1.

The individual - Az egyén

ambition/career building - ambíciók/karrierépítés
the individual and the society - az egyén és a társadalom
problems of social integration - beilleszkedési problémák

Nowadays there are not so many differences between the rights and the jobs of a man and a
woman, not like about hundred years ago. In the past, people didn’t like the idea of a learning
or a working woman, because their task was to stay at home, cook meals, care for the old and
the children. They didn’t have so many rights, either. Later, women started to open their eyes
and said it’s not enough and not fair against them. They wanted to go to school and to work to
provide their families and even themselves a better life.
So, now a very big percent of the ladies are working, but not just because they wanted, but
because they need to work to get enough money in the family wallet. Some people say it’s not
good for the children as they got less care from their parents while they are going into
kindergarten and see their family only on the late afternoons. Of course, this is hard for their
parents too, as they miss their children and can focus less on their jobs while they are apart
from each other.
There is an other important problem about the working women, too. Just imagine a company
with two jobs, which are perfectly similar, with the same tasks, same time and everything is
the same. When a man does it, he gets, let’s say, four hundred Euros per month. When the
boss decides to give the job to a woman, she gets only three hundred and fifty Euros for the
same job even though it may be harder for her.
There are brave women who started to demonstrate against women-men discrimination, and
fight against their problems which are basically because they had borned as a woman, and not
a man. Sometimes it can be a really big disadvantage for womem who are more careerists.
Since, there are women even in the hospitals and the army, we showed the society that we are
not so weak. I consider myself as a little feminist, since I got discriminations of who and what
I am. People don’t understand why I am single woman and almost hundred percent of them
asks me: don’t you want a child? Well, I can tell them that nowadays that requires some
doing. In my opinion before you’ll become a mother you need to build your carrier. Not just
your carrier, your life. You need to have determined idea about your future.
To talk about an other topic, let’s see other cases. When somebody goes to a new place and
joins a new group of people, a new society, they have to fight with several integration
problems. Even the colour of their skin can make troubles, or their religion. Not all of the
society are tolerant with differences and some of them have problems with accepting new
cultures or new attributions in their closeness.
That’s why these excluded people start to search for others who are they similar to and make
their own little societies, like the different quarters in New York: Chinatown, Little Italy and
other places. If people like diversity so much on the shleves of supermarkets, why don’t they
like it on the streets?
Even, the overpopulation or the underpopulation can be a problem. People want privacy, so
they decide to live alone in a house, or they want a big family, but they can’t live their lives in
small flats, both are problems. One of my acquaintances said that the number of your children
is inversely proportional to your living standards. I see the point in her words, because when
you have a child, you may give everything he or she could need, but if you have two children,
you split your money into two, and now you can’t afford every need of your family. Even the
ancient Greek people knew these disadvantages, that’s why they didn’t have so many
children.
And in the not so wealthy families, they try to help each other and to find the other’s
company, so they start to move closer to each other. This may be the beginning of a slum.
And even if you were born into a place like this, you can try to do your best, to learn and work
as hard as you can, as long as they see your address on your papers. You won’t get the best
jobs, because the employers would give the jobs for somebody else who may be less clever
and intelligent, but can show a better living environment. I am conscious of this problem,
because I live in Kőszárhegy and when I apply for a job employers prefer somebody else who
is resident.
Even in China, the overpopulations has a very important role in the Chinese families’ lives.
They are supposed to have only one child, because the Chinese society grows bigger and
bigger each minute, until not just the government, but the Earth can’t provide enough things
for their needs. That’s why the families with one child can get supplies and different aids and
bill reductions. Parents with two children are supposed to pay everything and they don’t get
anything from the government. In families with more children, from the third kid they can’t
even go to school and get educated. This is how the government tries to stop or at least reduce
a bit the Chinese overpopulation problems.
All in all, people should solve the social, integration and acceptance problems, before starting
with the individual’s problems.

