Better Hungarian

Ilona Kemény (Ili)
^{site admin, lesson planner, post writer}

30-year-old from the US, happily married with 5 cats. Lover of languages since discovering what a foreign language was. Hobbies include writing, drawing, translating (lyricstranslate), and playing video games. I’m Autistic (if you didn’t already guess) and I also have ADHD, which is a really fun (terrible) combo when you’re trying to keep up with any hobby or project (like, say, a Hungarian teaching blog).

I began earnestly studying Hungarian in 2018, although I had an interest in it for several years prior to that. My spouse’s family originally came from Hungary (didn’t pass down the language), and we met when I posted about some Hungarian characters of mine on tumblr, so in a way I have Hungarian (and Fallout 4) to thank for my marriage, and the language and country have since become very dear to me.

Other languages I speak with varying levels of fluency: French (C1), Spanish (B2-ish), Norwegian (B1-ish), German (B1-ish), Japanese (A2), Mandarin (B1-B2 at one point, but I haven’t studied for years so I forgot a lot).

Honorable mentions: Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Swedish – can read OK depending on the content, but haven’t studied enough to write or speak them. (I can read/understand some Finnish too, but it’s mostly just Antti Tuisku songs)

Hungarian is also how I met one of my dearest and most precious friends, who I will now be introducing since I quite literally could not run this blog without him.

Alex Farkas
^{post editor, proofreader, quality and accuracy checker}

30-something native Hungarian, currently living in Budapest. Also member of the ADHD club. Spent several years living in the UK and thus is very fond of the word “innit”. Enjoys role-playing games and history, and has dabbled in webcomics and streaming. Also a fellow writing and linguistic enthusiast, we have had many lively and enthralling discussions about the exact nuances of a certain word at 3 in the morning.

With Alex’s help, I am able to write these lessons and provide them to you all. He is responsible for proofreading all posts and correcting any mistakes, and is also the extremely helpful lad who checks all of my translations. Thanks to his ideal fluency in both Hungarian and English, he is able to provide me with nuances and explanations about grammar and vocabulary that you’ll rarely see in any textbook.