Learn how to express your opinion politely
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to HungarianPod101.com. This is Upper Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 5 - Weighing Your Options in Hungary. Eric here. |
| Lena: Hello. This is Lena. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to express your opinion in a polite way. The conversation takes place at a university. |
| Lena: It's between Tom and his Professor. |
| Eric: The speakers are a teacher and a student, so they will use formal Hungarian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Tanár : A múltkori dolgozata nem lett valami fényes, Tamás. Lehet, hogy mérlegelnie kellene a munkába fektetett időt. |
| Tom: Tudom, Tanár úr, de úgy gondolom, a jelenlegi munkahelyem remek karrierlehetőséget jelentene később. |
| Tanár : Nem vagyok benne biztos, hogy az egyetemi tanulmányaira ez jó hatással lenne. |
| Tom: Éppen ellenkezőleg, a főnököm is sokszor mondja, tanuljak többet. |
| Tanár : Személy szerint úgy vélem, a jó munkához idő kell. |
| Tom: Ezzel én is tisztában vagyok. Majd megpróbálok többet dolgozni. |
| Tanár : Nem úgy értettem... |
| Eric: Now listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Professor: Your last assignment was not very good, Tom. Maybe you should reconsider the time invested at work. |
| Tom: I know, Professor, but I think that later this job will become a great career opportunity. |
| Professor: I'm not sure that it will have a positive influence on your university studies. |
| Tom: On the contrary, my boss often tells me that I should study more. |
| Professor: Personally, I believe that good work takes time. |
| Tom: I'm aware of that. I'll try to work more. |
| Professor: That’s not what I meant... |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Lena, are sayings and proverbs often used in modern Hungarian? |
| Lena: Yes. I’d say they are very common in the Hungarian language. |
| Eric: Is there any difference between a saying and a proverb in Hungarian culture? |
| Lena: Well, sayings are fixed sentences describing a general situation, while proverbs give a general truth. |
| Eric: What are the most popular sayings? |
| Lena: Well, a lot of people say...Tudja, mitől döglik a légy! which means “He knows what's what!” or Se füle se farka! - “That's nonsense!” |
| Eric: And proverbs? |
| Lena: Hm...for example...Ajándék lónak ne nézd a fogát! means “Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!” Or here’s another one...Aki a kicsit nem becsüli, a nagyot nem érdemli! which means “A penny saved is a penny earned!” |
| Eric: I see. Interesting! Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Lena: mérlegel [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to consider |
| Lena: mérlegel [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Lena: mérlegel [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Lena: befektet [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to invest |
| Lena: befektet [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Lena: befektet [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Lena: karrierlehetőség [natural native speed] |
| Eric: career opportunity |
| Lena: karrierlehetőség [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Lena: karrierlehetőség [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Lena: tanulmány [natural native speed] |
| Eric: studies |
| Lena: tanulmány [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Lena: tanulmány [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Lena: vél [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to think, to have an opinion |
| Lena: vél [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Lena: vél [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Lena: ért [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to mean, to understand |
| Lena: ért [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Lena: ért [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Lena: tiszta [natural native speed] |
| Eric: clean |
| Lena: tiszta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Lena: tiszta [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Lena: megpróbál [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to try |
| Lena: megpróbál [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Lena: megpróbál [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And lastly.. |
| Lena: ellenkezőleg [natural native speed] |
| Eric: on the contrary |
| Lena: ellenkezőleg [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Lena: ellenkezőleg [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Lena: időt fektet valamibe |
| Eric: which means “to invest time in something” |
| Lena: This expression comes from the verb befektet |
| Eric: ….which means “to invest in”. |
| Lena : befektet is usually followed by a noun ending in -ba, or -be. |
| Eric: You can use it in expressions such as…. |
| Lena : energiát fektet |
| Eric: “to invest energy” |
| Lena: erőt fektet |
| Eric: “to invest power” |
| Lena: pénzt fektet |
| Eric: “to invest money”. For example… |
| Lena: Minél több időt fektetsz ebbe, annál több pénzt vesztesz! |
| Eric: “The more time you invest in this, the more money you'll lose!” |
