"A repülőgépek köré madarak, tehenek és óvónők repülnek."
Translation:Birds, cows and kindergarten teachers are flying around the airplanes.
54 Comments
I have never learnt Hungarian before and am finding it equally frustrating. At first you laugh but after a while you want to give up. Many things in Hungarian seem not to be able to be translated literally because we just dont use the same format in english. Add to that hungarian is extremely complex with endings and prefixes. Also there is little useful stuff. I am in hungary for 2 months and need to learn to communicate. But these people are volunteers and we need to thank them for their time and effort. I hope they find the time to read these comments so that more people can appreciate their lovely country and people.
I think you need something more effective than Duo to learn Hungarian quickly like a private tutor or an intensive course. This "thing" we got here nothing I expected: a taste of this wonderful language so you will desire more. Sorry, Fabian. Look up "Magyar nyelv tanitas" in your search engine or local paper. Good luck! Ciao!
As a Hungarian, I can surely state, that there are no flying cows and flying kindergarten teachers in Hungary.
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Is there an equivalent Hungarian expression to "when pigs fly?" Apparently, Finns use the "when cows fly" expression...
If you mean "when cows fly/when pigs fly" = "it will never happen", then the Hungarian version is "majd ha piros hó esik" [when red snow falls].
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Thanks. I checked the WIKI article about the "flying pigs" expression. I was hoping for some flying animal (like several other Indo-European languages use) that was not documented yet...
Your welcome. One more thing (information): in the sentence "majd ha piros hó esik", the verb "esik" [is falling] is in general not a nice expression. The sophisticated verb is "hullik" [is falling]. Verbs "hullik" and "esik" are synonyms, both mean: "is falling", whereas verb "esik" is reserved for the rain [eső], and verb "hullik" for the snow [hó].
Example:
The rain falls. [Esik az eső]. /or/ It is raining. [Esik.]
The snow is falling. [Hullik a hó] /or/ It is snowing. [Havazik.]
"havazik" is the Hungarian adequate of "snowing"
Many people use the sentence "Esik a hó", because the verb "esik" is very common/frequent verb, but if you will use a nice expression, then use the sentences "Hullik a hó" /or/ "Havazik."
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I used "Hullik a hó" in a Hungarian class - in Hungary - and was ridiculed by the teacher for not say "Esik a hó". Glad someone thinks it is ok!
For ID: "Soha napjan" maybe - it means "never" - I'm still thinking of a better one
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Thanks for the tip. Is this expression used the same way as "when pigs will fly" (as a form of disbelief) or is it used to simply say "never" as in "I will never do that"? Based on the course sentence and knowledge of other Indo-European langauges, I was wondering whether the Hungarians had an expression similar to the English "when pigs will fly" that involved some kind of animal. For example, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_idioms_of_improbability
The flying kindergarten teachers refrain you encounter regularly in this course is not a recognized part of Hungarian folk culture, idiomatic speach or commonly used colloquial or proverbial expression. The reference to them is thus not representational of contemporary Hungarian language use nor historic language. Nothing of course wrong with inventing a new story. My only point is to respond to the immediate question and say that the flying kindergaten teacher narrative is not part of Hungarian culture or history. They are simply a part of our ongoing language instruction. Some people like them. Others despise them.
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Thanks JMaxGlobal! I get your point about flying teachers... In this case, I was really curious about the flying animals reference...
When I was very young I learnt a poem about a cow that jumped over the moon. Please don't disillusion me.
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Some thoughts:
1. I don't mind a few nonsense sentences. They keep you on your toes. You have to actually know the grammar and vocabulary rather than relying on general knowledge to translate.
2. However, this DL course would be better if it had more sentences that could also be used in practical situations while at the same time teaching us the grammar.
3. My main objection to the óvónők is that the English translation requires typing out a long string of letters -- kindergarten teacher. For their jokes the authors could have chosen a profession that is more easily and quickly typed -- for example, teachers, lawyers, doctors ...
Excuse me, can you remind me again, please - what is the meaning of "óvónő"? I come across this word so infrequently in these lessons, that it is a touch confusing. Thank you.
Wh- now there are cows? But- wh- this is the craziest country ever! I mean, cows have flown a couple times before in the States, but only when a tornado hit!
some young chap wants to show off how smart he is... or he might think he's funny. This is not education rather a witty contest of some sort and we're the victims.
