What’s the most charming word in your first language?

Tough question, I admit it. If somebody asked me today, I wouldn’t know how to answer it, mainly because I don’t speak it anymore on a daily basis.

It’s quite a paradox, if you think about it.

When you consistently use a language for years, you get better at shaping, sculpting and refining everything you say down to the smallest detail. The way you express yourself is colorful, precise and clear, but the words feel dull and mundane. Your capacity to see your art has gone extinct.

However, when you switch to another one, say for a couple of years – the first one starts to decay. Not to the point where you can’t speak it correctly, but your degree of finesse weakens by the day; your ability to creatively articulate slowly degrades – and that’s when you notice it.
The magic. The beauty. The wonders of your own language you’ve been blind to for all those years.
Suddenly you find yourself appreciating the little quirks, the hidden meanings and the witty twists used by those who’ve mastered it over the decades.

It’s funny how unaware we can be to the marvels that surround us every day.
Until Life reminds us in a playful way.

Today – over a 1000km away from my homeland and birthplace – I heard the sweetest “Helló!” of the Hungarian language.

I didn’t know what to expect from today’s date. The texts seemed rather dry than enthusiastic, and the topics were superficial, just so we could keep the juice for the real thing.
She gracefully rolled in with her bike, hopped off and greeted me.
Her hazel brown hair wiggled on her shoulders as we began to walk on the concrete. She was so swift, I could barely keep up with her speed. I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen someone move with such a passion and energy.

The conversation was fluent from the very first minute. Not just the themes, but the language itself, which was supposed to be rusty. Of course, there were moments of struggle when we couldn’t recall the simplest words that are used on a daily basis, but we substituted them with the ones we knew in English.

What are the chances, really?
Hungarian is spoken by 13 million people, and more than 10 million of them live in Hungary.
Though she was born & raised in Germany, her way of talking was vivid and expressive – much more than the people I used to live with.
That was one of the things that pushed me in the direction of moving away.
The desire for color and variety; the chance to become fluent in more than just one language. It’s like being a Chef of linguistics – your thoughts have a different taste in each tongue you speak, and you gain the ability to mix those flavors into something unique. You can spice your days up in any way you wish.

If that’s not a reason to learn another language, I don’t know what is.

In my school years, I had a bad habit of speaking [Hungarian] so fast that not even my mother could decipher what I was saying. It happened all the time, the teachers constantly had to remind me to slow down, because they couldn’t comprehend anything, no matter how hard they sharpened their native ears.

Though I thought it disappeared, with her it came back in 5 minutes.
I was so excited and happy for the great company, that my tongue began to roll with such a pace that would make even a Spanish person ashamed.
Yet, she was listening intently throughout the whole date, making sure she doesn’t miss a thing.
Every word, every sentence we exchanged has found a way to fascinate our brains, keeping us from spacing out or visiting the land of daydreams. In a World of distractions, that’s quite a feat.

How often do you have the privilege of conversing in such a deep and engaging way, that it doesn’t allow you to drift away?

Just think about it for a minute, I’ll wait.

At one point she switched to German and asked me:
“Do you speak German / understand it?”
– Nein nein nein nein nein! – I said, Imitating that guy with the mustache.
That’s all I could say after 8 years of studying it.

The melody of her laughter immediately turned the environment warmer and more vivid, despite that the Sun was already on its way to rise in another country, leaving us with fading colors and growing shades.

Our fast paced wandering has come to an end at my place, culminating in the kitchen where we began making the dish I polished for the past 1.5 years, which I know would make our tastebuds dance like Michael J.
She heroically offered to cut the onions for me.
As the first layers of tears began to appear, she switched to a comical tone to illustrate what she’s going to say about today:
“He made me cry on the first date!”

Humor, charm and kitchen skills. All in one kit.

By the time we finished eating, a quick glimpse at the clock revealed that it wasn’t even past 8.
“If I smoke a joint, is that chill?”
– Hohoho, natuurlijk¹!
The amount of surprises she could fit in her sleeve was endearing.

The occasion demanded the right setting: Candle lights, smooth songs and a warm cup of tea.
You really couldn’t ask for more after a day like this.

We dove into the topics of culture; touching films, music, traditions and language.
Though we grew up in an entirely different place with a distinction in all these, we could effortlessly bridge that gap in each theme, even if some concepts were missing/hard to translate.
The greatest struggle was caused by the word “patriarchy”. There was no equivalent to it in Hungarian, but both of us were sure that there must be.

After all the mental effort we put in to communicate, the first signs of sleepiness began to appear.
We cured it by tasting the evergreen German and Hungarian hits:
The Hungarians would be these: [I couldn’t recall the German ones, even if I wanted it]
– A 67-es út (Republic)
– Jég dupla whiskyvel (Charlie)
– Gyöngyhajú lány (Omega)

She lit up like a Christmas tree, shining brighter than the candles on the windowsill.
Her face was like canvas, waiting to be revealed. She could paint the liveliest emotions in a blink – with Picasso’s talent and passion to express it.

Thanks to this energy, an enthusiastic story followed about the dark side of Germany’s most popular volksfeest².
Octoberfest, you guessed it.

This is the side that we don’t seem, or don’t care to notice.
The puddles of vomit scattered across entire cities, the amount of braincells killed/minute, and a couple of tragic deaths that occur during those weeks.
We are unaware of the aftermath that the celebration leaves in its wake – all we see are happy drunkards snorting cocaine, while beings served with 20 glasses of beer, which is gracefully carried by one very skilled German Lady.

The storytime was interrupted by a neighbor of mine, who began to fanatically wave at my window with his dog standing next to him. It was half past 10 in the evening, though his warm smile didn’t break our moment of intimacy.
What a wonderful neighborhood to live in.

At last, we stumbled upon the greatest common ground between the people who speak our language:
“Oh, you are from Hungary! Are you hungry?” *laughs hysterically*
Every single Dad thinks he is the first person on Earth to come up with this.

Then there is “Puszi Puszi”, which sounds exactly like the genital of a Lady. Thought it means “XOXO”, and we too, use it at parting, unfortunately that doesn’t save us from the weird looks we get every time we say it.

When the time to say farewell came, I gave her a copy of my favorite book: The Alchemist.
Taking my chance to exercise some courtesy, I put the coat on her the old-school way, like the Gents do in the movies.
She passed me an elbow bump – respecting the rules of the country – and softly rolled away on the moonlit street.

And that’s what I call a Happy Ending.

Stay healthy and stay safe,
Erik

2020.10.14 – Day 632

Writer’s notes:
[NL] Natuurlijk!¹ – [ENG] Of course! / Sure! – [HU] Persze! / Naná!
[NL] Volksfeest² – [ENG] Folk festival / National feast – [HU] Nemzeti ünnep / Népünnep

Movie suggestions – True Hungarian Classics:
– A Pál Utcai Fiúk (The Boys of Paul Street)
– Indul a bakterház (The Stationmaster Meets His Match)
And the famous “Üvegtigris” trilogy (Glass Tiger)

Credits:
– Country Flag Icons
– Spices wallpaper