Would you be able to use your Hungarian to buy a monthly transportation pass? In Lesson 17, we can listen to an authentic recording made “in the field,” in which Steven purchases a monthly pass from a cashier.
This lesson will show you how to buy a monthly transportation pass in person, and we also learn some useful vocabulary to make a simple business transaction in Hungarian.
What does it sound like to use your Hungarian in real life? How do Hungarians respond to you? And what the heck is an “áfás számla”?? All of these questions will be answered in this lesson!
Download the MP3 file for this lesson below, as well as the transcript (PDF file), which also has the new vocabulary and useful phrases.
Don’t forget to leave us a comment below letting us know what you think of the podcast. Thanks for listening! Köszönjük szépen!
Music: Nomada, “Aven le Roma.” Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Hungary License. Available at remix.creativecommons.hu.
Image: bkk.hu
Thank you. Very practical lesson, I will try to use it next month.
Curious to know what did Steve edit out from the actual conversation. ?
Thanks Akanksha! As for what was edited out, it was a lot of pauses, random noises, and my company’s address 🙂 But otherwise the conversation was the same as in the podcast! Hope you find it useful. Is there anything else you’d like to hear in future lessons?
Közsi,
Steven
Hi Steven,
I look forward to new podcasts. I like them for your presentation style, learning happens in parallel 🙂 I cannot think of anything in particular for me at the moment. I could see couple of suggestions already in comments. You are going to be busy with them for a while.
Thank you once again.
Köszönöm,
Akanksha
Köszi Akanksha, we’ll keep doing our best over here, thanks for the comment 🙂
Steven
Thank you very much for your great and useful lessons! Tell the truth, I m still learning lesson 3 now but I know this site is the best for me! Just perfectly simple and satisfied volume for each lessons so I can learn each lessons day by day plus some feedback from last day’s lesson 🙂
By the way, do you know any kid’s animation or short drama with Hungarian subtitle in any website ?
I would like to watch and learn though them as well!
(I apologize if this question has been already answered before.)
Szia Mocha, we really appreciate the feedback and kind words!! It’s comments like yours that encourage us to keep going with this site!
As for videos, I wish I could help you out!! I think watching videos is a great way to learn a language, and I wish there were some available. Maybe we should create a series for our community!
Köszi és jó tanulást,
Steven
Szia Mocha, I was recommended “Fehérlófia”. I haven’t watched it yet but you can switch English subtitles on and it has really nice graphics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwzqtF2W6RQ
A more grown-up film is “Kontroll”: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE5CC36DA2AC25EA2 Haven’t had time to watch that either, sadly 🙂
Thanks for the response Birgit! I think it would be really useful for us to also have Hungarian-language videos with Hungarian subtitles. Those are quite hard to find online. Would you know of any such videos? The only ones I know are subtitle tracks for DVDs, which aren’t exactly available online.
Best,
Steven
Dear Steven and Györgyi, thank you so much for keeping on posting these podcasts over the years. I just discovered your website and it is so much fun to study the language this way! Actually, my girlfriend (from Hungary) is abroad for some weeks and I want to surprise her by exchanging some sentences in Hungarian when I am going to collect her at the airport – I am progressing so fast this way! Anyway, it would also be useful to have a conversation where you ask somebody who just returned from a trip ;). Kösönöm szépen! Tim.
Hi Tim, thanks for writing! We’re glad that you find the podcast enjoyable and useful! Please let us know how your girlfriend responds when you try some Hungarian out on her at the airport! 🙂
I like your idea of asking someone questions after they’ve returned from a trip. You can try this out on her when she returns: “Milyen volt az utazás?” (“How was the trip?”) Don’t worry if the pronunciation isn’t perfect – I’m sure she’ll understand what you mean!
Hope to hear from you again and jó tanulást,
Steven
Another great and useful podcast! I am looking forward to listening to them all again as we prepare for our return trip to Hungary!
As always, thanks!
Todd
Awesome Todd! Let us know if there’s anything else you’d like to hear on the podcast!
Steven
Szia! Tanulok magyarul mostanáig majdnem három éve, és azt mondhatom, hogy gyönyörű, de nagyon nehéz nyelv. Örülök hogy találtam a blogat, és gondolom hogy nagyon jó munkat csináltok. Nem tudnátok egy mondat része fordítani? Mar régóta sok problémát okoz nekem . Nagyon hálás lennék ha segitették volna nekem. Így hangzik: “Nagyon sok kiváló áru látható itt – mondta Tomásnak elismeréssel”. Második részt nem értem elég jól. Nagyon köszönöm előre.
Szia Ivo! Köszi a kommentet, nagyon jól írsz magyarul! Azt a mondatot én úgy lefordítanám angolra, hogy “‘There are many excellent products here,’ he said to Tomas approvingly.” Másképpen is lehet, de szerintem ez passzol.
Steven
Great lesson Steve and Gyorgyi, thank you for these. I was in Budapest recently and actually managed to communicate a ‘reasonable’ amount, especially in cafes like Cserpes Tejivo.
Thanks Andrew! It’s a great feeling when you can communicate in a new language. How else did you learn Hungarian besides our lessons? I’m glad you found us useful!
Steven
I should admit to having a Hungarian wife, however, that doesn’t necessarily help the learning process! Aside from your podcast I use:
Routledge’s Colloquial Hungarian and bought 1 szó mint 100 whilst in Budapest, looks good so far.