The Family

Level B1 (alafokú szint)

These pictures are about family and home. When people fall in love, they get married and have a family. In
Hungary in a classical family usually the wife does the housework, e.g. hoovering, dusting, cleaning the windows
and cooking. These are not easy jobs but it is a tradition that women work at home for the family. The husband
works a lot at his workplace and many times he goes home late. Men work in the garden and in the garage at
weekends. They do the difficult jobs around the house or in the flat. Mothers spend much time with the children.
They stay at home with them for 1-3 years. The whole family meets on special days like Christmas and birthdays,
and they celebrate together. The family usually has a big dinner and there is always a cake for birthdays.
Relatives like grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins visit each other. They sit and talk a lot. If it is nice weather,
they sit in the garden or they walk in a park.

Level B2 (középfokú szint)

When people are in love they want to get married. This is still the tradition in Hungary although more and more
young people move together without getting married. They say they do not want the formality of marriage and
maybe they do not trust each other so much. In Hungary many couples divorce and it also could be the reason of
not getting married. The modern way of life can lead to an impatiente behaviour and in the end to divorce. When
people have children it is still important to be formally a family. More social benefits are given to families than to
single parents. Also a traditional family model is more beneficial for the children in their life. It is important to see a
man role model and a woman role model in order to ’copy’ the examples. In Hungary it is usually a small family
that lives together. Grandparents visit or the family visits the grandparents. It can also cause a problem for the
parents who would need more time to relax and entertain themselves without the children. This way children do
not see how elderly people live and they do not have a picture of their life. It would be useful to spend more time
with grandparents and learn to help them.

Level C1 (felsőfokú szint)

It is sometimes difficult to cope with private life and career at the same time. Many people try to do so and many
people fail it. Modern life requires people to work long hours at work thus leaving little time for the family. And who
is going to suffer? Everybody. When a couple is planning their life, everything seems to be beautiful. Then reality
appears and work takes over. Even family planning is at risk. How can a woman with a successful career stay at
home for some years? Or should families have a baby-sitter who will enjoy the special times with the children?
Families decide this way or other but the two cannot go together in a satisfactory way. While this is an everyday
issue in the Western world, overpopulation is getting worse and worse in other parts. Family planning is not
known in many countries, cultures are very different. Where modern life has not reached, people do not face the
question of career versus family. Other issues appear there though, like nutrition, clean drinking water, healthy
living, curing dangerous diseases, etc. The governments of overpopulated countries cannot cope with the
problems and cannot support the families. People need to rely on each other and generations help each other.
Family ties are live there where modern technology is little.