Intercultural communication TNA 3060

The English language as a lingua franca in

foreigners communication while living in
Hungary
(case study)

Nemes Gyöngyvér
 Introduction

Since we are starting to live in an era, where globalization and multiculturalism is the
everyday normal, it is crucial that we address the issues that many foreigners face when they
come to a new country, in this case, Hungary. In these last decades, after the fall of the
socialist regime in the country, Hungary is also taking its part in this multicultural world. The
many international company’s workers and foreign students who come to study here are
facing issues that need to be taken care of.
This research is attempting to find out how does the English language as a lingua franca
helps foreigners who are living in Hungary to cope with culture shock and their everyday life.
There are many stereotypes about Hungarian people having a hard time to accept foreigners,
who do not speak the language. This comes from another common stereotype, that Hungarian
people do not speak English very well, so they are doing everything in order to avoid
speaking it. In this research I was also looking for answers about these stereotypes as well.

Theoretical framework

In this framework the various psychological aspects of culture shock are discussed, based
on various studies conducted by experts in this field. While these studies were mainly
conducted about the experience of international students, general ideas about culture shock
and other intercultural social relations can be deducted.
The term “culture shock” refers to the phenomenon people experience when they arrive
in a new culture for a time period – even tourists can experience culture shock – they
experience a gap and difference between their culture and the culture that they are currently
staying at and this can cause tensions and anxiety in various fields of their life. 1 Some aspects
of culture shock include the feeling of being rejected by the host culture, depression,
confusions about their role – these factors can both influence mental and physical well-being
of a person.2

1
Yuefang Zhou, Divya Jindal-Snape, Keith Topping & John Todman (2008) “Theoretical models of
culture shock and adaptation in international students in higher education”, Studies in Higher
Education,  33:1,  63-75
2
Furnham, Adrian. (2004). “Foreign students: Education and culture shock.” Psychologist. 17. 16-19.
 Another term one needs to be familiar with is “sojourners” meaning those people who
are only arriving for a country for a specific purpose, and they have the intention to return to
their original culture once the purpose of their visit is over. (e.g. international students)3
When we are talking about permanent living in a foreign country, coping strategies to
overcome stress are crucial. Personality and identity are also a key factor, people who are
choosing to adapt into a culture need to acquire some skills or personality traits in order to be
able to overcome stress caused by the new culture. They need to for example be resilient and
willing to develop some coping strategies.4
In connection with adjustment the time period and the purpose for the stay in a foreign
culture is also important: there is a difference between an immigrant who want to make a life
in the foreign culture and is planning for long term, and an international student who only
comes for a short or medium time period and does not want to maintain a life in the culture.
Missionaries are an interesting example, because they usually also come for a definite time
period, but they need to participate in society in order to achieve their goal. 5
Whether someone is willing to learn the language of the foreign country is usually based
on these previous factors. Since English is the lingua franca of the modern world, Hungarian
people are also learning it from a young age. This should have made the lives of the arriving
foreigners easier, since presumably English is going to be the language they communicate in.
The people who arrive for various reasons are usually not in that critical period where
researchers and experts claim that learning a language is easier.6
In connection with stereotype’s as mentioned in the introduction, there is the social
identity theory, which claims that people who belong to a group are going to find something
negative about people, who do not belong to that group, in order to strengthen their own
identity. (in our case Hungarian people vs. non-Hungarian people). 7 This would foreshadow,
that foreigners will most likely experience some negative feedback or rejection by the people
of the host-country, until they find a way to get themselves accepted into the group.
3
Ward, C., Bochner, S., Furnham, A.(2001). “The psychology of culture shock (2nd ed.)”. Routledge.,
6-7
4
Yuefang Zhou, Divya Jindal-Snape, Keith Topping & John Todman (2008) “Theoretical models of
culture shock and adaptation in international students in higher education”, Studies in Higher
Education,  33:1,  63-75
5
Ward, C., Bochner, S., Furnham, A.(2001). “The psychology of culture shock (2nd ed.)”. Routledge.,
26-27
6
Nikolov, M. (2000). „The Critical Period Hypothesis reconsidered: Successful adult learners of
Hungarian and English”. IRAL - International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching,
38(2).
7
Ward, C., Bochner, S., Furnham, A.(2001). “The psychology of culture shock (2nd ed.)”. Routledge,
104-107
 Method