2. Partnership - Társas kapcsolatok

forms of partnership - együttélési formák
nationalities/minorities - nemzetiségek/kisebbségek

People are living together in families, groups of friends, working or studying in the same
atmosphere, they are making different societies of themselves. They make partnerships with
each other.
Sometimes we can make so different connections between us. Basically there are people who
have a partner and there are people who haven’t. If somebody is alone it can be because
currently he or she doesn’t have anybody, or their partner died, they are divorced or they are
separated which means that they are not divorced yet, but they are not living together. If
somebody has a partner, they can be just partners, lovers, they can be married, be in an open
relationship or be engaged.
It mostly depends on what people want, but sometimes there can be different obstacles to be
together with the person you chose, like the distance or family problems, or sometimes one of
the partners is married and doesn’t want to get divorced.
If we talk about partnership, we must mention other forms of it, because our personal and
closest relations are not all under the meaning of this word. There are different nationalities
living together. As the world is developing, it is becoming more and more opened for the
other cultures and people from further places. I mean that a country is not just for itself, but
because travelling and business connects us, we start to discover the whole world, meet new
friends, and also, we are moving away from our places. For example, an American man has to
move to an other country, one in Europe, because of his job. Then, there he meets a woman,
who is from an other country, but is there because of her job, too. They fall in love and decide
to move away, to a fourth country, which probably is closer to their original countries.
So, in a country there are a lot of people who have other nationalities or were born somewhere
else but were raised there. Let’s see the case of Hungary. Basically, we would say that there
are not many immigrants, but people can be surprised if somebody tells them that there much
more minorities than they could ever imagine. Actually Hungary has thirteen minorities. Just
for examples, there are German, Greek, Polish, Romanian and Ukranian people. There are
minorities in every country all over the world. A lot of people immigrating into England to
work, who genuinely do want to work.
The people from different cultures have their different religions. It causes ethnic tensions
between people who were born and bred in their country and people who immigrated to that
country. There are thousands of cultures on the edge of extinction, but due to the human’s
creativity, there always are and always will be new ones to replace the lost ones.
There are people who believe in more gods, the polytheists, like the ancient Greek people,
monotheists, like the Christian religions and the atheists, just to mention the Taoists or the
Buddhists. Nowadays the numbers of the atheist are increasing, probably because the people
are having other interests. Mostly our parents’ will determines our religion, because they can
raise us up in their own religions or decide they don’t want to christen us. Of course, as the
children are growing, they are getting more educated about the world and the different things
to believe in, and they can change their parents’ will, and choose an other faith which suits
them better.
Here, in Hungary, most of the people are Roman Catholics. Based on a two thousand and nine
(2009) census, their number is around fifty-two percent, and this was followed by the
reformathics with sixteen percent. It is a significant difference.
This whole religion thing mostly depends on our parents, but as we get older, we can change
it. No matter, how we decide, one thing is sure: we can change almost everything, except for
the family we were born in.

3. Family - Család
the social status of families - a családok szociális helyzete
/the system of family allowances - a családi támogatások rendszere
family/career - család/karrier

