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In Elementary Hungarian I you will learn four communicative skills of comprehension, speaking, and writing. During the first semester you will learn to communicate through dialogues about hobbies, where you live, what languages you speak and study, telling time, shopping, what you have, your family. You will learn to make hotel and restaurant arrangements, describe your friends, family, and environment, discuss interests and more. You will learn at least 13 cases, two verb conjugations for the present tense, verbal prefixes, how to form plurals, adverbs, adjectives, and to express possession and the future. You will learn a lot of grammar and learn to use it frequently and creatively through a variety of conversational environments. You will read dialogues and short texts at every class and will write dialogues and descriptive texts of your own. You will also learn about Hungarian culture so that you become both grammatically and social correct.

In Elementary Hungarian II you will expand your knowledge to include the past tense, the future and the subjunctive/imperative. You will learn three classes of noun stems, how to express completed action vs. ongoing actions, time expressions (clock times, calendars, seasons, weekdays, months) how to express necessity and possibility, and how to use modal verbs. You will be surprised to learn that you can turn cases into pronouns - and you'll do it often. You will learn the names of body parts and how to talk about (some of) your ailments. You will learn how to speak about using public transportation and how to describe the places you visit. You will learn about music festivals, other weekend activities and how to ask and give directions. You will also learn to talk about your body, the clothes that cover it and the ailments that may afflict it.

In Intermediate Hungarian I you will continue to build upon your knowledge of speaking, listening and writing in Hungarian. During the first semester you will complete the textbook and take a first glimpse into Hungarian poetry and some short stories. You will learn how to find and furnish an apartment, express love, take part in a Hungarian-style barbecue, make comparisons, and learn to get others to do things for you. We will finish the semester with the reading of a short crime story. Through conversation you will continue to practice requests and commands, future plans and past experiences, and hypothetical situations. Your readings will explore some of the more playful aspects of Hungarian word-building as well as introduce you to the particularly Hungarian (political/cultural) humor found in the tradition of the one-minute short story.

In Intermediate Hungarian II you will go into greater depth of the Hungarian grammar. You will learn the intricacies of detailing time and weather expressions. You will learn how to make new words out of familiar roots - and then make more words out of the new ones. Finally, you will learn a new style of sentence building that serves to condense the sentence and start you on the path of reading and writing a more advanced/academic prose. In conjunction with these grammar points you will build on your vocabulary of everyday items, personal descriptions and emotions, and human interaction in a variety of environments. You will learn to navigate a variety of documents and charts and surveys. Your reading assignments become more nuanced, culturally induced and persuasive. By the end of the course, it is hoped that your Hungarian speaking and writing witll be equally nuanced, cultured and persuasive.

This course aims to serve as both a review of the more advanced grammatical constructions of Hungarian and a brief chronological look at 20th century Hungarian literature. We will read short stories, poetry and book chapters that reflect the political, economic, literary, and every-day trends and disturbances of the time.

This course aims to serve as both a review of the more advanced grammatical construction of Hungarian and a brief chronological look at 20th century Hungarian literature. We will read short stories poetry and book chapters that reflect the political, literary, and every-day trends and disturbances of this period.