Magyar 101
Preparing your friends for the culture shock
written by Ontzlake Aglovals

The Culture Shock! series presents itself as guides to "culture and etiquette," - a sort of "thinking man’s escort" to a destination. “Culture Shock! Hungary” was first published in 2000 and has since been revised and republished with a "cultural quiz" section added to test the reader’s sensitivity to peculiar Magyar ways. Or maybe it is just an excuse to bring in the punters.

So your friends - Bill and Sue - are going to Hungary; not for some flighty three-day city break, but for a whole year. And Bill and Sue, being your friends, like to feel the fabric of their temporary abodes; to learn to say more than "Good morning" in the vernacular, to dabble in the native kitchen, to surprise locals with their knowledge of their adopted cultural and historical landscape. You want to buy them a book before they go; but not the "fast ’n’ furious" guide - the one which lists the best route from the airport, comfiest affordable hotel, must-do sight-seeing and most-done restaurants - all between pages 2 and 5. Bill and Sue like to take their sojourns steadily, slowly and immerse themselves deeply, if not as potential "mastermind" winners on the subject, then at the very least – pub quiz champions.

Then "Culture Shock! Hungary" is the one for them. Well, that’s what the publishers would like to think. It certainly isn’t fast and furious. Indeed, apart from one item on page 10 - which rather usefully notes the Magyar use of Pest to describe both Budapest and the east bank of the Hungarian capital - there is arguably no practical visitor information, certainly no contact addresses, until page 59. I wonder if the author, Zsuzsanna Ardó, has actually realized that the first address she gives is not for any hotel, museum nor even police station - but the Central Detoxication Institute. Perhaps she hopes the book will sell to the hordes of beer guzzling Brits rumored to have picked Budapest as their next favored target for riotous bingeing.

The good news is that the author, a journalist, writer and lecturer in intercultural communications, has used that space - and much of the following 240-odd pages in the book - to describe in her own idiosyncratic style the Magyar world, with all its bravado, anachronisms, intellectual glories, agonizing historical defeats, frustrating near-victories, perceived historical injustices (at least dished out to Magyars), along with the tortuous and tortured lives of its artistes, scientists, politicians, kings and would-be leaders.

Hungary boasts the old and new - like these standard housing blocks built under Communism, which can be seen throughout the country

Make no mistake; Ardó is Hungarian by birth and education. She identifies with the country, its history and especially with its literature and language in a way no foreign-born writer could ever hope to. Of course, about seven million adult Magyars could all claim likewise. But fortunately for the reader, she not only holds an MA in English, but has studied in Canada and now lives in the UK. With this background she is able to present her insights - and various Magyar claims - in a way that appeals to Anglo-Saxon thinking.

Arguably she has her faults - most notably her unstinting belief that she can help readers with zero knowledge of the Hungarian tongue understand the meaning of too many Magyar expressions from the printed word. But unlike many of her compatriots she does it all with irony and self-deprecating wit which allow her to pull it off.

Ardó also possesses a willingness for self-examination, which is perhaps less common in this part of the world. Consider her introductory paragraph on good neighborly relations; under the title “Love thy Neighbour.” "Not unlike most peoples, Hungarians have the truly admirable gift for irritating their neighbours. Some Hungarians can outdo most others by far, when they really set their minds to it."

Touching on such sensitive subjects as minorities, naturally including Jews, Romanians and Roma, as the book starts, so it proceeds. Thus, after noting Hungary’s great list of Noble Prize winners, it later deftly informs readers that most of them were Jewish.

Capitalism has made its mark in Hungary, illustrated by the Mammut shopping center pictured above, which takes up two city blocks and is connected by a pedestrian bridge

It does not take an MA in Hungarian Studies to imagine that Ardó would not feel too comfortable at a MIÉP [the far-right Hungarian Life and Justice Party] rally. Somehow, into this seething mix of cultural-historical-social insight, she actually does get down to hard information on living in Hungary, and even starting a business. Naturally, it is a little more difficult creating a good read about foreign investment and banking regulations, but apart from the odd slip (Ameritech pulled out of MagyarCom some years ago) she negotiates the hard facts adequately to become more of herself on the soft skills. The warning to foreign bosses not to use colleagues as interpreters alone could save vast amounts of money and resentment amongst staff.

Weaknesses? Well, the book is somewhat Budapest-centric - the guide to house hunting concentrates more or less on Buda. OK, this is the preferred abode of the better off ex-pat, but there is barely any mention of the vidék (countryside) when it comes to finding a pad. And despite pages on the Hungarian language, how and where to learn it and its place in the world, Ardó is surprisingly ignorant of, or at least totally ignores, its similarities with Turkish. In this she is like many Magyars who willingly stress the Finnish connections, while steering clear of any links to the former occupiers.

She also comes up with a new meaning, at least to me, of the word "Hunglish." I’ve always though this meant the transferring of words or phrases that sound as if they can go straight into English, but can’t. Or if they do, they don’t mean what Hungarians think they do. Classic examples include "actual" and "by all means," and more recently, to do with impending EU membership, "subvention" - meaning subsidy. The author, however, uses "Hunglish" to mean words that have come from English into Hungarian, be they unchanged - such as golf and grill - or Magyarized, such as gól and flört.

However, the book’s most glaring weakness, at least superficially, is the photography. Ardó’s skills with the silver halide appear inversely proportional to her ability to communicate with words. Almost every photograph is dire. The shot of the BKV bus, page 219, and her Duna korzó picture - a fuzzy lamp post and flower pot dominate this scene on page 258 - look like the top illustrations from a volume of "Teach Yourself Bad Photography." What was it she warned about using professionals, rather than untrained colleagues, as translators in the business chapter?

But photos aside, will the book do the trick for Bill and Sue? Difficult to say. For a newcomer with zero knowledge of Hungary, Ardó expects the reader to absorb much - too much surely, for a greenhorn to enjoy reading this book while spending his first afternoon in Budapest sipping coffee at Gerbeaud. But as a companion for the "professional" ex-pat, reveling in the insights and perceptions of Magyarness, it is invaluable. Put it another way; if Bill and Sue read and absorb this book during their year’s stay, they will come back not just pretentious clever clogs, but know-alls. Damned annoying it will be too, especially as it was you who bought them the book in the first place. And you ignored this warning.

Culture Shock! Hungary
by Zsuzsanna Ardó
302 pages
Published by Times Books International
ISBN 981-232-723-1