Több mint két éve! More than two years!

I can't believe how much time has passed since my last post. I don't know why I stopped writing. I haven't stopped learning Hungarian. I'm going to get back into it and use it as another learning tool. I am hoping to document my progress as much as possible. 

I won't be returning to Hungary until November 2018. When I am there I will be taking an intense Hungarian Learning Class at the Debreceni Nyári Egyetem. It will be a one week long class. 6.5 hours per day. The class is no longer offered in Budapest so I will travel 3 hours by train to Debrecen for the week. I still am using my tutor Zsuzsa on italki.com and she lives in Debrecen so I am looking forward to that trip.

We have been using the coursebooks from the school for the past year and half so I will be revisiting some of my lessons. 

Well, I hope all has been well.

Until next time.

Sziasztok!

Progress

I am continuing to move through the Colloquial Hungarian book. I am just starting Unit 7. While this may not seem like much progress, units 5 and 6 were fairly difficult for me.  Zsuzsa, my italki.com instructor follows my progress through each unit and we spend at least half of my session reviewing. Generally I have hour long sessions but have recently added an additional half hour session in the week just to have the ability to speak to someone in Hungarian. 

A few weeks weeks ago Zsuzsa started the session immediately in Hungarian. We had a slow conversation but when we were finished she said, "Did  you realize we just spent 15 minutes speaking only in Hungarian?"  That was a great thing to hear. 

It appears that the use of my book, Memrise version of the book and Zsuzsa is having a positive effect on my learning.

Until next time.

Sziasztok!

Back to Tanulok

I have finally realized why tanulok is correct. In my mind I have been using the -om/-em/-öm as the ending that has anything to do with me and not only "my" things. The blog started out at Tanulok magyarul, then tanulom magyarul because I believed it to be true and now magyarul tonulok. The blog address has to stay the same because someone else has magyarul-tonoluk and that's ok.

Since my last post I have started to utilize italki.com. I have found that my while I have only had three lessons they have been useful. My instructor, Plánka Zsuzsa, is very paitent and allows me to make mistakes. I have already been able to retain more information. She is following my progression through the Colloquial Hungarian book. My progress had been slow until I started to utilize italki.com.

Another tool I have but haven't stated to use is Glossika. Glossika uses daily repetition to reinforce the previous day's learning. They offer a 30 day trial. I am anticipating using this tool when I get more into a comfort level between Plánka Zsuzsa and Colloquial Hungarian.

I am hoping to update more often since I know this helps me stay focused on learning. So until then...

Sziasztok!

To Hungary and Back Already

I looked back and see that it has been over two months since I posted anything. In that time I have continued to work with  Memrise and  Colloquial Hungarian to increase my vocabulary.

We returned to Hungary briefly on June 27th to visit friends in Szolnok. When we got together we primarily spoke in English since there were  six of us but our friends would make small comments to me or ask me how I would say something in Hungarian so it was a bit of practice. When we weren't together I was able to tackle the language a bit at their local market. Not too much English there and as in the past the residents were patient and helped me along.

We left Hungary on the 28th, driving to Croatia. Along the way I was able to figure out what road signs meant to keep me occupied. We stopped to eat in Somogy Megye (Somogy county). I was all set to speak some Hungarian and the server comes out speaking German... What? My family comes from this county so I knew there were many German speaking residents, but I wasn't ready for this. Her second language? English of course. Oh well, eat and go.

We returned to Budapest on July 1st. We stay outside of the "tourist area" so while some speak English, the residents start out the conversations in Hungarian. In flea markets I found myself asking for prices and negotiating them and asking how old items were.  It was fun to become the "center of attention" when my traveling companions were trying to communicate in English and leaned on my Hungarian.

Probably the best part of this stay in Budapest was the two hours sitting with two native speakers. This had been arranged through an online friend. I was able to make mistakes without being nervous about doing so and was able to help them with their English. Explaining "can" and "may" was a bit challenging.  They also took me to some book shops in Budapest to get more study materials. I'll post more about these later. Until then...

Sziasztok!

Motiváció

It appears that I have hit a wall. While I do my Memrise practicing a few times a day, I haven't really learned anything new. My library Colloquial Hungarian book sits in my bag and is due back tomorrow. I know it's there, I see it throughout the day but just don't take it out.

Nine weeks from today I will arrive in Budapest again. This should be motivation enough I just haven't pushed like I was. I ordered my own copy of Colloquial Hungarian and it is supposed to arrive today. I am hoping that will jump start me.

At lunch I am going to review these sites. Olly Richards: I Will Teach You a Language,  Kevin Morehouse: Language Hero and Alex Rawlings: Rawlangs (who just happens to be in Budapest now). After this I am sure I will pick up some Motiváció.

Sziasztok!

On Pinterest

I've been using Pinterest for a few years now, actually since the days of having to be invited. I've been pinning things like cabins, gardening ideas, helpful hints and travel destinations. It wasn't until this morning when Kevin Morehouse from Language Hero tweeted about Lindsay Does Languages using Pinterest for her language learning did the light go on for me.

learn this - Hungarian is my newest board. I've put a few pins in there already and I have a feeling it will fill up faster than my other boards. As Lindsay mentions, as you pin something Pinterest will suggest other items. So far it has brought up other Hungarian pins, which I have pinned to my this is - Hungarian board, but from those pins I am hoping to stumble across other language related pins.

So, off to learn and pin.

Sziasztok!

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!