(Hungarian belongs to the same group of languages as Finnish, apparently, and is widely accepted to be one of the hardest European languages to learn.)
From Patrick Fermor's Between the Woods and the Water:
"I knew that Magyar belonged to the Urgo-Finnic group, part of the great Ural-Altaic family, 'Just,' one of my new friends told me, 'as English belongs to the Indo-European.' He followed this up by saying that the language closest to Hungarian was Finnish.
'How close?'
'Oh, very!'
'What, like Italian and Spanish?'
'Well, no, not quite as close as that...'
'How close then?'
Finally, after a thoughtful pause, he said, 'About like English and Persian.' "
Good gravy, darling, have you not seduced all the women in Europe by now? Oh, I see, you've been working western Europa, it's time for the East. What on Earth shall you be doing in Budapest? Are you being kept by a fabulous countess or something?
Well, you see, it's just that I loved the whole 'thesis writing' experience so much the first time around, I just had to go and sign myself up again!
In truth, I actually got a free ride to study - get this - "Nationalism Studies" in Budapest; no tuition, and I get a stipend for my rent & food. I am, however, still deciding whether or not to take it, as they did not - I repeat, did NOT - provide me with beer spending money. Cheapskates!
(And I keep hearing about how bee-yu-ti-ful Magyar women are.)
Okay, so it's your June 3'd entry, and since you don't have a new entry I'll just say it here... according to my LJ sources, it's your birthday today (June 13th) and so... Happy Birthday!!!!
Comments 8
is this just because you want to?
and if so... that's gutsy. and cool.
and if not that's pretty cool anyway.
Reply
In reality, I left Boston only to see how many B-named cities I can reside in within a five year period. ;)
(Truth of the matter is I considered joining the whole Canadian exodus after the elections, but, you see, Belgians just have MUCH better beer...)
Reply
From Patrick Fermor's Between the Woods and the Water:
"I knew that Magyar belonged to the Urgo-Finnic group, part of the great Ural-Altaic family, 'Just,' one of my new friends told me, 'as English belongs to the Indo-European.' He followed this up by saying that the language closest to Hungarian was Finnish.
'How close?'
'Oh, very!'
'What, like Italian and Spanish?'
'Well, no, not quite as close as that...'
'How close then?'
Finally, after a thoughtful pause, he said, 'About like English and Persian.' "
Good gravy, darling, have you not seduced all the women in Europe by now? Oh, I see, you've been working western Europa, it's time for the East. What on Earth shall you be doing in Budapest? Are you being kept by a fabulous countess or something?
Reply
In truth, I actually got a free ride to study - get this - "Nationalism Studies" in Budapest; no tuition, and I get a stipend for my rent & food. I am, however, still deciding whether or not to take it, as they did not - I repeat, did NOT - provide me with beer spending money. Cheapskates!
(And I keep hearing about how bee-yu-ti-ful Magyar women are.)
Reply
Reply
Reply
Thank you very much - it's been a great day so far!
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment