Mélanie Laurent in Je vais bien, ne t’en fais pas, whatever that means. (2006).

(Something like “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”)

I wouldn’t claim to have much talent for it, but I really love European languages, and have studied many, but I really wish I had also taken French in school. It always bewilders me, even though French and English have some common vocab.

Of the languages I did try to learn, the hardest was Hungarian. I made almost zero progress and just gave up on it when I worked in Hungary. There are Hungarians that speak German, English or Russian, but not enough for me to survive there. Fortunately I found a Hungarian girlfriend who speaks German, and she translated for me. Not only is Hungarian from a completely separate language family as the languages I know (Slavic, Romance, Germanic), with almost totally separate vocabulary, but it also incorporates some atypical grammatical practices that make it difficult to construct “on the fly” unless you are a native speaker and do it automatically.

Mélanie Laurent in Je vais bien, ne t’en fais pas, whatever that means. (2006).

(Something like “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”)

I wouldn’t claim to have much talent for it, but I really love European languages, and have studied many, but I really wish I had also taken French in school. It always bewilders me, even though French and English have some common vocab.

Of the languages I did try to learn, the hardest was Hungarian. I made almost zero progress and just gave up on it when I worked in Hungary. There are Hungarians that speak German, English or Russian, but not enough for me to survive there. Fortunately I found a Hungarian girlfriend who speaks German, and she translated for me. Not only is Hungarian from a completely separate language family as the languages I know (Slavic, Romance, Germanic), with almost totally separate vocabulary, but it also incorporates some atypical grammatical practices that make it difficult to construct “on the fly” unless you are a native speaker and do it automatically.