á                      ah – imagine someone treading on your foot
e                      egg
é                      say (better with a Scottish accent)
i                       sit
í                       seem
o                      nonsense
ó                      raw
ö                      the French for blue
ő                      schön in German
u                      Pooh (as in Winnie)
ú                      school, it’s a slightly longer sound

Note that the accents (á, é, í, ó and ú) produce a longer sound, umlauts (ö, ü) are flatter and long umlauts (ő and ű) are flatter sound held for slightly longer. 

Consonants      as in

c                      tsunami, Zeit in German
cs                     church
g                      good, but never gem
gy                     during
j                       yes
ly                      yes
ny                     new
r                       sangria (rolled, as the Spanish would say it)
s                       shop
sz                     sell
ty                     Tuesday
zs                     leisure 

The trick is to learn some of your favourite words and remember how they are spelt. Start with köszönöm (thank you) or jó napot (good day) and before long, you will be associating sounds with letters.

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