If we think about a family, different things can be brought up in our minds, depending on our
own family or our ideas about a perfect or imperfect family models. Even the smallest chidren
can plan their future families in the kindergarten.
There are small families with one, two or no children, and there are big ones, with more than
two children. The number of the members can be influenced by the other relatives living with
their children, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, cousins and so on. Even an unmarried couple can
count as a family, whether they have children or not. Everything depends on our different
points of view.
In these days the family models are so familiar in developed and developing countries. Not
just the father, but the mother works too, in order to insure a happier and better life.
Nowadays there are not so many differences between the rights and the jobs of a man and a
woman, not like about hundred years ago. In the past, people didn’t like the idea of a learning
or a working woman, because their task was to stay at home, cook meals, care for the old and
the children. They didn’t have so many rights, either. Later, women started to open their eyes
and said it’s not enough and not fair against them. They wanted to go to school and to work to
provide their families and even themselves a better life.
So, now a very big percent of the ladies are working, but not just because they wanted, but
because they need to work to get enough money in the family wallet. Some people say it’s not
good for the children as they get less care from their parents while they are going into
kindergarten and see their family only on the late afternoons. Of course, this is hard for their
parents too, as they miss their children and can focus less on their jobs while they are apart
from each other.
And again, career or children? If a child is born, who will stay at home to care for him/her? It
used to be the mother, but in these days, when everybody is in a shortage of money, people
started to decide based upon their salary. An other problem is the reputation. Just imagine that
both of the parents are beginner doctors. They have to make a strong and reliable basis, before
they just pause it or give it up. A state-of-the-art solution is that the grandmother stays at
home, because she can care about the young ones, as she also raised up her owns, she is
retired and she gets money without working, not like her daughter who just started working
and brought a baby to life at almost the same time.
The next problem is the bringing up of the new life. Clothing, feeding, educating, everything
costs money, except for the love and the goodwill. If you want to care about your beloved
ones and you do care about them it doesn’t mean that you can afford everything they need.
One of my acquaintances said that the number of your children is inversely proportional to
your living standards. I see the point in her words, because when you have a child, you may
give everything he or she could need, but if you have two children, you split your money into
two, and now you can’t afford every need of your family. Even the ancient Greek people
knew these disadvantages, that’s why they didn’t have so many children, because they were
afraid of that they could not give the best to them.
The number of the population grows only in not developed and disadvantaged countries, such
as in Africa. It’s not because they would be so wealthy or could care a lot about children, but
it’s because they can’t afford medicines and the statistics of the child mortality show deterrent
numbers.
While in the better-situated countries the population seems more lowering. I think first time
marriages are later, than they used to be generally. Younger people don’t see much point in
getting married earlier. They’re going to university, starting career and I honestly believe that
they are leaving marriage and starting a family a bit later.
In Hungary the couples don’t want to have a lot of children. It’s not because the idea of a big
family is not coded deeply in their genes, it’s because they don’t even have enough money to
raise up just one child. That’s why the European society is said to get older, while in Africa,
India and Asia becomes younger.
And here comes the other problem, the overpopulation. This can be seen mostly in the Asian
countries, the most outstanding example is probably China. If a couple has one child, they get
reductions and aids, if they have two, they have to pay a fine, and for the third child it is
abolished to go to school and get educated. This is how they try to reduce the overpopulation
and find a solution for the overgrowing society.
There are seven billion people on this planet and all of us have different plans and models of
family, but in the end, we make compromises and have similar kinds of connections to each
other.

4. Place of living - Lakás/lakóhely

housing situation - a családok szociális helyzete
difficulties of building a house
homelessness/causes/problems - hajléktalanság/okok/problémák
settling down at home or abroad - hazai/külföldi lakóhely választás

People move away because they have grown out of the old family house and want to live in a
new place, further from their parents, or they have to move because they got an other job
somewhere else, or just need a change around themselves.
However, it is a very special thing, the situations are not always very good. You have to think
about the price, the environment, neighbours, the perfect building, enough space for
everybody you want to live with, enough space for your stuff, and even the distance from
your schools and workplaces.
Also, if you don’t want to buy somebody else’s old house, you can build or rent one, but this
probably is the harder way to get a place to live where. From personal experiences, I know it
can cost a lot, take lot of time, you can have tons of different problems with the blueprints, the
builders and even with the people you trust and give your money to do the things for you, the
contructors. Nowadays there are a lot of unreliable people you can lose your money and even
your new house. But that’s just one opinion and some bad experiences.
First you find out which is more comfortable and better for you, living in a city, or living in a
village. People from the city say that a village life is so much better, as it is less bright and
much more silent in the nights, people are not crammed together in small flats, they can have
a garden, where their children can play, and they think it’s more beautiful. People from
villages may think the opposite that living in the city would be better, because their
workplaces and schools, the hospitals and other important buildings are in the city and they
have to travel each day back and forth at least one time. And if they would like to go and buy
something, they also have to go in the city, because shops in the villages are not so big, and
they don’t sell everything that may be important in ones household.
After you took into consideration every little reason and decided where you would like to
build your house, you buy the thing for the construction, find some people who plan the
perfect house for you, and usually your constructors find the builders, too. If everything goes
well, the building’s finished in less than a year. After that, you can buy the furniture and all
the household appliances you would like to use, or you will need later. You can now
personalize your house and use your own taste. Just be careful, if you have had borrowed
money from a bank for the house project, make sure that you will have enough money to pay
everything back in time, or the bank will take your brand new flat and sell in on the price it
wants just to get some money back.
If you would like to rent a house, or a flat, there are also other things you should know about.
First, you have to look around and check some websites or estate agencies for available
places. They can help you figuring out the best price and size for you, then they can give you
some advice which one you should rent. Agents can show you around the houses which
makes the decision easier, whether you like the place or not.
If you decide to rent the flat, you talk with the owner and leave some deposit which may be
around 1 to 3 months. It is like an insurance, against any damage you may make in the house
or its furniture.
Of course, there are other costs in any case, not depending on buying, building or renting your
place of living. You have to pay for the gas, electricity and water you use. If you rent a house,
the owner can decide if he or she wants to get the bills on your name, or on their name, and
after getting the bills, you pay for the owner. Also, you write a contract, which is the evidence
that you live there and you use the place.
Also, if you want a temporary place of living, you can still go to a hotel, or a student hostel,
which is much cheaper, but definitely not as comfortable and certain, as a house.
The other problem is the homelessness and it’s causes. There are two main groups of people.
The one who became homeless because they wanted to, and the others who lost their homes
because of something else, like a natural disaster, such as flood, fire, hurricane, or because
they couldn’t pay their debt. They had to sell their house, or even a bank took it from them, or
maybe they got divorced and one of them got the house and told their partner to go. So, the
whole topic is very complicated, there are a lot of advantages and disadvantages for both
buying and building a new home.
Nowadays most of the people don’t have so much money in their pockets or bank accounts so
there are significantly less new houses built. In these times, it’s not worth selling, but worth
buying one.
And to talk about the differences of moving in different countries, well, there are loads of.
Just for an example, if you are living in America and your boss tells you that you will work in
an other city about 600 kilometers away, you just pack up your things, your family and move
on. But in Hungary it’s much different. People here are very comfortable and if they are told
to move, they just give up their work and search for an other one which is closer, even if they
would have to move only 50 kilometers away. I understand it is hard to give up a whole life
somewhere, but I think in our economic situation it is necessary.

