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Expats living in Hungary share their favourite Hungarian words
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Hungarian is a rich language with a deep-rooted heritage. It is also a pain in the neck to learn for its complicated grammar and word structure. Nevertheless, some people still had the courage to try to master it. We have asked expats living in Hungary to share their favourite Hungarian words with us. The responses we got were surprising, sweet and, at times, hilarious.
Christopher (40) – France
“Zsuszi, csúnya es buta vagy! (Eng. Zsuszi, you are ugly and dumb) – I used to mock my Hungarian ex-girlfriend with this phrase, which I picked from a Hungarian textbook when I began learning this extremely difficult language. She happened to be called Zsuszi too. Needless to say, she hated it.”
Mariana (24) – Cuba
“Pattogatott kukorica (Eng. popcorn) – It’s hilarious for Spanish speakers. Pato means duck while gato means duck. The word kukorica reminds me of the word cucurucho which is a local delicacy in Cuba. There was a joke in my hometown: La dieta del cucurucho , comer poco y follar mucho. And its translation goes like this: the cucurucho diet consists of little food but lots of love making.”
Tom (35) – Canada
“Fröccs (Eng. a mix of wine and soda water; spritzer) – for obvious reasons. I love a good fröccs, or two or three, on a hot summer night in Budapest. It is a country where you can easily get drunk even if you are low on cash. This is one of the many advantages of living here.”
One of my favourites is ‘bunko’ accompanied by ‘paraszt’. It neatly sums up many of the people I meet here.