Family Life

I received another lesson in Hungarian today. A standard greeting ends in “eshti”, which is the “And You” part of “How are you today?” “Fine. And you?” You have to be careful not to say “ashti”, which roughly means “Be nice to me (or else)”. The French guys told me that the French expression for Thanks when you’re paying for something, in Hungary means Keep The Change. They learned that one the hard way.

Tonight I asked for a coffee at the restaurant, to take up to my room. The bartender filled a coffee mug half-full (the Hungarian way), peered into it as he handed it over and asked, “Maybe you want it full?” I said (in English) “Yes”, which in Hungarian translates to “That’s OK, leave it as it is.” So I went up to my room with half a mug of coffee. It wasn’t a word problem. I would have had the same result if I’d said “Igen” (Yes in Hungarian). Sometimes it’s not enough to know the words. Why and how they’re used matters just as much.

This was reinforced today when I solved a mystery that has been puzzling me since I arrived. Every evening as I leave the office a cheery receptionist waves and calls out “Hello!” I thought the poor girl was confused and didn’t know the English words Good-Bye. But tonight I found out that the Hungarian word H

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