Hungarian 104

Magyar 104
2004, Õszi negyedév
Hétfõ és szerda 19-21 óra

Tanár:
Dr. Riskó Ági
Telefon: 447-8528
E-mail: risko.1@osu.edu
Iroda: 232 Cunz Hall
Fogadóóra: Megbeszélés szerint.

Welcome back to one last quarter of Hungarian!

Motivation:

By now, you have no doubt discovered that the Magyar language is quite learnable and a lot of fun. During the first three quarters of your studies, you have acquired the basic means to express your thoughts and ideas in Hungarian. If you look back now to where you were exactly a year ago, aren't you amazed at the progress that you have made? Now you are able to carry on a conversation with a Hungarian, you can write essays and letters, you can understand everyday speech and make sense of the written language. I like to compare learning a foreign language to a voyage of discovery into new realms of human thought and culture, which opens up fresh new dimensions on seeing and understanding reality. This is true especially for a language as vastly different from English as Hungarian. You have come a long way! Keep up the good work during this last quarter of your Hungarian studies!

You may be tired of hearing this, but let me remind you one more time of the importance of regular exposure in foreign language studies. Try to routinely devote some time to Hungarian every single day. Do a little bit of listening or reading, vocabulary review (by now, you should know close to 2000 words!), grammar practice, homework, whatever. Even if you don't have the same amount of time each day, make sure that you do not skip a day. Do at least a little bit every day. It does make a big difference! Starting to keep a simple diary in Hungarian is also a good way to tune your mind to thinking in Hungarian. Take advantage of each opportunity to use the language outside of the classroom environment. Come and see me during my office hours, or simply give me a call during the day, just to chat a little in Hungarian. Try to get your Hungarian family members and acquaintances to speak to you in Hungarian. Come to the regular Traccsparti meetings to meet and chat with other speakers of Hungarian.

Course objectives:

Hungarian 104 is a lower intermediate course and the conclusion of the four quarter sequence of the introduction to the Hungarian language. As we have done so far, we will continue to simultaneously develop the four basic language skills on a higher level, with increased emphasis on creative and individual applications of the materials covered. We will make Hungarian the primary language used in class interaction and will limit the use of English to grammar explanations. We will continue to learn new grammatical structures, more vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. Your active vocabulary by the end of 104 should be close to 2500 words!

Course materials:

Textbook:
Erdös József, Prileszky Csilla. Halló, itt Magyarország! Magyar nyelvkönyv külföldieknek II. 4th edition. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1997.

Audio Tapes:
The cassette tape contains the recording of all the dialogs and some of the oral exercises. I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to listen to spoken Hungarian.

Other materials:
As usual, additional handouts, worksheets and visual aids will be provided, as hard copies, or in electronic format.

Course requirements:

1. Participation and homework assignments
Since class work is an essential part of the course, and since our class only meets twice a week, regular attendance is absolutely necessary for the successful completion of the course. Regular, conscientious preparation for each class meeting is essential for steady progress and good performance. Homework assignments will always be due on the day of the following class meeting. Late homework will be accepted and corrected but no credit will be given for it.

2. Quizzes
There will be a short quiz every Monday. You will be tested on vocabulary, grammatical structures and communicative competence. The quizzes will be cumulative. If you cannot come to class on the day of the test, please make arrangements with me ahead of time.

3. Essay
During the quarter, you will be expected to hand in one essay of two typed, double-spaced pages. The topic will be based on the interview, described below. Due date: December 1, 2004.

Tips for writing essays
The best way to start writing an essay is to make an outline. Jot down your ideas and make a list of relevant vocabulary. Spend several days at this first, preparatory phase. Keep adding to your outline and expanding the vocabulary list. As frustrating as it is, make an effort to stick with familiar vocabulary and avoid looking up too many new words in the dictionary. Using too many unfamiliar phrases and expressions will set you up for mistakes, since, as you have seen by now, Hungarian words have their own tricky ways of grammatical and idiomatic behavior, much of which is not indicated in the dictionary. In the next phase, begin organizing your thoughts into complete sentences. Keep expanding and refining this first draft for several days. Combine simple sentences into longer and more sophisticated ones with the help of conjunctions. Check your grammar. Make sure subjects and verbs agree, word order is correct and that the tenses are consistent. Once you decided when your story is taking place, don't switch to other tenses unless you really want to express a temporal difference. Make sure your essay has an introduction and a conclusion and that your are getting the point across to the reader. Finally, polish up your essay, check the spelling especially the special characters, and hit "print".

4. Interview project
In the second half of the quarter, you will have to conduct a 40-50 minute long interview - in Hungarian! - with a member of the local Hungarian community. You will be assigned a person whom you will need to contact to set up a meeting. Your task will be to gather information about the life and the background of your subject and to create a portrait of that person which you will present to us in class. This will also be the subject of your essay. Make sure you carefully prepare your interview questions ahead of time. They should cover a wide range of topics and areas of interest - without offending the person, of course - so that you can get as full a picture as possible. First of all, you will need to find out how long your subject has lived in this country, when s/he left Hungary and why. The you can talk about her/his interests, lifestyle, family, work, hobbies, etc. You can start working on your questions as early as you want to, but you will need to present them to me by November 3 so that after that date you can proceed with the interview itself.

5. Final exam
There will be a comprehensive final oral examination at the end of the quarter.

Grading:
Participation and homework assignments	25%
Quizzes	25%
Interview presentation and essay	25%
Final exam	25%

Nagyon kellemes negyedévet kivánok Neked!