8+ Best Hungarian Textbooks & Phrasebooks for Beginners

Looking for the best Hungarian textbooks?

See, some people like learning with courses.

Others want language apps. And some people like learning with textbooks.

And Hungarian textbooks are a simple way to learn Hungarian. Why?

Books guide you from page 0, to page 1, to page 3… to page 100. From your first words to your first conversation. You learn tons of words and grammar rules along the way.

So, in this guide, you’ll find some of the best Hungarian textbooks and phrasebooks.

best hungarian textbooks

Notes

  • Be careful about getting books on Kindle. The formatting may differ from the print version.

1. Get Started in Hungarian Absolute Beginner Course: The essential introduction to reading, writing, speaking and understanding a new language

Like the title says, this is a book for Absolute Beginners…and it only caters to the Absolute Beginner Level. So, you can’t progress too far up, say up to Intermediate, with this.

  • Pages: 208
  • By Teach Yourself

That being said, if you all you want to do is learn some Beginner level Hungarian, this book is good enough.

Across 10 chapters, you’ll learn basic conversations, grammar rules, vocabulary and you also can test yourself with exercises. The book promises to tackle reading, writing, speaking and listening and includes audio to help you achieve it all.


2. Complete Hungarian: Learn to read, write, speak and understand Hungarian

The book above promises to get you through Absolute Beginner level.

And this book — Complete Hungarian — is a more comprehensive version which promises to take you to a lower Intermediate level (B2).

  • Pages: 380
  • By Teach Yourself

The teaching style is similar as the first Hungarian textbook. You learn speaking, reading, writing, listening, vocab, grammar and culture – what most good textbooks offer anyway. So, if you want something more complete, check this out.

3. Colloquial Hungarian: The Complete Course for Beginners

This is another solid, well-rounded textbook for learning Hungarian,.

  • By Colloquial/Routledge
  • Pages: 392

If you want another comprehensive approach to Hungarian — speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar, exercises, and more — this is a valuable resource.

If you’re wondering which book to choose, both this book (by Colloquial/Routledge) and the book above (Teach Yourself) are good enough. Both companies create and sell solid textbooks for language learners, so you can get either one and be well set for learning Hungarian.

4. Hungarian : The Ultimate Beginners Learning Guide: Master The Fundamentals Of The Hungarian Language

This 12-chapter book/guide is another option for beginners.

  • Pages: 271
  • Independently Published

You learn similar dialogues, vocabulary, and grammar rules as you would with a textbook. The downsides are that there are no exercises or audio. The upside is, it’s the more affordable option.

It could serve as a useful refresher course for anyone looking for review material.

5. Hungarian: An Essential Grammar

Want to speak Hungarian and express yourself fluently?  Then, you’ll need grammar.

Grammar rules give you all the ways to express yourself. So, that’s where this Hungarian learning book comes in.

  • Pages: 320
  • By Routledge

Not a book for absolute beginners, but once you’ve picked up the basics from any of the textbooks here, you’d also want to get this.

6. Learn Hungarian with Fairy Tales: Interlinear Hungarian to English

You know what’s a good way to learn Hungarian? Through stories!

  • Pages: 177
  • By Bermuda Word

The point here is to read stories in Hungarian and get help from the translations that are provided between the lines. This means you don’t waste time looking up word after word. The result? You end up grasping the meaning and picking up the words quickly.

Remember: the value is in the re-reading rather than just going through the stories once.

The book also comes with audio so you can follow along.

7. Hungarian in a Week! Start Speaking Basic Hungarian In Less Than 24 Hours: The Ultimate Crash Course For Beginners

Let’s say you’re NOT trying to learn the whole language.

Let’s say you just want to learn some Hungarian for whatever reason — travel, curiosity — and you have a fear of commitment to big goals and big books. Or, you want a simple book to gift to someone interested in Hungarian.

  • Pages: 80
  • By Createspace/Independently Published

Then, you’ll want to check out “Hungarian in a Week.” A majority of this small, 80-page book is dedicated to must-know words and phrases for beginners and travelers. Then, you have a few pages just covering the basics of grammar and pronunciation.

Whether you’ll learn it all in a week or not is up for debate but you certainly won’t spend months on this book either.

8. Berlitz Language: Hungarian Phrase Book & Dictionary

Berlitz is well known for their language books and dictionaries.

And a dictionary, while not a textbook, will still be very useful to any Hungarian learner.

  • Pages: 224
  • By Berlitz

Mostly geared towards travelers, this 224-page book promises to teach you over 1,700 words and phrases. Words and phrases are not organized alphabetically but by category like food, survival, sightseeing, and more. It also includes phonetic guides to help you pronounce the words.


These are some of the best Hungarian textbooks and books I’ve found so far.

But, if you want something a little more than a “book,” then I recommend HungarianPod101.

HungarianPod101 is a Hungarian learning program. You get audio/video lessons made by real teachers. The lessons get you speaking in minutes and are just 3-15 minutes in length. Just press the play button below to check out a lesson.

 

So, if you want to HEAR real Hungarian and learn faster with a program, I recommend them.

Click here to get a Free Lifetime Account at HungarianPod101.com.

– The Main Junkie

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