Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2017 (29. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)
2017-03-17 / 11. szám
AMERICAN English Page Hungarian Journal Life in Two Countries: the Leila Fletcher Story This story appeared originally in Simpson Street Free Press. It was written by teen editor Leila Fletcher. Each year of my life, I have left my home in America to fly across the Atlantic and spend my summers in Hungary. My mother was born in Hungary, but she came to America to learn English when she was in her twenties. She left her whole extended family behind. Years later, I was born in Madison, Wisconsin, where my mom met my dad. My parents decided to settle down in Madison after I was born. My mother did not want to abandon her home in Hungary altogether, however. She wanted me to know her family and her culture. That was when my parents decided that my mom and I would travel back and forth across the ocean each summer. Through my experience living in both Hungary and America, I have noticed many differences between life in one country versus the other. To me, one of the most fundamental differences between Hungarian and American culture is the language. My mother taught me Hungarian and English simultaneously, so I grew up bilingual. Although Hungarian is a phonetic language, the grammar is extremely difficult for foreigners. One such difficulty is that there are four different ways to pronounce “o” and “u,” depending on the accents: o, ó, ö, ő, and u, ú, ü, ű. The meanings of Hungarian words vary greatly with the length of the vowels, too. Take the following two sentences for example—with small changes to the vowels, their entire meanings change: “a nagymama megörült amikor meglátott” (“grandma became happy when she saw you”), as opposed to “a nagymama megőrült amikor meglátott” (’’grandma became crazy when she saw you”). Specifying whether a vowel is long or short is very important when speaking Hungarian. Although English is fairly difficult to learn, Hungarian—with all its conjugations and word-endings—is definitely one of the hardest languages to learn, at least in my experience. Modern Hungarian culture is, in fact, relatively similar to American culture and most other modern Western cultures. Many of the music, film, and fashion trends are the same in Hungary as they are in the United States. Hungarian people listen to American music and watch dubbed or subtitled American movies and TV shows. Hungarians even take some English words and “Hungarianize” them. One main cultural difference visitors to Hungary might notice is that Hungarians are much more straight-forward than Americans are, especially toward their family members. Foreigners might find the candor of most Hungarians rude, yet usually their blunt remarks come from a place of love, and their intent is to help fix whatever they think is wrong. It has been a slight challenge to get used to my Hungarian family’s readiness to immediately call out my flaws, but I know that they mean and want the best for me. Whenever I tell someone that I go to Hungary every summer, I often get the follow-up question: “Where do you like being more?” This is an extremely tough question for me to answer, because each place has its pros and cons. My grandmother in Hungary is the youngest of seven in her family, so I have many relatives there, some of whom I have never even ,met. Most of those we visit live in a different city and relatively far from where my grandparents live. So, when I live in Hungary, that usually leaves me with my mom, my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, my two baby cousins and my great-grandmother. I don’t spend time with many people my age during my time in Hungary. In contrast, in America, I am constantly surrounded by friends and other teenagers. While I was in kindergarten in the U.S., my parents decided to homeschool me for my elementary education in America. This allowed me to engage in a variety of different activities, from acting and singing in a choir to writing articles at Simpson Street Free Press. My extracurricular involvement also introduced me to many new people. However, my mom didn’t want me to be totally school-free, so she enrolled me in a school in Hungary. As soon as I started school in Hungary, going became more than an annual family reunion; it became a necessity. I usually attended school in Hungary for the last few weeks of May, June, and the first few days of September. Then I would bring my Hungarian textbooks back to study them throughout my time in America. However, due to the amount of extracurricular activities I am involved in, I didn’t always finish studying by the time I went back to Hungary. Many years, I ended up