A Foreigner’s Journey into the Hungarian Soul
As I’ve traveled some of the world, having been to 33 countries and living on five continents no other people has fascinated me as much as the Hungarians. What is the difference?
Why do Hungarians hold more fascination for this author than some of the world’s classic western peoples such as the English, Germans, or the French? Read more »
Quality of a Leader
Where will the Hungarian soul take the nation from this point forward?
Hungarians have used their freedom to change governments well. In the second half of the 20th century Hungarians had very few opportunities to change governments. Since the change from the long time communist government Read more »
Are Hungarians Antisemitic?
One of the things I discovered without looking for it was that in conversation about money, many Hungarians would complain about Jews. My first question was “why?”
This led me to do some research on the history of the relationship between Hungarians and Jews. Read more »
What About the Police?
After driving more than 100,000 kilometers in Hungary I have been stopped many times by the police and have my own stories to tell. I will say openly and publicly that I have yet to meet a policeman that is like the ones they talk about in the jokes. But I have found something very interesting. The Hungarian policeman may often be a human more than an official. Read more »
What Makes Hungarians Laugh? Policemen Jokes in Hungary
When one looks into the soul of a nation it is not only important to look at what makes them sad, but also at what makes them laugh. One of the first signs that one is becoming fluent in a language is when one can hear and understand a joke in the new language and know why it is funny. Read more »
Gymnastics of the Brain: Hungarian Language
There is one thing to the foreigners about the Hungarians that is more complicated than the Rubik’s cube. If in some way foreigners find the Hungarian people a complicated race, even more so the Hungarian language causes both their brains and tongues to do Olympic level gymnastics. Read more »
Hungarians Don’t Keep in Line
Western Europeans, especially British and Germans, complained that Hungarians don’t seem to know how to form a line. People are always crashing in front of the line without looking the people they cut off in the eye.”
They also complain that on the escalators, especially in the underground, Read more »
Pessimistic Hungarians?
One tendency that Latin Americans, and those from the United States almost unanimously mentioned is that Hungarians tend to be very pessimistic.
Students noted that Hungarian literature has a fascination for tragedy and unhappy endings Read more »
Helping the Troubled, Resenting the Lucky
The fairness ethic helps to understand another aspect of Hungarians, that they can also be a very merciful people. This is quite unlike Americans and Western Europeans who more quickly take the side of the winner, the successful person. Read more »
Payback Ethic
One Hungarian value that this author and many foreigners noticed was something called the payback ethic. Throughout the world people will treat others in return the way they are treated, but Hungarians seem to take this farther than others. One person said, “It is hard to do a favor for Hungarians Read more »
“Women Scandalously Dressed”
Two missionaries felt that Hungarians have a spiritual crisis in sentimental relationships. Overplayed sexual overtones Read more »
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 »
Business People About Hungarians
One European businessman said, “Hungarians are wonderful people socially, but you better be careful when you do business with them. They do not have the same kind of ethics as in the West. Culturally and socially they are western, but in the way they do business they are more Eastern than Western. Read more »
Tourists About Hungarians
What do the tourists say?
Those who have been pickpocketed or robbed say though Budapest may be beautiful, they will never come back. That is understandable. Otherwise, the comments are wonderfully positive.
Most tourists said that people were as friendly as possible when they could not communicate in each others’ languages. Read more »
Hungarian Doctors and the Medical System
In the medical profession, most of the comments about the doctors were positive.
Unfortunately, the comments about the facilities they work in were less than positive. One American doctor said, “Hungarian doctors try whatever it takes to make a patient well, whether it would be dietary change, a lifestyle change or whatever would improve Read more »
Education in Hungary
With regards to education, several teachers from Western Europe and America noted that Hungarians are voracious readers and know so many facts about the world. Read more »
Behavior in the Workplace: How Hungarians Work
Regarding behavior in the workplace foreigners made observations about how Hungarians work.
The bridges that span the Danube in Budapest are beautiful and show not only wonderful engineering but also beautiful creativity. One cannot help but notice the delicate femininity of the Erzsébet Bridge constructed in honor of the beautiful empress. Read more »
Obsession with the Past, Racism, Violence
A British diplomat brought out the Hungarian historical memory saying, “Why are they so obsessed with themselves and their sad history? They keep talking about Trianon as if it was yesterday, he said.” Read more »
Hungarian Men
What about Hungarian men? An Australian woman made this comment, many other foreign women have said the same:
“When they are courting you, they are incredible. They focus on you like you are the only other person on the planet and that is the way they would love for it to be. But they are so jealous it is like an incurable disease. If I say hello to another man who may be an acquaintance they start asking questions and give him dirty looks. They want you to cut off all of your male friendships with people they don’t know and go insane if you spend time with any other man.”