I kind of like it to be honest - a little bit of ridiculousness now and then helps to spice up the otherwise quite dry and unnecessarily frustrating course. If you really don't like it, though... all I can say is: don't start learning Dutch.
I had very good experience with the German and the Italian courses. They were both full of interesting subjects, great sentences and they didn't smell like sweat, they done it effortlessly. They proved it that learning a language can be fun. OK, I'll skip Dutch :-)
Vegigcsinalta a magyart? Hany szazalekot adtak onnek? En Magyar vagyok es vagy 54%-ot kaptam. Rohej, mi?
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Yes! French and Italian is very interesting, nice sentences and it goes easily. The hungarian sentences are very complicated and they are not so useful like the French and Italian. I cannot imagine, how somebody can have a chance to go through, if he had never learned any hungarian before.
Wish I could but I dont have the money. I am a 71 year old Australian biding my time i hungary between 2 graduations, one in sweden and the next in uganda. Both I have sponsored in uganda since primary school and I volunteer there every year. All my pension has gone on that. Hungary is one of the few places in europe I can afford. Cant afford to return to oz in between and can only get a 3 month visa in uganda
It is a great idea. I am actually teaching someone english but she is so busy studying it for an exam and looking after her family at the same time that I havent liked to ask her. She is a primary school teacher and the gov has decreed that all must pass this english exam to keep some of their university qualifications.
The embassies, colleges and religious organizations may have volunteers to teach you Hungarian. If you rub them in the right way they might go along with free lessons. Good luck!
Do you know gospeaky? Maybe you can find someone there, who is hungarian and is available to help you( to practice the language)
I am doing something similar. A Hungarian lady and I are doing a kind of English/Hungarian exchange lesson about once a week or fortnight.
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I imagine to order my lunch with this sentence in a hungarian Restaurant and enjoy the reaction. If he replies, i say duolingo, duolingo and laugh.
Sorry, I was being a bit sarcastic. And frustrated. The daily appearance of these annoying, intrusive kindergarten teachers is simply mind boggling. Initially they may have been imaginative characters, but over time they have morphed into unbearable, repetative madness! A bit too much barack pálinka (apricot brandy) in the late hours, perhaps. But that's just me - who knows - maybe others adore these ever present repülö óvónök. It's a course-in-progress, so I am curious how it will evolve. Next time I am in Budapest, I'll definately ask if anyone has seen the flying kindergarten teachers.
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I like them - but my problem is it is so long to type "kindergarten teacher" - I tried "nursery teacher" but they didn't like that - and I only saved a few keystrokes. "Kindy teacher" maybe?
Only airplanes and do not even try with something else. No brooms, carpets, plates, let alone planes.
I tried "planes", it was not accepted. Somebody should look into this. And I'd really like to get down to earth, stop these flying objects and creatures, concentrate on things and people closer to home and reality.
Does the use of köré as opposed to körött imply that the birds, cows and kindergarten teachers are somewhere separate from the airplanes to begin with and fly in the direction of some place around the airplanes? And they then do not fly in circles around the airplanes once they get there? Could között be used to indicate the second case?
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Hehe, you fell for the trap. :)
There is no körött, against all logic. The postposition trinity is köré - körül - körül, so "being around" and "going away from around" are represented by the same word.
So what does it mean? Using köré simply says that the birds, cows, and kindergarten teachers are moving in such a fashion that they end up surrounding the planes. Nothing more. And then they are "a repülőgépek körül" - around the planes. Where they started, and whether they are circling around the planes or are just hovering isn't expressed in the sentence. They could even have jumped out of those very planes in order to encircle them.
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As I grew up in Budapest I sometimes heard people use körött. It may not be considered correct but it is used. I believe it's used by small rural communities who tend to have different pronunciation and tend to use different words from the commonly accepted language. I was going to say it's a different dialect but apparently, "dialect" is a loosely used word as described in this very interesting article:
While köré definitely does not indicate where they came from it does imply that they came from somewhere else i.e. were not there to begin with.
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I can see that körött is used; it would be quite logical between all the other -é/-ött/-ül postpositions. But yes, it's not part of the standard language. Maybe it used to be. It's considered an old, literary word.
Also this article is really good, thank you. :)
