Teaching Hungarian address forms and greetings to (but not only) Finnish speakers

Abstract

Choosing the appropriate forms of address and greetings is not easy even for the native Hungarian speakers, especially as a result of the changes in the Hungarian language in the last 30 years. In order to achieve successful communication, the acquiring the use of T and V forms (by pronouns maga or ön) and nominal address forms (including first or last names, nicknames, titles, job titles and endearments) occupies an important role in the teaching of Hungarian as a foreign language. Mastering the tools of the address forms and the rules of their use develops the pragmatic competence of the students. Because of the relatively quick changes in the address system in Hungarian, the language books can not be always up to date, therefore it usually depends on the teacher to pass on the changes in the present language use or at least providing information on them.

Particular emphasis should be placed on the teaching of Hungarian address system to native speakers of Finnish (a language belonging to the Scandinavian cultural circle). Although V forms exist also in the Finnish language, their use is quite infrequent. Consequently, the use of them can cause difficulties for the younger generations. In Finnish, as several studies have shown, the use of last names, nicknames and endearments are relatively rare and has completely different rules than their equivalents in Hungarian. Teaching addressing by titles in Hungarian is challenging, because in Finnish titles are used quite rarely and they can even get an ironic tone. Therefore, special attention should be paid to addressing teachers and those working in the (university) bureaucracy, as some students continue their language studies in Hungary.

Although greetings are not an integral part of address system, they may indicate the subject of using T or V forms; and certain official address forms, especially in writing and addressing unknown persons (e. g. Tisztelt Elnök Asszony! ’Dear Madam President!’), usually involve V forms. As a language teacher, it is not enough to emphasize that some of the Hungarian greetings – even without a specific formal or informal element – are informal and indicate T forms (e.g. a szia, szervusz), and some of them are formal indicating almost always V forms (e.g. Jó napot kívánok!, Viszontlátásra!). If the students do not use formal greetings regularly in their native language, the teachers of Hungarian have to pay close attention to those forms of Hungarian in teaching and have to give enough time to practicing the correct address forms during the whole period of Hungarian language studies.

In this paper we present our best practices and ideas for teaching address forms and rules of their use, based on the research on Hungarian language changes in the last 30 years. In addition to the traditional methods (e. g. translation, interpreting tasks), we have developed modern, often playful tasks during our many years’ teaching carreer. We present practical examples for teaching of important features of the Hungarian address system, based partly on the earlier published language teaching books and partly on our own materials. Based on these examples and practices, teachers of Hungarian as a foreign language may get inspiration to develop their own materials, within the limits of the possibilities.