hungarian texts

[AnnMarie Mitchell]

I really liked Banhidi in the 1960's when I was the only person in the
Hungarian class who wasn't born in Hungary.  It was so much better than
"Colloquial Hungarian," which was the only other grammar book available
here at the time.

Most helpful, though, was the Foreign Service Institute book with all the
exercises.  This is the book that actually taught me Hungarian.  Since
it's US GPO, I don't suppose copyright would be a problem, if someone
wanted to use the exercises. (A person really needs an informant to get
much out of it.  It's not a self-help book.) I doubt the book will be for
sale anywhere, unless someone is tremendously lucky in a used book store.
Here's the citation:
 Foreign Service Institute (U.S.)
       Hungarian basic course, units 1-[24, by] Augustus A. Koski [and]
         Ilona Mihalyfy.
       Washington, Dept. of State; [for sale by the Superintendent of
         Documents, U.S. Govt. Print. Off.] 1962 [i.e. 1963]-64. 2 v.
       (Foreign Service Institute basic course series)

I think if a student could have Banhidi to look at and go through the
exercises in the FSI book in class with someone to help and correct the
mistakes, that student would have a real chance to learn to speak Hungarian.

AnnMarie Mitchell
Librarian for Polish Collections
University of California (Berkeley)
amitchel at library.berkeley.edu