finishing most of the years’ worth of material in the summer months and took the Hungarian year-end exams in August. Since I was busy studying most summers, I haven’t formed many close friendships in Hungary, which is very unusual for me. While my American life is full of driving to different places and being with different groups of people, my life in Hungary is relatively solitary, with only my close family and tourists for company. A common misconception among my circles in America is that my mom and I go to Hungary each summer for vacation. But these trips are not a vacation. When I was in Hungarian school, I spent a lot of time studying. And my mother runs the Hungarian bed and breakfast she built. We live by the Lake Balaton there, one of the tourist hubs in Hungary. Unlike in the case of a vacation, it doesn’t really feel like I’m in a different place when I’m in Hungary. It’s as if I have two totally separate lives, but I never really finish either of them. I love being in both places. In Hungary, I have my whole extended family. In America, I have my dad, my grandmother, my aunt, my friends, my school, and all of my activities. Yet, whenever I am in one Március 17, 2017 Zoltán Kodály One Of The Greatest Hungarian Composers Died 50 Years Ago Zoltán Kodály (16 December 1882 Kecskemét - 6 March 1967 Budapest) was one of the most outstanding personalities of 20th century Hungarian culture: composer, ethnomusicologist, music pedagogue and linguist. His internationally acknowledged concept of music education is the basis for general music teaching in Hungary and also plays an important role in the training of professional musicians. Zoltán Kodály played a prominent role in Hungarian public life, holding several public posts and being a member or head of numerous boards and committees. He was also acquainted with many influential public figures (musicians, artists, scholars and politicians). The great Hungarian mind researched and developed the good practices and methods to tech music. The Kodály method, also referred to as Kodály concept, is a way of developing musical skills and teaching musical concepts beginning in very young children. The method uses a child-developmental approach to sequence, introducing skills due to the capabilities of the child. Kodály did not teach these techniques, nor create a step-by-step process for teachers, he did formulate the principles of this teaching practice and his followers developed his principles into the powerful method that has impacted children across the globe. Here are some main points of Kodály’s philosophy: Everyone has the right to music literacy and it is meant to be enjoyed! Singing can and should provide the foundation for all types of music Music education should begin at the earliest age possible A child’s own culture provides his/her musical “mother tongue”. Folk music is the musical mother tounge of the child. Folk songs provide ideal materials for music education. Through this recognition, the Kodály method has been added to the list of best practices for preservation of culture, a register that UNESCO reserves for those models of teaching are worthy of use on an international scale, and that provide a good example for countries throughout the world. In recognition of his work as an ethnomusicologist, music educator, and composer and the 50 years anniversary of his death, UNESCO has designated 2017 as a special Zoltán Kodály anniversary year. The Hungarian State also announced this year as a Kodály-memorial year, hungarytoday.hu Good Friday Voted To Become Hungary’s Eleventh Public Holiday Good Friday will be a public holiday in Hungary from April 14 this year, after lawmakers voted for the measure on Tuesday. The proposal submitted by the ruling Fidesz alliance with the Christian Democrats was approved by 163 votes in support and 2 abstentions. Accordingly, Easter will be a four-day holiday from this year and there will be a total of 11 holidays that can fall on working days, including January 1, March 15, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May 1, Pentecost Monday, August 20, October 23, November 1 and December 25-26. Good Friday is held as a public holiday in fourteen European countries. Many of them has even more public holidays than Hungary: in Germany there are 17 public holidays, in Bulgaria 16, in Slovakia 15, Croatia 14, Austria, Czechia and Poland 13, while in Denmark, France and Belgium 12. The idea of introducing a public holiday on Good Friday was first suggested by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at a memorial event of the Synod of the Hungarian Reformed Church in October 2016. Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Black Friday or Easter Friday, is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of Passover. hungarytoday.hu place, I am always missing something, or someone, from the other. It is true that wherever I am, I always love something about being there; however, I am never totally fulfilled. This is why I think that it might be easier for both my families in Hungary and America than it is for my mom and me: either they miss me when I am gone, or they are happy and fulfilled when I am there. I am often told that I am very lucky because I get to travel to Europe every summer. Although I don’t normally consider my situation unusually lucky, when I think about it, I realize that I am very fortunate. Since I am so used to it, getting on a plane twice every year and flying across an ocean does not seem out of the ordinary. Living in America for a while and then going to Hungary just seems natural. Nevertheless, I know that my parents’ decision for me to live this kind of “split life” has afforded me many opportunities. I now have friends and connections on two continents, I have been exposed to many different European cultures, and I have the advantage of being bilingual. I am grateful to my family in both America and Hungary for making this lifestyle possible for me and my mom. Despite the hardship of always leaving things I care about behind for a long time every year, having a life in two countries is an experience that I am very thankful for. It is also an experience that I believe will help me throughout the rest of my life, madisoncommons.org Liu Shaoang a rotterdami rövidpályás gyorskorcsolya-világbajnokságon az 1000 méter döntőjében második lett. A magyar női váltó bravúros teljesítménnyel ezüst-, míg a férfi bronzérmet nyert a gyorskorcsolyavilágbajnokságon. A Bácskai Sára Luca, Jászapáti Petra, Heidum Bernadett, Keszler Andrea összeállítású csapat sporttörténelmi tettet hajtott végre, ugyanis döntőben is most először szerepelt vbn, azaz Magyarország első vb-érmét nyerte ebben a számban. A Liu Shaolin Sándor, Liu Shaoang, Knoch Viktor és Burján Csaba alkotta négyes 2015-ös ezüstje után nem titkoltan az aranyéremért érkezett, ennek megfelelően sokáig az élen haladt a fináléban, azonban a végén valamennyi ellenfele megelőzte, így negyedikként ért célba, de az oroszok kizárása miatt végül harmadik lett Hollandia és Kína mögött. * * * A férfiaknál és a nőknél is magyar futó vezeti a 100 km-es világranglistát Március 11-én Velencén rendezték a 100 kilométeres országos bajnokságot. A futók a Velencei Vízi Várból rajtoltak, és egy 5 kilométer hosszú pályán teljesítették 20 körben a 100 kilométert. A férfiaknál Muhari Gábor magabiztos és egyenletes futással haladva, 6 óra 53 perc 23 másodperces pályacsúccsal darálta be a 100 kilométert és nyerte el az országos bajnoki címet. Ez nemzetközi A szintű eredmény, sőt, jelenleg világranglista-1. is 100 kilométeren. A női mezőnyt végig Dr. Lubics Szilvia uralta, és 8 óra 27 perc 43 másodperc alatt futotta le a 100-ast, ő is vezeti idejével a világranglistát. * * * Major Veronika újra Európabajnok. A maribori légfegyveres Európa-bajnokságon a junior Major Veronika harmadik egyéni aranyérmét is megszerezte, miután győzött a futócél 40 vegyes számban. * * * Márton Anita nyerte a női súlylökést a Kanári-szigeteken zajló téli dobó Európa-kupa első napján. A múlt heti, belgrádi fedettpályás Európa-bajnokságon aranyérmes atléta 18,05 méterrel végzett az élen a szabadtéri versenyen. A mezőnyből csak neki sikerült 18 méter fölé kerülnie. * * * Nikolics Nemanja második bajnoki meccsén megszerezte első gólját új csapatában, a Chicago Fire-ban. A Real Salt Lake-et végül 2-0-ra győzték le. A Chicago második gólját az egykor a Videotonban játszó Álvarez szerezte. * * * Kizárta az MLSZ a Tatabányát a labdarúgó NB III-ból (Nyugati csoport), mert a nagy múltú csapat nem lépett pályára az első három tavaszi fordulóban. A játékosok a szakmai stábbal együtt már fel is mondtak. A Tatabánya ezzel a megyei harmadosztályban kezdhet új életet. Tönkretette olasz expornós tulajdonosa a nagy múltú tatabányai futballklubot, miután alig 4,2 millió forintért kaparintotta meg azt. * * * Elkészült a 440 milliós új stadion Kozármislenyben - írja a Magyar Narancs a helyi Csevegő című önkormányzati lapra hivatkozva. A kozármislenyi stadionfejlesztés szükségét korábban Fónagy János államtitkár indokolta meg Szabó Tímea, a Párbeszéd Magyarországért képviselőjének kérdésére. Fónagy szerint több ok is indokolja a fejlesztést, mint például “Kozármisleny Futball Klub felnőtt sportolói a város lélekszámúhoz mérten kiemelkedő szakmi teljesítményt nyújtanak” (7 éven át játszottak az NBII-ben és kétszer másodikok lettek, a Magyar Kupában pedig párszor NBI-es csapatokat is megvertek).
