How to Make Hungarians Like You
Give Hungarian people a good chance to get to know you. Do not rush the relationship.
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The Hungarian judges try to explain things away
Dissatisfaction with the Hungarian judiciary has been growing in the last couple of years. Earlier complaints usually focused on the inconsistency of decisions: different judges came up with opposite verdicts in virtually identical cases. Or that on appeal the judge of the appellate court reached entirely different conclusions from those of the first judge. In the last two years the law-abiding citizens who are horrified at the behavior of a fairly easily defined group on the streets of Budapest have been noticing a certain reluctance of the courts to punish people for acts that ordinary citizens consider to be criminal. Yesterday’s decision reached at summary proceedings (gyorsított eljárás) really was the last straw. People are by now convinced that the Hungarian court system is defending the criminals and that the members of the Hungarian judiciary have a political agenda. And let’s face it, there have been several cases where the courts’ inconsistencies are politically suspect. When demonstrators threw eggs at Gábor Demszky, SZDSZ mayor of Budapest, the court decided that a public figure like Demszky must suffer such acts; they are simply expressions of some people’s contrary political opinion. However, when a similar situation occurred in the case of the Fidesz mayor of Esztergom, suddenly egg throwing became a different matter. The egg throwers were punished.
Until now every time I heard spokesmen of either the courts or the prosecutor’s office talk about controversial cases they always defended the decision, however implausible it sounded to the layperson. They always had a complete explanation for anything the members of the Hungarian judiciary did. However, there seems to be a slight change in the attitude most likely as a result of the outcry that followed yesterday’s verdict.
Friendship with Hungarians
How do foreigners view Hungarians with regard to relationships?
One foreigner said, “I tried to make deep friendships with Hungarians that speak English but it seemed I could only go so far. The Hungarians I tried to befriend were extremely polite and kind but it seemed hard to get to level of opening the soul. Read more »
Hungarian Wine Online
In terms of European cultural frontiers or divides, a broad division can be made regarding drinking patterns or habits in Europe. There are beer drinking cultures and wine drinking cultures. Read more »
Incomes in Hungary
The minimum payable wage in Hungary is 65,500 Ft (€ 258) per month. In fact you have to do a lot of math to make it last until the end of the month. Read more »
Modern Hungary 100 Years Ago
“I called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old.”
- Canning
W. B. Forster Bovill: Hungary and the Hungarians, 1908 – CHAPTER II
MODERN HUNGARY
MODERN Hungary practically begins with the emergence of the nation from the torpor consequent upon the cruelties, which followed Világos. For ten years a kind of passive resistance was practised which in a quiet way frustrated all schemes for the centralisation and Germanisation of Hungary. The first sign of repentance or recognition of value was shown at the close of the war with Italy, which ended so disastrously. In 1860 it was impossible to collect the taxes. The Hungarians are adept at passive resistance. Everybody was seized with an inability to pay their taxes. Neither was it any good seizing goods and submitting them to public auction, for the Austrian official could never find a purchaser. Read more »
The City-dwellers of Budapest
Most people in Budapest carry a cell phone, use the public transportation daily, live in their own apartment and work in the city. The city dwellers of Budapest work a variety of jobs as in any major city – including retail, service, and product industries.
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Advice For Backpackers Going To Europe
Backpack in hand, you are ready to head to Europe for some fun and sun. Here is some advice for backpackers from someone who has done it multiple times and made the mistakes. Read more »
Origin and Identity of Budapest People
The Hungarian people know themselves as the “Magyar” people. They call their country “Magyarország” – or the “country of the Magyar people.”
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Power Distance: How Much Respect there is for Position?
The Hungarian love of freedom and independence often hardens into rugged and proud individualism, which rejects guidance or discipline, military or political. Only leaders with great personal appeal were able to unite Hungarians for any considerable length of time. Read more »
Introduction to Hungary and the Hungarians
“The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and
instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.”
- Dr. Johnson
To start out for a long holiday in a country and then to settle down there is sufficient proof of the enchanting qualities of scene and character resident therein. To see the initial sights as one of an organised crowd is one thing, and to revisit and re-see them alone, amid the blessed silence of one’s own irresistible self, is quite another thing. Read more »
SZDSZ elections solved nothing
Gábor Fodor received 346 votes and János Kóka 344. A year ago Kóka won by seven votes. It’s true that there were some suspicious ballots then but, given this new close contest, one can safely say that SZDSZ remains a deeply divided party. A few weeks ago most people predicted a much more lopsided result in Fodor’s favor, but it seems that there was enough hesitancy about Fodor’s ability as party leader that close to half of the delegates decided to stick with the known quantity. Running the day-to-day business of the party is a twelve-person committee. The composition of this group didn’t change substantially: there are some Kóka supporters (including Kóka himself) and some Fodor supporters.