5. Travelling/transport Utazás/közlekedés
problems of city traffic - városi közlekedés problémái/
public transport versus using cars- tömegközlekedés kontra személyautó
transport and environmental protection - közlekedés és környezetvédelem
tourism as a source of income - az idegenforgalom, mint bevételi forrás
aspects of traffic development - közlekedésfejlesztés/szempontjai

The first and probably the most important problem of the travelling and transportation is the
pollution. Cars use fuel, which is hard and costs a lot of money to produce, and it is harmful
for the environment. While the cars are rolling on the streets, they spew their exhaust fumes
with dangerous and polluting gases into the air. Besides it pollutes the air, destroy the ozone
layer, and through the steam in the air, and the rain it goes down deeply in the ground, which
is polluting the ground, the water inside of it, and through the water and the dirt, the plants,
and by the plants, the animals and the humans.
We have to take this hazard into consideration when we are travelling anywhere, because it’s
not the same when there is a car with only one person, or when you’re going with two, three
or four people in your car. It’s even more environmental friendly if you use public transport.
It may not be the same comfortable, as you won’t always get enough personal space, or a seat,
but it’s definitely less dangerous to your living place and for yourself. You can even reduce
the pollution, if you go by bicycle or on foot, and it’s much healthier, too.
I use different kinds of public transportation and from personal experiences I can say that it’s
not always as bad as some people may think. During the past ten years, the trains and the
buses became much more comfortable, clean and safe than it was a long time ago.
The problem about going by train or bus is that people can’t take as many bags and packages
as they would like to, they have to travel with strangers, the stations may not be close to the
place they want to get to. And the timing is an other problem, like when you would have to
arrive to your workplace at 7:50 a.m., but the train station is in a 20 minutes walk from the
place, the trains go by an hour and you can wait such a long time if you go with the earlier
train, but you will be late, if you choose the other one, an hour later. Of course, you may not
choose public transportation, because it is not as clean and hygienic as your own car.
By the way, as we mention the cars, we also have to think about the driving license, which
people can get in Hungary after they became 18 years old, or with parental permission, at the
age of 17. But this is not enough, if you have a driving license, you still need a car to go
where you want. If you get it, you can go with anyone, anything and anywhere, totally
independent from anything. The only things you should be afraid of are the traffic jam, and
the accidents.
To talk a bit more about the transportation, not just the travelling, there’s even a 50 kilometres
diet, which is about that you are buying vegetables, fruits and any kinds of food you can, if it
has been grown or produced in 50 kilometres zone around you. It again protects the
environment, because transporting food costs money, time and fuel, which again pollutes the
environment. Things that we import from abroad can be a bit cheaper, but it definitely is
much more harmful for the environment and the living beings on earth. Other important thing
is the organic gardening. Basically it means that you don’t use any artificial and chemical
things to protect your plants or make them bigger, or grow faster. This is again a good point
why you should buy homegrown vegetables and fruits from your nearest area.
Back to travelling, an other form of it is when people travel, to see new sights, probably in
new countries or in new cities they’ve never been before, or just to buy things they wouldn’t
get at home. My country, Hungary is very famous for its cuisine, wellness centers, spas and
our hospitality. We try to do our best and give the best to our guests that one may give, this is
the secret of why the guests like to come back here year to year.
Just for an example, lake Balaton is a very popular holiday destination, because it’s big, the
food is nice, the entrance-fee are low, the sun is warm, and the summer weather is perfect
here. We hold very famous festivals, which attract many people from abroad, like FEZEN,
Sziget, Balaton Sound, the Flower festival in Debrecen, all in all, we have very different
festivals during almost the whole year, for all ages and all tastes. This is a great advantage of
our little but lovely country.
Of course, the Hungarians like to chill out, too, so we are travelling to different countries to
see and meet the world. Mostly, we are looking for sea, sand and hot climate, after the cold
and windy, but beautiful winter.
We like the fairs and the markets, and we organize them several times a year. For example,
the Christmas Fair in Székesfehérvár or Győr is very well-known and popular, thousands of
people come here every year to see the beautiful things. The lights on the streets on the
evening are so kind and lovely, so heart-warming.
During the fairs, lots of craftsmen try to sell their handmade and beautiful things, which can
be both sweet presents, or useful things. This again attracts people from abroad, that we share
our culture and traditions through our productions.