There were three people taking part in this research, a 35-year-old American man, who
arrived to Hungary 5 years ago, a 24-year-old Russian girl, who studied here for a year, and a
21-year-old Slovak girl who also came to study for a year. None of them learned Hungarian
before arriving to the country and their only communication tool was the English language.
There are some differences between the participants, because two of them only lived here for
a year, and always had the intention to move back to their original country, but the male
participant always had the goal to maintain a life here, since he arrived as a missionary and
then married a Hungarian woman. However, in terms of culture shock and communication I
believe their experiences can be objectively compared. It is also important to note, that during
their stay (or still staying) they all lived in Budapest.
All participants received the same eight questions, the two girls answered via online tools
and the male participants interview was done in person, since he is still in the country. The
interview began with some general question about the participants and about their overall
experience in Hungary. Then they needed to answer questions about Hungarian people and
their view on foreigners (as they have experienced) and also about some negative experiences
if they have encountered with any. Lastly, there were questions about culture shock and about
the usage of English and their willingness to learn Hungarian. For the following section
participants will be referred to by their nationality.

Results

The first question “Why did you come to Hungary?” served as an introduction and to
establish the participants goals and purposes about their stay. I have already mentioned that
the Russian and Slovak participant have come for educational purposes, but the Russian
student added, that she specifically chooses Hungary, because she was curious about the
culture and the people. The American participant, as I have already mentioned, came as a
missionary and became a member of a church here (Golgota Budapest) and later got married
to a Hungarian woman. He found work and is planning to stay here in Hungary.
The second question was already exploring the territory of the language and it was about
finding work with only speaking English. The Russian participant wrote, that she did not
really looked for work, so she can’t effectively answer this question. The American
participant said, that since there are a lot of international companies here, it was relatively
easy for him to find work, not speaking Hungarian was not a problem for him in this area of
his life, and he is currently working in customer service. The Slovak participant had a rather
negative experience, because she was looking for some kind of student job during her stay
and when she did find one, there was no problem there (customer service again and she was
wanted because they needed someone to communicate with Czech and Slovak customers).
However, she frequently had problems with the student job center, because they did not speak
English very well and were rather rude to her for not speaking Hungarian.
The following question was similar, but it was about all parts of life. For this question:
“Are there/Were there any parts of your life where it is/was a disadvantage that you don’t
speak Hungarian?” came some interesting answers from the participants. The American
participant said, that when he first arrived to Hungary he experienced some hardships in
administration offices and in smaller shops. A lot of the times he experienced that they do not
speak/ or they speak broken English, which resulted in him always having to bring a
Hungarian with him just in case, whenever he needed to do something. Lately, he adds, this
have changed, since he learned some basic Hungarian, but for bigger tasks he still brings his
wife with him. The Slovak and the Russian girl both mentioned the immigration office, which
is kind of surprising, because that’s a place I would assume they speak perfect English. They
noted, that the administrators were not the problem, but the other staff members who were
rude to foreigners and could not give basic directions for lost people in English. The Slovak
participant also added, that it was a positive surprise for her, that she had no problems in the
university, the administration and everything went smoothly in English.
For the next question “What do you think of Hungarian people?” the answers did not
really overlap. All participants were trying to highlight the positive opinions about Hungarian
people, but there were some differences. The Russian girl highlighted that she had some
trouble in the beginning, even at the university, because lot of the times people were speaking
Hungarian and were not keen on to change to English for her sake. The Slovak participant
answered with generalizations: Hungarian people are kind, polite etc. She said that she can’t
really add anything, since she is living so close to Hungary she does not see so many
differences between the two nationalities. When I asked about the language, she added that
she knows Hungarian people are proud of their authentic language and cultural heritage, and
she thought that this is something one can only admire. However, she is aware that from time
to time there are tensions between Slovak people and the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. The
American participant said that it was very hard for him at the beginning to adjust to Hungary,
because there are a lot of cultural differences between the United States and Hungary. He told
me, that his wife and church helped a lot for him to learn these and overcome his issues. Later
on, he said, he even started to like these differences, because for example since he is an
introvert he never really liked the American “small talk system” and he is relieved that
Hungarian people do not tend to small talk that much. About the language he said that it is
extremely hard for him to learn, but because of this, he looks up to every Hungarian speaking
person.
The next three questions had some similarities, as I was trying to find out what they
have experienced about Hungarian people’s views on foreigners and about stereotypes,
whether this is different from their home country experience. Interestingly, the answers of the
Russian and the American participant were quite similar. They both said, that based on their
experiences Hungarian people are open-minded and especially the young generation are
usually happy that they can interact with people from other countries. The American
participant highlighted that basically everywhere he goes, people are happily asking questions
about his home country, they are curious and not judgmental, also no one ever understands
why he came to Hungary, which he always found weird. The Russian participant added, that
since she was mainly in university circles, people were always interested about politics in her
home country and her views. While both of these participants had positive experiences and
said that they did not came through negative stereotypes, the Slovak participant had some
negative things to add. She told me, that once she was out partying with another Slovak girl
from university and a few people heard her speaking Slovak and were very rude to her, she
could not understand what they were saying, but the other girl (who understood a bit of
Hungarian) said they were criticizing them because of their nationality. She noted, that this
must had to do with the fact previously mentioned about the situation in Slovakia, but it was
still a very negative experience to her. However, she said, that when she was speaking English
she never had any problems, so she believes that generally Hungarians don’t hate foreigners,
but there is a historical situation between the two nationalities which caused the incident to
happen.
For the question “Did you experience culture-shock when you moved here? What ways?”
The American participant answered with an absolute yes, his first year was extremely hard, he
battled with rejection and home sickness a lot, since he at that time did not really have any
friends here. He said, sometimes he still feels out of place, when he is in a new (Hungarian)
community and sometimes only one person speaks English, but he learned how to overcome
his negative feelings. The Russian and the Slovak participant both told me about the
occasional home-sickness, but the Russian participant said that she found another Russian girl
at the university, so this made her not miss her home that much.
The last question “Did you consider learning Hungarian to fit in better?” only the
American participant answered with yes, but he added that this is due to the fact that they
want to make a life here in Hungary and he feels the need to be able to communicate in
Hungarian. The Russian and the Slovak participant both answered with no, because they were
only in the country permanently. The Slovak participant added, that if she has the time in the
future, she would want to learn some Hungarian, because she started to like the sound of the
language.

