Hungarian Pronunciation: IPA Characters Are Your Best Friends
I have to be honest, learning the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) characters was not fun. I was 10 and we just started to learn English. Every single time we learnt a new word, it had to be written down in our note book inclusive the IPA characters. It was a chore, but to this day, I still use them when I study a foreign language. When it is not possible to listen to the pronunciation of a word, IPA characters come very handy! That's why I'd like to teach you the ones you need if you are interested in the Hungarian language.
Are you a beginner?
Than I recommend doing two things at the same time: listen to the pronunciation of the word you want to learn and look at the way it is written with IPA characters as well. To find content like that, you can check out my videos on instagram (Hungarian365) or use the hashtag: #Hungarian365.
VOWELS
ɒ EXAMPLE: ma
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: hot
aː EXAMPLE: kár
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: father
ɛ EXAMPLE: eszik
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: bet
eː EXAMPLE: én
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: café
i EXAMPLE: mi
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: happy
iː EXAMPLE: szív
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: knee
o EXAMPLE: kor
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: sorcerer
oː EXAMPLE: ló
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: north in Australian English (make the o a bit longer)
ø EXAMPLE: öt
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: earl
øː EXAMPLE: nő
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: murder
u EXAMPLE: ujj
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: put
uː EXAMPLE: úr
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: fool
y EXAMPLE: üveg
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: Not used in English, corresponds to German Ü.
yː EXAMPLE: fű
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: Not used in English, corresponds to a longer version of German Ü.
CONSONANTS
b EXAMPLE: bab
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: boat
c EXAMPLE: tyúk
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: tube
d EXAMPLE: dal
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: duck
d͡z EXAMPLE: madzag
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: kids
d͡ʒ EXAMPLE: dzsessz
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: jam
f EXAMPLE: fáj
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: find
ɡ EXAMPLE: gomb
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: go
h EXAMPLE: hat
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: happy
j EXAMPLE: jó, lyuk
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: yes
ɟ EXAMPLE: gyufa
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: Not used in Egnlish, but similar to due, during.
k EXAMPLE: kap
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: kiss
l EXAMPLE: liba
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: lip
m EXAMPLE: most
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: moon
n EXAMPLE: nap
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: nap
ŋ EXAMPLE: munka
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: bank (n before k, g)
ɲ EXAMPLE: nyúl
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: canyon
p EXAMPLE: pap
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: hope
r EXAMPLE: róka
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: rolled r
s EXAMPLE: szép
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: sun
ʃ EXAMPLE: sas
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: ship
t EXAMPLE: tánc
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: tell
t͡s EXAMPLE: cél
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: cats
t͡ʃ EXAMPLE: csirke
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: cheek
v EXAMPLE: van
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: very
z EXAMPLE: zöld
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: zipper
ʒ EXAMPLE: zseb
ENGLISH APPROXIMATION: pleasure
Good to know:
- The sign (ː) means that we are talking about a long vowel or consonant.
- The sign that indicates the stress/accent is the following: (ˈ). This one is not that important in our case because in Hungarian stress falls on the first syllable of a word.
- Do you see that line above the following letters: d͡z, d͡ʒ, t͡s, t͡ʃ. It is not always used, so don't get confused if you don't see them. But it means that these characters belong together and describe ONE sound.
I hope this helps. :) Good luck!
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