6. Shopping/shops - Vásárlás/üzletek
consumer society - fogyasztói társadalom
buying on credit/with credit cards/on the Internet - vásárlás hitelre/kártyával/interneten
shopping tourism - bevásárló turizmus

Our society is growing bigger and bigger each moment, and we all have our personal needs,
like food, clothes, places to live, and of course water, electricity and other things. We get
them by shopping. We can go to shopping centers or small shops, or we can decide to order
something to our house, and there are people whose job is to deliver it.
Years ago, there were smart men in the industry, who realized that people buy what they need
in the best quality they can afford. But what if their things have long lifetimes. Here came the
planned obsolescence. Its basic idea is to influence the people to buy a little better, a little
more expensive things a little sooner than they actually need, just to keep the industry
working. They can do it in two ways: the first is that they make their products’ lifetimes
shorter, but just a little bit longer than their guarantees, so they buy new things when some
single, little tricks would solve the whole problem, like taking out a microchip. The other way
is to find out what the customer would like. They make lots of advertisements, designs, which
look better and cooler, than the older ones, and they take action and sale signs out in their
windows as bait for the people.
Even the product’s place on the shelf influences a single person in the shop: if something is in
the height of our eyes, we notice it sooner and think that it’s somehow better than the one on
the bottom of the shelf, which may be a bit cheaper, and sometimes better.
But in these times, we also have to think about the rate of the price and the value. There might
be some famous brands which are very expensive, but may not know as much or last as long
as a bit cheaper and less known brand. And also, factories try to compete with each other, and
the smaller ones are making thing with the bigger ones’ logos. It is called forgery. There are
some ways to find out, which is the original, because sometimes the difference can be very
obvious, but sometimes it’s very hard to distinguish them.
And there are the sales, which attract many people to the shops. You’d rather go into a shop
which says on its windows that you can buy a sweater for 5 dollars, which would originally
cost 10 dollars, than into a shop which offers thing for their original price. But there are even
cases, when the original price is what they write on the price tag, as the sale price, and the
price they write as the original is just for showing people that, now it’s really worth buying it.
Another problem of the sales it about the different kitchen, clothing and other sets. You may
want to buy a pair of jeans, but if you go to the shop, you find a shirt which matches it
perfectly, of in the window, you see a nice blouse with a jacket, and as you go in, you find out
that it’s not a set, you have to buy them separately. The third, but probably not last problem is
the pay one and take two, or maybe pay for two and take three sales. This way you can also be
fooled. Just see for an example that you would like to eat some grapes, but as you go inside
the shop, you see that you can get three boxes of grapes at the price of two boxes. In the
beginning, you wanted to eat just some, and decided to buy a box, but at the end, you end up
buying two, taking three and throwing all away to the garbage, because you couldn’t eat all,
just a half box, and all the rest got rotten. The sale sounds nice, but the results are not that
great.
Let’s talk about the wrapping. It can be a good feeling to see cute children playing happily on
the boxes of the toys, but does your child really need that expensive thing which would end
up in the garbage, next to the grapes? Sometimes just the wrapping inspires us to buy things,
because it looks good, or you may think that yes, one day you may need it for something, or
even the box can send messages to your brain „buy me, buy me”.
These things are all the cause why people borrow a lot of money for gifts around Easter,
Christmas and other holidays. If we thing it over again, that did we or the people whom we
gave the thing really needed this or that, I’m sure we would find some things that were not so
necessary to be bought.
I buy so many things on the Internet, for an example from Aliexpress. Aliexpress is a Chinese
multinational corporation and e-commerce company. On their websites you can buy things
from all over the world. And the best is it’s cheap and safe. For example I ordered cover to
our mobile phone several times from China from Aliexpress. It was perfect and its price with
shipping was a fraction of the orginal price. I honestly believe that online shopping is a very
comfortable and brilliant.
When I go shopping I prefer to buy with my credit card, because I don’t need a lot of money
in my wallet. What I just need a small and slim card.
After Hungary’s accession to the EU shopping tourism has increased. The Hungarians visit
the neighbouring countries mainly to buy consumer goods but the top seller is fuel from
Slovakia, Romania, and the Ukraine. Austria has been mainly the destination to buy quality
clothes and electronic articles.
Shopping tourism causes a serious loss to Hungarian economy in taxes and by avoiding to buy
more expensive Hungarian products. In Austria a Hungarian tourist leaves an average of 210
euros when shopping.

