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Why did you begin to learn Hungarian?

Last year I finished my studies of Eastern European History and now I'm a PhD-student in a project about minority issues which focuses on Poland and the former Czechoslovakia in the Interwar Period. I mainly focused on Czechoslovakian and Polish history during my studies and then I got this idea to learn Hungarian. It is quite useful for me especially because of the Czech, Slovakian and Hungarian minority issues. That's one of the reasons why I spend so much time in Pécs, but not the only one. Basically I started to learn Hungarian because I simply was interested how this language works and because I have a lot of Hungarian friends. This language was one of the few in Europe which I couldn't understand at all. As a German-speaking person it's easy to understand the Western part of this continent in a way, and I have learnt Czech and Slovak to understand the Eastern part a bit as well, but Hungarian was totally out of this sphere, so that was fascinating for me.

Why did you choose Pécs?

I checked several universities where it's possible to learn Hungarian, like Budapest, Debrecen, Szeged, but I know people here, there was a professor of medieval history who was a guest lecturer at my university for a year, and so he could help me. What is more, I had Hungarian friends here in Pécs, and they helped me find a flat, so I felt comfortable and safe coming to Pécs. And then I did this summer university and beside the background I already had, I simply had the impression that the level of the program you have here is really high, so I was totally satisfied with the level of the classes, teachers were great. I know how it works here, I have my people here, and I thought it would be a good idea to come here for a year as well.

There is a quite huge German minority in Pécs – have you heard about them?

I know about the local self-government in Pécs, I know that there is a school here, which seems to be quite good, at least that is what I've heard. I know that there are German culture studies at UP, and I was in some seminars held by professor Seewann, when he was here. The villages around have German sign like Mohacs, or entering Pécs there's a sign Fünfkirchen. If someone knows that Pécs has a multicultural heritage, then you can sense it to some extent. But I think you have to keep your eyes open for that, maybe it's not as manifest as like other cities where different languages can be heard. For example I was in Beregszáz in June-July and it was obvious, that it is a multicultural city: I heard Hungarian everywhere but also Russian and Ukranian. But you have all these institutions in Pécs which support the multicultural heritage, which is quite a nice thing I guess.

Could you give some tips for someone who wants to learn Hungarian?

Don't be scared! I always say that Hungarian is just a language and the special thing about it is that is so unique. And that's why maybe it's a bit more difficult to learn, because it's not that ubiquitous for someone who lives elsewhere. There's enough material and books to do this, like here, MagyarOK, which is quite useful.

Hungarian is a fascinating language, not just because it's so different, but the way how these puzzles fit together. When you really know how to use Hungarian, then it's a bit like music, I would say, and that can really motivate you just to keep on learning. I remember when I started learning Hungarian one of my teachers told me: learning Hungarian is different, because when you learn English you start to learn vocabulary and you easily can build sentences which are understandable, Hungarian is more complicated, because first you have to know more about how to build a sentence, which is okay. Actually I takes more time to learn how to speak than in the case of English or French but when you reach that level, the feeling is awesome.