Hungarian Voice Over Agency

Everything you never needed to know about speaking Hungarian

The name’s Bond, James Bond
In Hungarian the people do the same as James Bond and introduce themselves giving you their surname first. So, they will say my name’s Smith Stephen. It does confuse foreigners, but not you now you’ve read this fact!

There’s plenty of letters
The English alphabet has 26 letters, but the Hungarian alphabet has 44 letters including two ‘L’s and three ‘O’s. The most common letters are E and A.

Hungarian, but not Hungarian
The Hungarian language isn’t actually Hungarian it is known as Magyr. It is also the name of people who originated from the Urals but settled in the West of Hungary during the 9th century.

Clink, clink
It’s customary in the UK to say cheers and clink your glasses with the people around you. But in Hungarian its considered a bit rude. It all came about in 1848 when invading Austrians clinked their glasses after each execution of 13 Hungarian generals. Because of this the Hungarian’s decided that you shouldn’t be impolite and clink your glasses.

Gee up!
Hungary have cowboys who are mounted herdsman called Csikos. The Csikos ride the Great Hungarian Plain and live a semi-nomad lifestyle. They are extremely skilled at horse riding. One of their exploits is for a horseman to ride on two horses while at the front you drive three horses. That takes some doing.

Rubik’s cube
Hungarian’s must love a puzzle because the Rubik’s cube was invented by a Hungarian professor of architecture called Erno Rubik. He invented the cube in 1974 and it quickly became popular all over the world. The name Rubik and Rubik’s are trademarked for the 2D and 3D versions of the puzzle.

Water sports in a landlocked country
Although Hungary is a landlocked country it does have the largest lake in central Europe. It is called Balaton lake and it attracts thousands of visitors each year eager to participate in water sports that include windsurfing, wakeboarding and yachting. You can also take sightseeing tours on boats and visit a water park.

Enjoy a spa day
If you visit Budapest and fancy a session at a spa, you’ll have the choice of 123 water springs. In the whole of Hungary there are over 1,300. Hungarians must have lovely skin!

Brandy for your ailments
The Hungarians have a fruit Brandy which is called Palinka. It’s ingredients include plums, apricots and apples. The Hungarians swear by it as a cure for a range of conditions including a headache, nervousness, and fatigue.

Paprika is a Hungarian favourite spice
There are 40 different types of Paprika grown in Hungary. The varieties are divided into three categories which are Smoked Paprika, Sweet Paprika and Hot Paprika. They consume over 500grams of this spice each year and produce delicious dishes with a distinctive orangey/red colouring that comes from the Paprika.

A short history on the Hungarian language

Hungarian belongs to the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic family of languages, unlike most other European languages, which belong to the Indo-European family. Its closest relatives within Europe are Finnish and Estonian.

The Hungarians originally came from central Asia, conquering the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century. It is believed that the Uralic languages originally came from the Ural Mountains in western Russia. The first written records of Old Hungarian date back to the 11th century.

The first book printed in Hungarian was in 1533. By the 17th century, the influence of other languages such as German, French, Italian and Slavonic languages was evident. Many Turkish words were borrowed during the Ottoman occupation of Hungary between 1541 and 1699.

Hungarian became the official language of Hungary in 1844, and became further standardised during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Which countries have Hungarian as a national language?

Hungarian is the official language of Hungary. It is recognised as a minority language in Romania, Ukraine, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Hungarian is one of the official languages of the European Union.

How many people speak Hungarian as their first language?

It is estimated that there are around 15 million Hungarian speakers in the world – half in Hungary and the other half in Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, Austria, Croatia and Slovenia, as well in the United States, Canada and Israel.

The vast majority of the population of Hungary speaks Hungarian, but approximately 5% speak Romany.

Did you know…

• The name Hungary is thought to derive from a semi-nomadic tribe called the Huns (as in Attila the Hun) who lived throughout central and south-eastern Europe. However, Hungarians themselves actually call their country Magyar, after the people who settled there in the 10th century.
• The Uralic language family consists of 38 living languages, which range in number of speakers from just a handful (Votian) to 15 million (Hungarian).
• The Hungarian language, so unusual compared to other European languages, has acquired some ardent fans over the years. George Bernard Shaw said: “After studying the Hungarian language for years, I can confidently conclude that had Hungarian been my mother tongue, it would have been more precious. Simply because through this extraordinary, ancient and powerful language it is possible to precisely describe the tiniest differences and the most secretive tremors of emotions.”
• There are several mutually intelligible Hungarian dialects, including Alföld, West Danube, Danube-Tisza, King’s Pass Hungarian, Northeast Hungarian, Northwest Hungarian, Székely and West Hungarian. There is one dialect called Hungarian Csángó that is quite different – closer to medieval Hungarian.

The Hungarian economy

Since the early 1990s Hungary has made the transition from a socialist economy to a market economy. It has a per capita income of almost two-thirds that of the EU average.

More than 80% of Hungarian GDP is accounted for by the private sector. Major industries include mining, metallurgy, construction materials, pharmaceuticals, processed foods, motor vehicles and textiles.

Hungary is a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Trade Organisation. It joined the European Union in 2004.