Hungary

Beoordeling 6.3
Foto van een scholier
  • Spreekbeurt door een scholier
  • 3e klas vwo | 1451 woorden
  • 15 oktober 2003
  • 11 keer beoordeeld
Cijfer 6.3
11 keer beoordeeld

Taal
Engels
Vak

When I say Hungary, of course you say Budapest. We’ve all learned our topography…
When I say Hungary, you also say goulash. Because if you are fond of tasty food, Hungary is a place you will like!
When I say Hungary, you might even say Puszta, although I’ve got my doubts about that.
But if I say Hungary again, would you still know what to say? What else do you know about Hungary? Nothing? But Hungary is so much more than just goulash!
Do you know that the Hungarian statehood is over 1,000 years old? That the iron curtain was dismantled on the frontier of Hungary and Austria? That the famous Rubik’s cube was invented by an Hungarian professor?
To be honest, I didn’t. But now I do know.
So don’t worry, there is hope. Today I’m here to teach you everything you want to know or don’t want to know about Hungary.

History
The Hungarians are descended from the Finno-Ugric tribe. In 896 Hungary was captured by seven tribes under the leadership of prince Árpád.
In the year 1000 the first Hungarian king, István, better known as Saint Stephen, was crowned. He introduced Christianity, through which Hungary became officially an independent kingdom.
In the 16th century the country was captured by the Turks. After 150 years of Turkish occupation, the Hungarians were liberated by the Habsburgers from Austria, who immediately captured Hungary themselves. For 200 years the country was governed from Vienna. Halfway through the 19th century, during the European Revolution, the Hungarians revolted against the Habsburgers. But it was not until 1867 that they got their own government and therefore partly independence. But still a lot of the important things were decided in Austria. This is what we call Austria-Hungary.
In 1914 Austria declared war to Serbia, and therefore Hungary, as a part of Austria, was involved in the war too.
After the defeat in the 1st world war in 1918, in the Treaty of Trianon Hungary was formed as it is now. It lost 70% of its territory and 40% of its population to its neighbouring countries Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
The influence of the fascism became much stronger; the communist parties were forbidden and Jews were excluded from the higher educations. Hungary corresponded with Germany and the National-socialism got more followers.
When the 2nd world war broke out, prime minister Teleki tried to keep Hungary out of the war. But in 1941 the regent decided, under pressure of Hitler, to join the attack on the Soviet-Union. Teleki committed suicide. In his last letter he wrote: ‘…we took sides with bastards…’
When Hungary in 1944 made overtures with Russia, the country was occupied by the Germans. In 1945 it was liberated by the Soviets.
Directly after the war the communist party got a strong position and from 1948 on there was only one party: the communist Hungarian Labour party.
In 1956 they revolted against Russia. 2 weeks later the Russian tanks entered the country and restored the peace. 200.000 Hungarians fled to neighbouring countries.
János Kádár became the new leader of Hungary. Under his leadership Hungary became the freest country in eastern Europe.
In 1989 the Hungarian Labour party introduced a multiple party system. That same year they also opened the border with Austria, in other words the iron curtain was lifted. That was not only the begin of the democracy, but also the end of the communism in whole eastern Europe. De communists gave up.
The revolution brought unemployment, criminality and poverty along with it.
But from 1997 on the economy shows a rising line again. Also the NATO invited Hungary to join them, which they did. Since 1998 the new democratic parties govern and Hungary is doing better in many different ways.

Geographical facts
Hungary has got an area of 93 030 km2 which is twice the size of the Netherlands and 1% of the area of Europe.
It’s capital is Budapest. In the past this city used to be two cities, but in 1873 Buda and Pest were unified. Buda and Pest are separated by the river Danube (Duna). Buda is built on hills, while Pest is bigger and flat. The most important buildings like the government are located in Pest. Budapest has 2 million inhabitants. The 2nd biggest city in Hungary is Debrecen, with 200.000 inhabitants.
One of the most important hotels in Budapest is the Hilton hotel, but fortunately they don’t have a Herman Brood, so it is save to stay there.
The flag of the Republic of Hungary is a tricolour horizontal red, white and green bars.
The official language is Hungarian. It originates from the Finno-Ugric tribe of languages, just like Finnish, Lapps and Estonian. But they can’t understand each other, as the difference is too big. Until the 19th century German was the first language, then Latin and Hungarian was only a third language. In 1832 the first regulations for spelling were introduced. From then on Hungarian was the official language. The 21 different cases and the absence of the prepositions, make it very hard to learn and to understand this language.
Most Hungarians don’t speak English and only a few speak German. During communism they were forced to learn Russian as a second language. Most people try to forget this language as fast as possible. Since a few years the children also learn English at school, but only a few know enough English to communicate.
Hungary has 10,1 million inhabitants and 5 million more Hungarians live outside the borders, which is because of the Treaty of Trianon after the 1st world war.
The life expectancy for men is 66, and it’s 74 for women. In the Netherlands this is almost 75 for men, while the life expectancy of women is over 80 years.
60% percent of the Hungarians are Roman Catholic.
99% of the population can read and write. The country has 10 general and 10 technical universities.
In Hungary they have a continental climate, which means they have snow in the winter and sun in the summer. In the summer it is very hot, sometimes the temperature can even rise over 40 degrees. At this moment it is about 25 degrees with a lot of sun, but they expect some rain the coming days.
The longest river is the Danube, which is 2860 km long, with an Hungarian stretch of 417 km.
The biggest lake is lake Balaton, which is a famous place for tourists. The lake is not very deep, only 3 meters at its deepest. Therefore the temperature of the water rises very quickly. It has an area of 598 km2 with a length of 77 km. The widest part is 14 km, the smallest only 1,4 km.

A few famous things
Hungary is a beautiful country. I’ve been there once and I immediately loved it. For most people who visit Hungary, it is love at first sight. But then what do people find so attractive about Hungary?
First of all, most people love the Hungarian kitchen. Hungarian food is always hot and spicy. In every meal they try to put as much paprika and garlic as possible. One of the most famous meals is Goulash. It is a kind of bean soup and it looks disgusting, but it tastes delicious.
An other thing Hungary is famous for, is the Puszta. A Puszta is a special kind of steppe, which is significant for Hungary.
In the past the whole east side used to be one big Puszta, but now a big nature reserve in Hortobágy is the only thing that’s left.

Cultural differences
Hungarians are courteous. When they ask you how you’re doing, they are really interested in the answer. So they expect a serious answer. If you’re not doing very well, they expect you to say that. They think it’s rude when you just answer ‘I’m fine’. So always avoid the ‘hello-how are you-I’m fine-thank you’ syndrome.
An other difference is the departure. Women are not supposed to shake hands, men are.
If you know someone, you use his or her first name, also in formal situations.
Hungarians always first say the surname and then the first name. So Wim Kok would have been Kok Wim if he was born in Hungary.
In Hungary they celebrate name day. They celebrate the death of a saint. For example Saint Nicholas. He died on the 6th of December. So everybody whose name is Nicholas, celebrates his name day on the 6th of December. Every Hungarian is named after a saint, so everybody has his own name day. When you have more than one name day, the name day which is closest to your birthday is celebrated. They don’t really celebrate birthdays, name day is much more important.

Now if I say Hungary, would you still say the same?

REACTIES

J.

J.

Hele gave spreekbeurt!! ik kom uit Hongarije!! ben wel hier geboren!! maar mn ouders komen daarvandaan!
greetzz julia

20 jaar geleden

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