Friday, March 27, 2015

A Phone Call and a Letter

A received a voicemail yesterday from the Consulate General of Hungary in New York stating I needed to call back regarding my application for citizenship. As soon as I called and left a message, Edina Papp, the Consulate Assistant, called back. She explained to me that a letter had been received from the Office of Immigration requesting some more documentation.


The first was a copy of the marriage certificate of my maternal nagyszülei (grandparents). Ms. Papp  was surprised to hear that I had recently obtained a copy and could send it right away.


The second was proof that my grandfather had left Hungary after September 1, 1929. This has been a challenge since I first started this process. I was able to supply her with a copy of his US naturalization paperwork dated 1938 but nothing from Hungary.


I do have until October 1, 2015 to gather all that I can.


This process would grant me citizenship by birth.


I then asked if I would be able to qualify for Simplified Naturalization. She informed me that I would have to know intermediate Hungarian and that when I did I would have no issues obtaining citizenship through these means.


I told her I would continue to learn Hungarian since I was learning it prior to applying for citizenship. She said that was good but we (her and I) should continue to try through birth at the same time.


Talk about motivation!

Friday, March 13, 2015

Unit 2 Dialogue 1

I had a small breakthrough in my Hungarian. I opened up my  Colloquial Hungarian book to the next section I am working on: Unit 2, Dialogue 1: Az egyetem és a diákok

It is written:

John: Mi ez?
Réka: Ez villamos. As pedig egy busz.
John: A budapesti villamosok sárgák?
Réka: Igen, a régi villamosok is sárgák és az új villamosok is sárgák.
John: A new york-i taxik is sárgák! Mi az?
Réka: Az a megállo. Nem a buszmegálló, hanem a villamosmegállo.
John: Itt van az egyetem?
Réka: Igen, itt van balra.
John: És mi van jobbra?
Réka: Nem tudom.
John: A ’Nem tudom’ hogy van angolul?
Réka: A ’Nem tudom’ angolul: ’I don’t know.’
John: Köszönöm.
Réka: Szivesen!

I read through it before I listened to the recording and realized I had actually read and understood the whole dialogue!

Sziasztok!

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

It's Working

I can't believe all of this time has passed since my last post.

As I mentioned on my February 27th post I picked up a copy of Colloquial Hungarian. That along with the Memrise Course has boosted my learning. At the end of each dialog it a list of vocabulary. Someone has taken the time to take each dialog and input the vocabulary into Memrise. The real life situations also make it easier to comprehend what is taking place.

One thing I keep noticing is that I keep picking out words or small phrases as I stream in Hungarian radio.

It's the little victories that keep me moving. I am up to 400 words and growing.

Sziasztok!