The challenges in a country where you don't understand one single word

Learn basic words

I'm in Budapest, Hungary. It is my first time visiting a country with a language entirely different from Portuguese. Hungarian does not belong to the Indo-European language family and has zero relation to them. I tried to research the story to summarize in this post but gave up, such is the complexity.

Most people speak at least basic English here. This helps. The crisis triggers when you meet someone who doesn't.

At the supermarket, my friend needed to weigh some bread. We asked for help for the girl who monitors the automatic supermarket cashier. Moody and fierce, she began speaking Hungarian words that were incomprehensible and faster than Spanish on x2.

"Sorry, the barcode", we said, pointing out to the bread bag gesturing an imaginary barcode. It didn't work. We stopped trying to communicate and returned to the automatic supermarket cashier. She came over without saying anything, pressed several buttons, and abruptly got rid of the package. She left without saying anything. We grunt shy "thanks".

Also in this supermarket, we still needed to enable our European mobile chip, so recognizing the products on the shelf took a lot of work. Many had no words in English on the packaging."Is this a chocolate powder or a packet of instant coffee?", "Is this butter or cream cheese?", "Is this a shampoo or a shaving cream?". We had no idea.

After this traumatic experience on the first day, we took two immediate actions. 1) To buy the chip and have Google Translate available on the phone. 2) To learn the basics of Hungarian.

2 is very difficult. The voice of Google Translate always sounds differently, and memory after 30 years no longer helps memorize strange words. But I'm trying. A mere "jó reggelt kívánok" (good morning) or "kérem" (please) can help to conquer hungarian's sympathy.

Words in Hungarian I've learned so far:

Jó reggelt kívánok (Good morning)
Kérem (Please)
Szia (Hello)
Köszönöm (Thank you)
Sör (Beer)
Kiadó (Real State)
Magyar (Hungarian)
Tér (Square)
Utca (Street)
Út (Avenue)

Fun fact: not to say the Hungarian doesn't have any single word from the Indo-European roots, but the months are perfectly recognizable.

Január
Február
Március
Április
Május
Június
Július
Augusztus
Szeptember
Október
November
December

Have you ever had a similar experience? Share in the comments.

Photo: Bence Szemerey. Budapest, Hungary.