Egy ausztriai egyetemen tanulo magyar hallgato arrol irja a doktorijat, hogy mennyire el a magyar nyelv Eszak-Amerikban. Ennek felterkepezese vegett korbekuldott egy kerdoivet, amire remenyei szerint 100-200 ember fog valaszolni. Ime az en valaszaim.1) Your gender:
Male
2) Date of birth (which year?)?
1968
3) Where do you live?
Santa Cruz, California, USA
4) Where were you born? If not in North America, when did you arrive in North America?
Born in Budapest, Hungary
5) What was your reason for emigrating? If your parents/grandparents emigrated, what was their reason?
I “emigrated” to work for my father’s company here, in the US. Reason: to make more money, than I could in Hungary. (I don’t consider this an emigration, just a temporary phase in my life.)
6) Where was your mother born?
Budapest, Hungary
7) Where was your father born?
Budapest, Hungary
What was your place of residence when you were young? (countryside, town, city, which country?)
Budapest, Hungary
9) Where does your spouse come from?
N/A.
10) Do you know people originally from Hungary, who can only speak English or Hungarian? Which of both?
Every first generation emigree I know in the US speaks Hungarian. Second generation people often speak English only (or poor Hungarian) though.
11) Your profession?
Student/System administrator
Use of Hungarian
1) Are there any opportunities to speak Hungarian? Where and with whom?
I speak Hungarian with friends who live around my town, and on the phone with friends/family all over the world.
2) Where did you learn Hungarian (at home, at school, somewhere else)?
All of the above. I was brought up in Hungary.
3) Did you attend a Hungarian school? Which one? Where?
Yes, Szent Istvan Gimnazium, Vendeglatoipari Foiskola – Budapest
4) Can you read Hungarian?
Yes.
5) How often do you read Hungarian? Books/ magazines/ newspapers,?? on the internet or printed version?
I read daily (Nepszabadsag, Index.hu), weekly papers (ES, MaNcs) and monthly journals (Mozgo Vilag, Szombat) online in Hungarian. I also read books that I bring from Hungary or family sends me.
6) Your Hungarian spelling skills? (good/poor/proficient,?)
Proficient.
7) Do you often write Hungarian? What? (personal letters/e-mails, notes, anything else)
Often, daily. Personal email, blog, articles and news items for online publication, translation of poems.
Do you understand spoken Hungarian?
Yes, but I may not be familiar with the slang developed in the last 8 years.
9) Do you listen to Hungarian radio programs? Which ones? On the internet?
I don’t listen regularly. I do check them out every second month or so (at http://www.vilagradio.hu/), but the MC’s style usually annoys me so don’t listen to it to long.
10) Do you have Hungarian tapes/CDs/LPs? What kind? (classical music, folk music, Hungarian poems,?.)
Yes. I have about 60 Hungarian CDs. Approximately 40 pop music, 10 classical, 5 folk and a few children one.
11) Do you attend Hungarian meetings, church, parties or other events? How often?
I try to make it parties but don’t make it often enough.
12) In which language do you count, dream and swear?
Count in Hungarian, dream in English (if I dream at all), and swear in French or German (I trained myself to do so hoping that less people around me would understand. But I rarely swear anyway.)
13) Did your language behavior change over time? (Did you speak more/less – better/worse Hungarian when you were young?)
My Hungarian probably deteriorated since I moved to the US. I notice that I occasionally I include English words in the middle of Hungarian sentences.
Use of the English language
1) Where did you learn English? If you were born in North America, did you learn English before kindergarten/nursery?
From my mother (who is an English teacher) and various levels of school in Hungary.
2) If you were not born in North America, did you learn English before you came here?
N/A.
3) After you moved to North America, where did you learn English?
“On the job”, just by communicating, reading, writing and working in English
4) Reading skills in English? (good/poor/proficient/?)
Proficient.
5) Do you read English? What? (Books? which newspapers?)
Most of the books I read are in English (4-5 a month), I also read periodicals and lots of webpage sin English.
6) Do you understand spoken English?
Yes, unless it is spoken with a very strong accent.
7) Do American people understand you? Do you have a Hungarian accent?
Yes on both account.
Can you write in English? What do you write? (personal letters/e-mails, notes, anything else)
I write school papers (for College), business letters, emails and webpage sin English
Names
1) Do you know about people who changed their Hungarian names/surnames into English? If so, what did they change their name to?
No.
2) If you have children, what are their first names?
N/A.
English and Hungarian
1) Do you think it is good that people of Hungarian descent living in North-America can learn Hungarian? Why?
Yes, it is good for every person to know more than one language, gives more balanced perspective on life. And if one is of Hungarian descent it may give some connection to her/his roots if s/he speaks or at least understands Hungarian. It may come later in their life that they appreciate the language and connection.
2) Do you think there should be more opportunities for Hungarians in North-America?
I assume you are talking about having more opportunities to learn/practice Hungarians who are already in North America. I am not in position to answer. I don’t know the extent of the current opportunities. But based on my limited knowledge I believe those who want to learn/practice can do so.
3) You know that someone speaks both Hungarian and English. How do you decide in which language to begin talking to him/her?
If it’s a school or business context I will speak in English. If it is personal than in Hungarian. If there are others present who speak only one of the two languages I will speak in that language. This all assumes the meeting takes place in the US. If I am back in Hungary I will speak Hungarian even if I know that the other person speaks English.
4) With which language are you more at ease?
Depends on the context. To express personal feelings and opinions I am more at ease in Hungarian. To talk about topics I get acquainted in English I would prefer to talk in English, I may not even know the Hungarian vocabulary for the area.
5) Do you think Hungarian sounds better than English? Would you like to have a better understanding of the Hungarian language?
I don’t think either language “sounds” better than the other. It all depends on how the language is spoken and by whom. Both can sound ugly or beautiful.
I don’t need a better understanding of Hungarian, I believe.
6) In which language is it easier for you to express yourself?
See my answer for #4 above
7) Which language do you speak at home?
Here in the US, English, because my housemate doesn’t speak Hungarian.
a) with your partner
N/A.
b) with your children
N/A.
c) with your parents
Hungarian. Unless I speak about business with my father.
d) with your grandparents
Hungarian
e) with your brother/sister
N/A.
Have you ever been to Hungary? How often? If not, would you like to visit Hungary?
I lived there till the age 27 or so. I visited almost every year since then.
9) Do you consider yourself to be Canadian/American or Hungarian?
I consider myself global citizen. Including Hungarian and American. But would also like to be British and French and …
10) Are you interested in what is currently going on in Hungary? Do you know about the current political situation in Hungary?
Yes, I follow through online media the situation.
11) Do you keep up Hungarian traditions? (Celebrating Christmas like in Hungary, celebrating your nameday,?)
Not really. But I like “makos beigli” and make “palacsinta” every once in a while.
12) Do you have friends in Hungary you keep in touch with?
Yes. Most of my friends are Hungarian, although they don’t necessarily live in Hungary.