| Lena: To express a negative opinion on the time or energy invested in something, you can replace fektet with pazarol |
| Eric: which means “to waste” |
| Lena: and use a noun with a -ra, or -re ending. |
| Eric: For example… |
| Lena: Ne pazarold az idődet ilyen butaságokra |
| Eric: “Don't waste your time on such silly things.” Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Lena: úgy véli |
| Eric: “to believe that” |
| Lena: The verb vél is a formal way of expressing “to think” or “to have an opinion”. The expression úgy véli literally means, “to believe that way”. |
| Eric: It’s usually followed by a comma and another phrase. |
| Lena: You can also use the connective hogy to introduce your phrase. |
| Eric: For example… |
| Lena: Úgy vélem, hogy ez nem helyes. |
| Eric: This means “I believe that this isn’t right.” Here’s another sample sentence with our phrase. |
| Lena: Úgy vélem, időveszteség ezzel foglalkozni. |
| Eric: “I believe that it’s a waste of time to do this.” Okay, what's the last phrase? |
| Lena: tisztában van valamivel |
| Eric: it means “to be aware of something” |
| Lena: tisztában van is followed by a noun with an ending in -val, or -vel. |
| Eric: Literally this expression means “to be clear” on the matter. You can also add another phrase if you want to say “to be aware of the fact that…” |
| Lena: Right. That would be tisztában van azzal, hogy… |
| Eric: To say that somebody is not aware of something, you can use the next phrase... |
| Lena: nincs tisztában azzal, hogy... |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Lena: Sure. For example, you can say.. Nincs tisztában azzal, hogy mekkora kockázatot vállal. |
| Eric: .. which means “He is not aware of how big the risk is.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to express your opinion in a polite way. |
| Lena: In everyday conversations, stating your personal opinion is very common. |
| Eric: It’s no surprise that in a polite context, stating something too directly can be aggressive or disrespectful. The focus of this lesson is to be able to state your opinion politely, to respectfully agree or disagree with someone’s opinion. |
| Lena: Eric, let’s start from the phrases used to express your opinion. |
| Eric: To express your opinion politely you can use the following phrase... |
| Lena: Úgy gondolom |
| Eric: “I think” |
| Lena: or Úgy vélem |
| Eric: “I believe”. For example... |
| Lena: Úgy gondolom ez egy remek ötlet! or Úgy vélem ez egy remek ötlet! |
| Eric: “I think that this is a great idea!” or “I believe that this is a great idea!” The next useful phrase is... |
| Lena: Személy szerint |
| Eric: which means “Personally I…” Lena, a sample sentence please! |
| Lena: Személy szerint úgy gondolom, jól sikerült a tárgyalás. |
| Eric: Meaning, “Personally, I think that the negotiations went well.” Another useful phrase, which will help you to express your opinion politely, is... |
| Lena: Az az igazság… or Az igazat megvallva… |
| Eric: They both mean “to tell the truth…” |
| Lena: For example, you can say... Az az igazság, nem teljesen értek önnel egyet. or Az igazat megvallva nem teljesen értek önnel egyet. |
| Eric: Both of these sentences mean “To tell the truth, I don't totally agree with you”. If you want to state that you agree with someone, you can use the following expressions. |
| Lena: Teljes mértékben egyetértek önnel |
| Eric: “I totally agree with you” |
| Lena: Ehhez nem fér kétség |
| Eric: “There is no doubt.” |
| Lena: Természetesen or Valóban |
| Eric: These words mean “of course” and “as a matter of fact” respectively. Lena, let's give our listeners some sample sentences. |
| Lena: Sure. Teljes mértékben egyetértek önnel, ez a kérdés jelentéktelen! |
| Eric: “I totally agree with you, this question is not important!” |
| Lena: Ehhez nem fér kétség, az újság is írt róla. |
| Eric: “There is no doubt, it was also written in the newspaper” |
| Lena: Természetesen ezzel én is egyet értek. |
| Eric: “Of course I agree with this.” So Lena, what expressions would you use if you disagree with someone? |
| Lena: That’s tricky! Always try to start by stating that you understand or accept their opinion before saying why you don’t agree. For example, you can use the phrase Az igazat megvallva |
| Eric: “To tell the truth...” |
| Lena: and after that, you can add your own opinion...For example, you could say..Az igazat megvallva nem vagyok oda az ötletért. |
| Eric: “To tell the truth, I’m not that into the idea.” |
| Lena: You can also use the words Ellenkezőleg or Éppen ellenkezőleg |
| Eric: which means “on the contrary…” |
| Lena: For example...Ellenkezőleg, pontosan emiatt ment csődbe a bank! |
| Eric: “On the contrary, this was precisely the reason why the bank went bankrupt!” |
| Lena: Some other useful expressions are Nem vagyok benne biztos and Nem hiszem, hogy |
| Eric: which mean “I’m not sure” and “I don’t think” respectively. |
| Lena: For example...Nem vagyok benne biztos, hogy találunk erre megoldást a közeljövőben. |
| Eric: “I’m not sure we can find a solution for this in the near future.” Listeners, don’t forget that we have more useful phrases in the lesson notes, so be sure to check them out! |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! |
| Lena: Viszontlátásra |
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