So the election didn’t bring any seismic shift in the balance of forces within the party. Nothing was solved as far as the internal divisions are concerned. The importance of the elections, according to some observers, is how the new party chief will handle the relationship between SZDSZ and MSZP.
Read the entire article: SZDSZ elections solved nothing »
politics, SZDSZ, Kóka, Fodor
Loincloths and Tenderizing at a Budapest Spa
The Gellert Hotel Spa is renowned as the ultimate spa destination in Hungary. Here’s a first hand account of the Gellert experience. Read more »
Hungarian Schools vs. American Schools
According to Doug and Lea Coppage, who teach in a Hungarian school and their daughter has been going to Hungarian school for several years now, Hungarian schools are quite different from American schools.
Here are some major differences according to the Coppages:
- American schools value critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. Hungarian schools teach “rote” knowledge.
- American schools value self esteem and other individualistic traits. Hungarian schools value competency and more group-oriented characteristics.
- American schools have trouble teaching actual content, and they make up for this by imposing batteries of minimum achievement tests. Hungarian schools have trouble teaching things that apply to real life, and they do not attempt to compensate.
- In an American school, each student has an individual schedule, and they travel around to different teachers’ classrooms each hour. In a Hungarian schools, each class learns together in its own room, and the teachers come and go according to the class’s schedule.
Sounds blunt and too black and white to me, and I could bring several examples where a Hungarian school or a Hungarian teacher does not fit this description at all… still, I can not argue with the essence. I know that the short description above comes from many years of experience and I also know that this family loves Hungarians. This is where I decided to share their insight with you.
What are your experiences?
What is Culture? Working cross-culturally
People in every culture are raised with a set of values, beliefs, and attitudes. Some are held deeply, and in many cases, they have never been questioned. Others may be negotiable or debatable. But all affect how a person receives a new message. A cross-cultural worker must ask, “What core values are my listeners assuming as they hear my presentation? Read more »
OVI to Verify Referendum Signatures
The National Election Commission (OVB) on Monday ordered the National Election Office (OVI) to start verifying the signatures submitted in favor of a referendum against the privatisation of health insurance. Read more »
Budapest, the Beautiful
Hungarians who have been living abroad for a number of years and who visit the country of their birth only occasionally report a fantastic change for the better both in the capital and in the countryside. People comment on the number of new buildings, the elegant shopping malls, the modern office buildings, and, yes, on the fantastic public transportation system. Read more »
You Know You’re a Hungarian…
32. When you would rather ride standing up in a tram when there are plenty of seats available.
33. When the train hasn’t even left the station, but you are already eating your home made sandwiches (usually with half a paprika or tomato in it).
34. When you call a 79 km long lake (the Balaton) the Hungarian Sea. And you are able to swim across it!
Villamos
Hungarians: saddest people in Europe?
Hungarians appear towards the bottom of a happiness-sadness scale
calculated for 19 European countries, but Budapest residents say they just “disguise their happiness well”.
Hungarians have long had a reputation as being the gloomiest nation in Europe. They are renowned for their pessimism, and depression is a nationwide problem. Read more »
Szentendre Day-trip
Go to Szentendre for a day trip! It is a stereotypical cobblestoned European town. Buy a ticket at the Batthyány HÉV/Metro stop and take the HÉV to the end of the line! For a scenic ride home take a boat cruise down the Danube back into Budapest! Read more »
Hungarian Elections 2010
The election was a landslide for Fidesz and a strong showing for Jobbik, although it is possible that Jobbik politicians expected even better results. The big surprise is the performance of LMP, a party about which we know very little. A lot of former SZDSZ liberals voted for them, but not everybody is convinced that LMP is as liberal as those who supported them think. These votes certainly came from the left, and it will be a real disappointment if LMP in parliament cooperates with Fidesz as some people fear. In that case MSZP will be quite alone on the battlefield.
The results were not terribly surprising: Fidesz won with 52.77% after the first round, which translates into 206 seats out of a total of 386. So Fidesz has achieved an absolute majority. Whether the party will receive the much desired two-thirds majority is still undecided and uncertain. We will know the answer in two weeks after the second round of voting when there will be a runoff in all districts where no candidate received more than 50% of the votes.
MSZP ended up second with 19.29% of the votes followed by Jobbik with 16.71%. Pretty devastating. LMP’s showing was surprisingly strong: 7.42%. Unfortunately MDF didn’t get into parliament. Ibolya Dávid, chairman of the party, promptly resigned. I think that MDF’s involvement with the remnant of SZDSZ was a serious mistake. I’m really sorry about the failure of MDF because I think that Hungary badly needs a genuinely conservative party.
Cog-wheel Railway (Fogaskerekű)
The Cog-wheel Train (Fogaskerekű) is a cute mountain train that climbs u the Buda hills from the Városmajor Park (close to Moszkva tér) to Széchenyi hegy, where it connects with the Children’s Train. Children like the Cog-wheel Train a lot for its steep climb and nice views. Read more »
