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HUNGARIAN-ENGLISH LINGUISTIC CONTRASTS. A PRACTICAL APPROACH
7.6 HUNGLISH WORDS
Asaresult ofthe contrasts described above, the English vocabulary of Hungar¬
ian learners may contain a number oftypical Hunglish words, due to the effects
of mother tongue interference. Some of these are described in Doughty and
Thompson (1983), e.g., excursion (instead of outing or trip), family house (in¬
stead of house), learn (instead of study), nature (instead of countryside or
country), etc. In many cases false cognates are responsible for the emergence
of Hunglish words, e.g., practice (instead of experience), novel (instead of short
story) or perspective (instead of prospect). (See the above list and also Varga
and Läzär’s Hungarian-English dictionary (Varga-Läzär 2000), which warns
the user against false cognates. Consider this entry:
aktuälis 1. timely, topical, current ez mär nem aktuälis it’s no longer relevant,
it’s out of date NEM aetirat 2. [igazi:] live (2000: 17)
A comprehensive list of Hungarian-English false cognates has been compiled
by Lazar (1998).°?
7.7 TASKS
1. CHECK THE PRONUNCIATION OF THE STATES OF THE U.S.
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut,
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Okla¬
homa, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota,
Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wis¬
consin, Wyoming
2. Discuss: WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THESE SYNONYMOUS
WORDS?
alkalom: chance, opportunity, occasion
állandó: constant, permanent
befejez: finish, complete, conclude, end, be over
elbocsát: dismiss, fire, make redundant
folytat: continue, go on, carry on
különböző: different, various
lakik: live, stay, reside
látszik, tűnik: seem, look, appear
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