7. Communication/keeping in contact - Kommunikáció/kapcsolattartás

the Internet in business communication - az Internet az üzleti kommunikációban
Fax, e-mail versus traditional letter writing - Fax, e-mail kontra hagyományos levelezés
less widely used languages - Nemzeti (kis) nyelvek kontra angol vs. English national cultures

Nowadays communication is very important, not just between us and our friends, family, etc.,
but between companies, cities and even countries. If there would not be the Internet, the
telephone or the letter, there could not be the big variety of food, clothing, household
appliances and other things in the shops, because the companies are keeping in contact with
each other, that’s why we can eat bananas, oranges and food like these in Hungary.
To help these great systems going, there are a lot of interpreters, translators and language
courses available for everyone, not just the kids in the schools.
These days almost everything we can write to somebody else, from a single thank you note
through a letter for an old friend to official documents are typed in the computers. It is much
easier, because others can get our messages almost in a minute, and don’t have to wait a week
or so, for a traditional letter to arrive. Some people say that it is not a good thing, since it is
less personal and alienates us from each other. But even if there would not be the Internet to
send our messages, there definitely would be less successful companies, as the replies to
important questions may arrive later, or if there would something bad happen, it would take at
least one week to send a message asking for help from the directorate for the subsidiary,
which would need some more money, but if it arrives later, it might be too late and that part of
the company may bankrupt.
An other important thing about the Internet is the fact that it is absolutely multilingual, so
everyone can use it, even if they don’t speak any other language except from their mother
tongue. And also, it gives excellent opportunities to learn other languages, because there are
many free software, programs and courses that are running on the worldwide web which are
available for everybody, who have Internet access. Of course, you can even practice your
language’s dialects and similar old languages which are spoken in other parts of your country,
or may be in use somewhere else. In addition, you can still find languages which are on the
edge of extinction, or are already extinct, but are still in use somehow, like Latin. In my
opinion, it really is a great thing, because I can speak on more languages with my
international friends with the help of the Internet, since there are specific translator programs,
where you can type something, and the computer translates it in no time. Unfortunately, these
resolutions are not always good, but there can be found very nice programs on the Internet.
Even if your language is not as well-known as like English or Chinese, you can still find your
favorite websites and pages on languages that you know. Just to mention an interesting thing:
English is currently the most widely /széles körben/ used language on the Internet, but some
people say that as the number of Chinese people is constantly /folyamatosan/ increasing, in a
few years Chinese language, more precisely /pontosabban/ the mandarin dialect will take
control over the web. This is how the cultures spread here.
The e-mails are really easy to type and send, not only because the correction of one’s
mistakes, but because if someone’s handwriting is not the prettiest, everyone can read it,
because it’s clear. A big advantage that if once you finished your e-mail, the addressee will
get it approximately /körülbelül/ in 10 minutes, independently from where he or she lives,
while if you write a traditional letter, or on its other name, a snail mail, it takes two days to
arrive, even if the person you’ve sent the letter to lives only 10 kilometers away.
Also, there is an other solution, the fax. This is kind of like when you take a picture of what
you would like to show or send to someone and send the photo itself. There are special kinds
of printers which can be used for scanning and faxing. You put your sheet face up or face
down inside of the machine, then you send the fax message to a phone number, which is in
connection with a printer, and that printer prints your fax out. This way both of you, the
sender and the receiver will get a copy from the paper. In Hungary the fax had no long
lifetime, because the fax and the Internet appeared at almost the same time, and people chose
the easier way to communicate with the others. Sending messages and documents with the
help of the Internet is definitely much faster than in the traditional way, but I can tell from
personal experiences that it is much more less personal and kind. I have some penpals from
other countries. And it is very interesting they prefer snail mail. I think it is so humourous to
see handwriting habits of other nations.
 8. Services - Szolgáltatások
quality/guarantee of services - szolgáltatások minősége/garanciája
role, significance of service industry - szolgáltatóipar szerepe, jelentősége
electronic services/online ordering - elektronikus szolgáltatások/on-line rendelés

