Culture Shock! Hungary (Culture Shock! A Survival Guide to Customs & Etiquette) [Paperback]

Seldom does a book that is written for a narrow readership, in this case tourists and businessmen, become a success beyond its intended audience. What elevates "CULTURE SHOCK! HUNGARY" above the level of a Traveller's Guide Series is both the quality of the writing and the intimate knowledge of what overdrives this nation of 10 million restless souls. It is like a firmly held mirror, an unflinching but affectionate insight into the character of a nation.
If you are lucky enough to witness Zsuzsanna Ardo's meticulous undressing of Hungarians and their culture, you realize that she leaves very little mystery for any self-respecting Magyar to hide behind. To the embarrassment, or if you will to the delight of a native, who believes that he or she is comfortable with all the intricate layers of social interactions, the language and the "unpredictable excitement and character building" Hungarian history, even for them the "CULTURE SHOCK! HUNGARY" is full of fresh and original information that provokes conventional wisdom. With her warm satire she is experiencing life head-on in Budapest and the relentless and unavoidable hospitality of the countryside and its people. Whether it be a late evening stroll on the banks of the Danube or on the Margit bridge, challenging snow and ice on the hills of Rozsadomb, or a hot summer swim in Lake Balaton, her eye is always sharp and correct.
"...while surfers get hooked on the gentle waves and brisk breeze in the glaringly corny sunset, complete with golden-red reflections across the calm waters of the lake. No picture postcard of Lake Balaton can be such perfect kitsch as reality itself.."
Most enjoyable are her repeated journeys into the Hungarian psyche which explain and become the basis for all the advice and experiences she provides so abundantly. Her street wise comments on the personal and impersonal ways of greeting someone, the telltale handshakes, the persistent eye contact, the formality of kisses wherever they may land, the invitations and/or the un-invitations to a visit... are like a hilarious anthropological study.
"Some argue that laboring on building and nurturing and consensus-based love relationship with a Hungarian is, overall, like teaching a raven to fly underwater. This is grossly unfair... to the ravens. There is consensus all right as long as you consent to whatever your hero desires..."
"...status markers in social relations (are) a rather sophisticated system for keeping and reducing psychological distance, imposing and refusing hierarchy or intimacy."
Obviously she is afflicted by the same genes of passion, humor and unbridled need to inform and/or set things straight, as the people she is writing about.
"Whenever it is momentarily blue, manic, or depressive, the admirable lack of self-irony with which some Hungarian egos indulge themselves by fits and starts guarantee the heavy-duty nature of their state of mind. ...their oscillations between euphoric drives to get ahead and melodramatic soul-tearing driven by paranoid fatalism are sizzling and spectacular."
Ouch! She exposes universally and correctly the Hungarian nerve; it is up to the reader to differentiate among the joys and obstacles and to decide if he or she is adventurous enough to visit or even to stay in this very hospitable country, better yet, to befriend a "demonstratively woe-stricken... mega-sensitive" Hungarian! Her view is compassionate but sobering of a society where fantasies of even the possibility of grandeur, sentimentality and "an intensely vague discomfort or inarticulate ethnocentricity", is the norm; as if she would say, "I love the place and all of you guys, but you are so..." It is a well deserved roasting. And when she is in her more somber mood, a well deserved warning. Noticing the heavy drinking and smoking and a "decidedly non PC diet" she muses: "Traditionally, many Hungarians embrace premature death with gusto."
"Hungarians eat just about everything that you are not supposed to, prepared in the way it shouldn't be, and consumed in deadly quantities. Naturally, they enjoy it tremendously. And they want to make it sure their visitors enjoy it too."
But her satire is not just idle remarks of society's shortcomings and idiosyncrasies. She admirably provides a long list of agencies and social services where Hungarians, visiting businessmen and tourists can turn to, to redeem themselves.
With her academic background in Linguistics and Literature, Ardo's casual introduction to the Hungarian language, that is difficult by any standard, is like a friendly persuasion. Her unusual but well researched approach is a very convincing short course in Etymology. Surprisingly revealing even for those who think they can speak Hungarian.
Page after page Zsuzsanna Ardo, who was born in Hungary but presently is a British citizen, proves an important point, that only from a safe distance, preferably from as far as possible, can one truly look at his or her homeland objectively.
I would recommend the book to anyone who wishes to have a less bumpy ride through this little country in the Danube basin. It is unfortunate that the book is available only in English, because "CULTURE SHOCK! HUNGARY" should be a must, a specially required and liberating reading for all Hungarians too.
Kid from Pataj, Steven Domonkos.

The subtitle to "Culture Shock!: Hungary" is appropriately "Guide to Customs and Etiquette." Zsuzsanna Ardo helps readers know the reality of Hungarian living. She has a well-flavored take on her home country, making this an enjoyable and comprehensive book. There is more than paprika spicing up Hungarian people.

While many guides to Hungarian culture are either long histories of various cities or ideas for tourism, "Culture Shock" provides the personality of the modern Hungarian.

I looked for a comparable book and found none. This is the best introduction to Hungarian culture and etiquette on the market.

To know a country, you must know the people. The sites and history don't cut it. There's the sociology, ideas and customs. Zsuzsanna Ardo provides us with everything from language pointers to how to do business, to core values.

As far as the language section, you expect more than a traveller's lexicon. Look for an explantion of Hunglish (basically how Hungarians add their suffixes to English words to Hungarianize them). Learn how to articulate the variants in their complex vowel system, and how a slight slip can get you exactly what you didn't think you asked for. She explains the nuances of stress and unstressed syllables. There's a short etymology lesson too.

Business, romance, and, of course, culinary matters are adequately surveyed.

The details of Hungarian living are covered very well. Apparently, there's more to buying a watermelon there than here in the United States.Driving under the slightest influence of alcohol is warned against, as they've stricter rules than in the US. Buying a renting a home, what spas are all about, and what's really going with paprika is thoroughly discussed. The pulse of real living and how you can fit in is superbly introduced.

I fully recommend "Culture Shock!: Hungary" by Zsuzsanna Ardo.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

"Culture Shock! Hungary" is a golden child in the Culture Shock! family of books. Ardo's text is extremely readable and functional. Part history and language lesson, part culinary and travel guide, and more, "Culture Shock! Hungary" is chock full of interesting trivia and applicable knowledge. Ardo's work is highly recommended to anyone hoping or planning on visiting Hungary. The book is compact and would also be well worth rereading on one's trip to Budapest, Balaton or the Hortobagy. This mini-masterpiece of hints and humor would also be useful for someone interested in better understanding the burning minds, yo-yo moods and often mysterious ways of Hungarian friends, colleagues or even love interests. And of course, this text is an especially good read for anyone, in the U.S. or Canada with Magyar ancestry who is trying to learn more, or read commentary on Hungarian heritage. "Culture Shock! Hungary" is a thoroughly relevant and entertaining read.

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