Lesson 5 shows us a conversation between Ági, a customer, and a waiter. Ági just wants a drink, but has a hard time getting one!
Please see below for the dialogue and vocabulary for Lesson 5 below. Try your best to learn all of the new expressions, and see if you can memorize the dialogue too!
This lesson’s music was brought to you courtesy of Budapest-based Mookie Brando and the Second Cousins, “Slow Walk Home.” Find out more about this excellent band here.
The PDF file below contains the written dialogue and vocabulary, and the MP3 file has the audio for Lesson 5. Download both of them below, and thanks for listening!
Pincér: Hmmmm, Turista?
Ãgi: Igen.
Pincér:Amerikai?
Ãgi: Igen.
Pincér: Kétezer forint lesz.
Ãgi: Kétezer forint lesz!?!? Hmmmmmmm, pincér?
Pincér: Nem, nem pincér vagyok.
Ãgi: Most minden értem! Viszontlátásra.
Haha, great. That’s going to be hard to beat…
Ãgi: Ezer forint??!?!?!?
Pincér: Igen, ezer forint.
Ãgi: És bor van? Mennyibe kerül?
Pincér: Elmúlt már egyáltalán 18 éves?
Ãgi: Nem.
Pincér: Akkor csak ásványvizet kaphat.
Ãgi: Hagyjuk, inkább megyek. Viszontlátásra.
Pincér: Viszontlátásra.
Excellent work, Tobey. How long have you been learning Hungarian? This looks grammatically perfect (to me at least), but I’m not sure how many waiters would ask this question in reality! Usually they just don’t care that much…
I’m wondering if I heard the prononciation correctly of “elnézést”; it sounds more like “elnézist”.
Thanks again for your explanations of kérek, kérem, and Legyen szÃves. It’s making more and more sense with each listening and rereading of your comments on the webpage. Also thanks for the ordering drinks conversation.
I’d like to share a website I came across which is a great complement to your podcasts: http://www.dunatv.hu/
Click on NetTV and there are lots of Hungarian TV shows to watch, which are archived at least up to a month ago.
I’m enjoying the fact that I can notice and understand new vocabulary words I’ve been learning from your podcasts- like how the HÃRÓRA at 14:00 begins the news broadcast with “Jó napot kÃvánok.”
Thanks again, you’re doing a great job with the podcasts.
Sziasztok.
Great suggetion, Jonathan. I’m impressed with your dedication to learning Hungarian to even be watching online programs!
Duna TV indeed is a pioneer in streaming Hungarian video over the Web. I started watching their shows online in 1999! Back then there was hardly any broadband, so watching streaming video was a real pain, and gradually I gave up on it. But I’m glad you suggested it, and I’ll give some of their programs another look and then write a post about it later.
As for “elnézést,” I hope Györgyi’s saying it correctly…
So far on the news broadcasts I’m trying to listen for cognates that come from Latin and Greek like: fesztival, Európa, parlament, demokrácia, miniszter, diplomata, mandátum. And recognizing words from the podcasts like akkor, és, köszönöm, rendben, nincs, az, and the numbers. And with the Sztaki dictionary I can immediately confirm the spelling and get used to the alphabet and pronunciation of the letters.
The sooner I get used to listening to the natural speed of native-speakers, more likely I’ll be able to understand them when I visit. It’s a good way to get used to the rhythm of the language.
Thanks for the language reference recommendations as well, they’ll come in handy when I’ve exhausted the limits of free resources on the internet.
Yes, I think that’s a very powerful way to learn a language: to hear the material you’ve learned in a class/text/podcast in a real communicative setting like a TV broadcast, so that it solidifies in your head. Otherwise, it’s easy to forget a lot of new words and phrases in a new langugage.
I like your idea of listening for specific words like cognates and words we’ve covered in the podcast – it turns listening comprehension from a passive activity to an active activity (that sounds weird, but I think you get what I mean). Also, like you wrote, it is good practice for when you visit Hungary and listen with native speakers.
Keep up the effort Jonathan, and I hope you keep sharing more tips with us.