Conclusion

Based on these interviews, it can be said, that in Hungary the English language is enough
as a communication tool. For a temporary stay, it is perfectly enough, because even though
there are some hardships, for the necessities of life the communication in English is
accessible. However, for maintaining a life, learning Hungarian is advisable.
In the terms of culture-shock the participants did not have that much experience, but
based on their answers, it can be said, that the English language in itself is not a tool to
overcome culture-shock, rather other calming things – like speaking with someone from their
home country who lives here or speaking with some family members etc.
 Works cited

1. Yuefang Zhou, Divya Jindal-Snape, Keith Topping & John

Todman (2008) “Theoretical models of culture shock and adaptation in international
students in higher education”, Studies in Higher Education, 33:1, 63-75

2. Furnham, Adrian. (2004). “Foreign students: Education and culture shock.”

Psychologist. 17. 16-19.

3. Ward,C., Bochner, S., Furnham, A.(2001). “The psychology of culture shock” (2nd
ed.). Routledge

4. Nikolov, M. (2000). „The Critical Period Hypothesis reconsidered: Successful adult

learners of Hungarian and English”. IRAL - International Review of Applied
Linguistics in Language Teaching, 38(2).

Appendix
1. Why did you come to Hungary?
2. Was it hard for you, to find work (because of not knowing Hungarian?)
3. Are there/Were there any parts of your life where it is/was a disadvantage that you
don’t speak Hungarian?
4. What do you think of Hungarian people? (considering mainly the language, and the
view about non-Hungarian people)
5. Compared to your home country, what are the main differences here (in connection
with the view on foreigners living here)?
6. Has it ever happened to you, that you were stereotyped because you were a foreigner?
7. Did you experience culture-shock when you moved here? What ways?
8. Did you consider learning Hungarian to fit in better?