HUNGARY 
Central Europe
Capital: Budapest
Languages: Hungarian
Religion(s): Christianity
(predominantly Roman Catholic)
COMMON CHARACTERISTICS:
- Around two-thirds of the Hungarian people are Roman Catholic; around a quarter are Calvinist; and the rest of the population either belongs to the Lutheran, Jewish, or Greek Orthodox faith.
- It is common for friends, family members and close acquaintances that have not seen one another for a while to greet each other/say goodbye with pecks on both cheeks.
- Hungarians are resourceful, helpful, intelligent and hard working. They have a good sense of humor, good accommodation skills and a strong sense of identity.
FUN FACTS:
- The Hungarian language is known as Magyar and is the direct descendant of the language
spoken by the “Huns.” It is not an Indo-European language and has only two related languages in Europe: Finnish and Estonian. - Hungarians have invented many important items over the years including the electric motor, the Telephone Exchange, and BASIC programming language. Laszlo Biro invented the ballpoint pen and Erno Rubik invented the Rubik’s Cube.
- Hungarians are very good at sports. The most successful sports in Hungary’s Olympic history are fencing, water polo, swimming, kayak-canoe and wrestling.
USEFUL PHRASES:
- How are you? Hogy vagy?
- Fine, thanks.: Köszönöm jól.
- My name is…: A nevem ….
- Nice to meet you.: Örülök hogy megismerhetem.
- Thank you.: Köszönöm.
Photo by: Josu Orbe {flickr}