And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thursday, December 5, 2024
Along with Finnish, Estonian and Basque, Hungarian is not an Indo-European language. Rather, it's origin is between Europe and Mongolia.
And is claimed to be one of the hardest languages to learn. Being of Hungarian decent, they'd give me a passport and citizenship, but it requires learning the language and I've never been very good learning anything other than English.
A favorite sport in Hungary is Horse Archery. Where an archer shoots from the saddle at the gallop. Like Anon at the top, tried to get my father to teach me Hungarian and he said "we live in the United States, we speak English here".
you too, huh? it's an exact quote. he also said, "your mother can only speak English; she came over here very young and never learned; you won't learn uless both parents speak Hungarian to each other."
The play of prepositions: always the hardest thing to master, because every single use of every preposition must be learned. A dear friend whose mother tongue was German spoke flawless English in her trained singer’s voice, but now and then - rarely- she would stumble on a preposition. And German has an infinitely complex grammar of prepositions you must learn by rote when studying the language. Some take the accusative, some the dative, and some both, depending on g on whether or not there is movement. Arg. . . If my understanding is correct, Hungarian can pile up as many as five or six prepositions before a word, and the play is very subtle. Someone told me when l was in Budapest that Hungarians could tell when someone had been out of the country even for a short while by the play of prepositions in their speech when they returned. I memorized how to say ‘Good morning’, and would blithely trill it off in Hungarian and then have to at once switch to English when a wave of Hungarian would come back at me. Everyone there wanted to go to The Big City, which for them was Vienna, and German was the passkey language there, not English. I love languages, but it is hard to master more than three in a lifetime, if you want to speak, read, write and possess the literature.
I've thought about taking another shot at learning a language now that I've got oodles of time. In high school I was, no brag, the worst language student there. I had to memorize the Latin vocabulary to pass the language requirement. I had a rotten ear for learning a language.
And is claimed to be one of the hardest languages to learn. Being of Hungarian decent, they'd give me a passport and citizenship, but it requires learning the language and I've never been very good learning anything other than English.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know how that language dispersal happened?
ReplyDeleteGenghis Khan.
DeleteThe Mongols vacationed there in the 13th century.
ReplyDeleteAtilla the Hun HUNgarian
ReplyDeleteA favorite sport in Hungary is Horse Archery. Where an archer shoots from the saddle at the gallop.
ReplyDeleteLike Anon at the top, tried to get my father to teach me Hungarian and he said "we live in the United States, we speak English here".
you too, huh? it's an exact quote.
Deletehe also said, "your mother can only speak English; she came over here very young and never learned; you won't learn uless both parents speak Hungarian to each other."
The play of prepositions: always the hardest thing to master, because every single use of every preposition must be learned. A dear friend whose mother tongue was German spoke flawless English in her trained singer’s voice, but now and then - rarely- she would stumble on a preposition. And German has an infinitely complex grammar of prepositions you must learn by rote when studying the language. Some take the accusative, some the dative, and some both, depending on g on whether or not there is movement. Arg. . . If my understanding is correct, Hungarian can pile up as many as five or six prepositions before a word, and the play is very subtle. Someone told me when l was in Budapest that Hungarians could tell when someone had been out of the country even for a short while by the play of prepositions in their speech when they returned. I memorized how to say ‘Good morning’, and would blithely trill it off in Hungarian and then have to at once switch to English when a wave of Hungarian would come back at me. Everyone there wanted to go to The Big City, which for them was Vienna, and German was the passkey language there, not English. I love languages, but it is hard to master more than three in a lifetime, if you want to speak, read, write and possess the literature.
ReplyDeleteRobert of Ottawa
I've thought about taking another shot at learning a language now that I've got oodles of time.
ReplyDeleteIn high school I was, no brag, the worst language student there. I had to memorize the Latin vocabulary to pass the language requirement. I had a rotten ear for learning a language.
Let us give thanks to the Norse for "cleaning up" our language and getting rid of noun genders, et. al.
ReplyDelete