Truly an International Experience

Hungary has a lot of visitors from Germany. I’ve spoken more German here than I think I have in my entire life including visits to Germany and German class.

I’m learning Hungarian words, and if we can’t speak in English, often times someone will speak German. My German is improving and I’m having a blast.

This week it’s been a mix of Spanish, German, English, Hungarian, and – Euskara (basque country language)! I pop out my iPhone and ask someone to write the word down in my notepad. Little by little I’m building my own Hungarian phrasebook! So many words here however to describe similar concepts. And, if you say ‘How do you say ___ in Hungarian’ nobody seems to understand. I have to say, for example ‘Spaghetti > English… ___ > Hungarian?’ and that seems to work, I must figure out how/why the first one doesn’t work.

Truly international, learning so much, and I enjoy every minute of it. Someday I hope to be like my grandfather and learn to speak several languages fluently. Getting to be here amidst the culture learning how it’s said in context and not just from a book and why people think/act how they do is so much more interesting than learning from afar.