Hungarian Learning Community and Resources

We talked to a Hungarian polyglot and ex-Erasmus student, Petra, who shared a lot of her experiences. She also gave great advice on language learning that enable people to improve quickly. I hope you find the interview as fascinating as we did. Here it is in full.

You speak several languages, but first, let's speak about your mother tongue! Do you think Hungarian is a difficult language - to learn?

Absolutely. Although nothing is impossible, and I know people who have acquired Hungarian with great ease and at a high level, I would need a lot of perseverance, for example, when it comes to its agglutinating type itself, the conjugations or the assimilations. It is a powerful motivating force when you fall in love with a language...

Which language was your first foreign language?

English, as usual. It was introduced in third grade. Now that I think back, perhaps my love of all languages was largely due to that first experience, with a very enthusiastic, positive, and prepared teacher.

How did you pick up the next ones?

I chose Italian as my second language in high school and continued with it at university. I then moved to Spain and after a period of learning Spanish in my native language, I quickly picked up Spanish. I have also been working on Catalan for a while and have enrolled in a course.

Why did you decide to start to learn Italian at the University?

There was no question. I loved the language so much that I knew I was interested. I went to music school for many years and tried classical singing as well as various instruments. I looked for recordings in the original language and fell in love with the Italian language. At the same time, I had wonderful Italian teachers in high school. I knew I wouldn't rest until I knew everything about the language, the country, the people, and the culture.

As I know now you were an Erasmus+ student in Italy. How did you find this opportunity?

Through the Italian Department of ELTE. They encouraged us to go. I am grateful for the experience because it was beneficial. Even though it was not the usual way, I participated online during the pandemic period, for me, the methodological part of the experience was the most important, and I don't feel that it was a truncated experience.

What kind of subjects did you have at the University?

The main subjects included, for example, the history of literature, linguistics, history, civilization, Italian music, the history of Italian-Hungarian relations, and language development and we also had Italian film classes, one of my favorites.

Do you have any tips for people who would like to learn foreign languages?

Of course. The most important thing is to be surrounded by the language. When people ask me for hints, I always ask them what language their phone, computer, or social media is set to. Even if we use these more than we should daily, we should at least combine them with the useful. I have learned a lot this way. I have also watched movies with subtitles in the original language, and there are plenty of options to choose from. Or there are books and apps. Have a little minimum of exposure to the language every day. Or one of my favorites, a language exchange. A friend and I sat down for coffee every Friday for an hour. He would learn Hungarian from me for half an hour and then he would teach me some Spanish. We took it seriously. It was the best part of the week.

Do you have any plans, or new languages to learn?

I focus on one language at a time, usually for several years, until I reach a higher level. That's what worked for me. Catalan would be the one to improve on at the moment, but for various other reasons, I've been developing myself in other areas lately and have put language learning on the back burner for a while. I have set myself the goal of speaking 4-5 languages by the age of 30 and I am satisfied that I have achieved this. I don't plan to learn another language in the coming years at the moment, but never say never. Who knows, anything is possible.