Hungarian culture, Hungarian men, courting, jealousy
Hungarian Women
One answer that was positive from all foreigners, men and women alike was regarding Hungarian women. One beautiful American woman, who has traveled the world said, “I’ve never seen so many beautiful and stylish women anywhere! Men from every inhabited continent have expressed the same view. Read more »
What do Foreigners Think About the Hungarians?
This author has thought long and hard about this question. One of the questions Hungarians ask me most is, “Szerinted milyennek a magyarok?” In your opinion, what are the Hungarians like? Read more »
Sadness, Depression and Suicide
One observation many foreigners make about the Hungarian character is that to be
Hungarian also means to have an intimate though unpleasant relationship with sadness. Together with sadness, Hungarians show that they know what it means to experience loss. I was surprised at the reply when I told one of my Hungarian friends about a difficult problem I was going through- “That is good, you also need to know how to be a loser.” Read more »
What Does it Mean to be Hungarian?
Because I could never feel inside of myself, what it means to be Hungarian, I have asked hundreds of Hungarians, in the East, West, North, and South, of the Country, “What does it mean to be Hungarian?” Read more »
Does God Play Games with Us?
The Austrian Army officers clinked their glasses of beer as they drank to celebrate the execution of the Hungarian patriots who fought for freedom. It is no wonder that Hungarians do not clink their beer glasses when they toast each other’s health! Read more »
Where was God, When My Child Died?
“He punished us for our sins, past and future.” - this is a quote from the Hungarian National Anthem written in the 19th century. Hungarians hold on to this particular theology to this day.
I hadn’t seen one of my Hungarian friends for a while and as we met I asked, “How are you?” Americans treat this question as a greeting, and regardless of how they are doing, usually answer, “Fine.” Read more »
Popular Theology: Common Beliefs About God in Hungary
The most famous Hungarian theological statement is the National Hymn- “God bless the Hungarian.” Theology simply means, “Ideas regarding God.” And this work contains lots of theology, which is recited by many Hungarians more times than they say the Lord’s prayer. Read more »
Love of Dogs
I noticed how much Hungarians love animals- especially dogs. I saw a dog happily wandering the street, exploring everything. Hungarians would look down on the animal and smile a peaceful smile of approval at him. Read more »
Public Behavior, Courtesy
The Hungarians are a very courteous and polite people. This is very pleasant and also reminds me of my own Latin heritage, where courtesy, and how one treats others in public is very important.
Hungarians use two words which do not directly translate into English for how one treats other people; Read more »
Personal Appearance in Hungary
I noticed how personal appearance is important to people in Hungarian cities. Hungarians tend to be very good dressers. Especially among the older generation one is expected to dress appropriately for going out in public. Even among the young, fashionable dress is very important. Read more »
Paprika for Flavor
I discovered something that was one of my first personal identifications with the Hungarian cuisine that I still hold today: Csípős Paprika (hot peppers). My greatest discovery was that of the Hegyes Paprika (peaky peppers) which is the only one that matches the flavor and intensity of the Hatch green chiles Read more »
My Ride in a Trabant
Another observation I made at that time (still today, but not like then) I noticed all of the eastern European autos on the streets and could not believe how people would fit their families into Trabants, Dacias and Polski Fiats, but they did! I even saw people fill them with merchandise Read more »
Budapest, the Elegant Elderly Woman
After arriving in Budapest, I found out for myself and can say that today, after visiting more than thirty countries that I consider Budapest my favorite city.
I was captivated by the incredible flavors of the food, blessed by the thoughtful courtesy of the people, and amazed by the nighttime view of the city from Gellért Hill. Read more »
Encounters with Hungarian People
I had an all night discussion with a medical student who had come to the U.S. in the mid 80’s. He also had fierce national pride, but was very bitter. As a businessman and graduate student I had a contract with a business at the time and as part of the goodwill between our companies Read more »
Rebuilt, and Rebuilt Again
In the mid 70’s I had a colleague in university named Bill Dabas. He used to drink a certain ice tea that came in a green can (He used to collect the cans so we could say Dabas liked to collect the Doboz [Hungarian for can] as a little play on words). He would stack the cans against the wall of his dormitory room. Read more »