Shopping malls attract hundreds of customers each day, because they are close to the city
centre, organize different programs for almost every week or month for all ages and tastes, or
in Plaza, there is a cinema. All of the shopping centers have some fast food restaurants,
clothes stores, like Columbia, Adidas, Nike and so on. Besides the shopping, we can find
places where we can chill out /lehiggad/, like hairdressers, beauty salons, shoe repairers, cloth
cleaners, mobile services, even car washes, and so on with the list. Chemists, gym, post office
and adventure center next to each other seems to be a great advantage and the cinemas and the
casinos are nice tools for attracting people to these centers, but also, sometimes we should
think about the disadvantages, too.
Personally, I don’t really like to go shopping, the only store I really like is the bookstore.
Every time I’m there, I am definitely going to spend at least five minutes to go in and look
around.
These places have a lot of advantages, like closed and climatized area, different shops to fulfil
/szolgál/ all needs, and also, if you get tired of wandering /vándorlás/ around all day, you can
find a place to sit down and have a nice coffee with your friends or eat a good meal with your
family.
In my opinion it is a great idea to combine free time activity with the daily shopping, when
you go to a supermarket to buy food for the dinner, cleaning stuff to do the housework, and
then you take a stroll /kószál/ on the long passages /folyosó/, window-shop, laugh with your
friends, and you can even buy some clothes for the next party.
Though, a lot of people like to go there not just during the week, but at the weekends, too, but
if we ask somebody who’s working there, they definitely would say it is a hard work, because
they hardly have any time to care for their family. They have to work a lot each day to get a
small amount of money. In the morning the stores open around eight or nine, but they have to
be there at least an hour earlier to organize everything before the shop opens.
Not everyone likes crowded /zsúfolt/ places and that’s why a lot of people want to go there
just in the hours when there’s nobody else, or they don’t go there at all. Besides, the more
people there are, the bigger chance it means for shoplifters /bolti tolvaj/, because they can use
other people to help them unless they talk to those people or ask them to help. We can easily
become victims in these situations, when somebody puts like a pack of chewing gum in our
pocket, we don’t notice it. After we go to pay, and when we would like to leave the shop, the
alarm system turns on, and we get punishment while the real thief simply walks out next to us,
when the alarm is still on.
In big shopping centers there’s always a rush right before and right after the important
celebrations, like Christmas and Easter, when almost everyone celebrates and gives gifts to
others. Well, these presents are not always the appropriate /megfelelő/ ones, that’s why we
like to keep the bill and then return our gifts and change them for more useful ones. At these
times there are huge sales, because the shops have to sell the things they got back or stayed
there.
Ten thousands or hundred thousands including me prefer to order and buy from the Internet,
as it definitely costs less energy and time, not mentioning that we don’t have to go anywhere,
so we can spare fuel and money, too. We get what we wanted in two or three days, maximum
a week, and we didn’t even had to go out of our house or stand up from our comfortable
armchair. There are many websites selling food, pieces of clothing, household appliances
/háztartási eszköz/, books, entertaining things, and so on, just to fulfill our needs of every kind
and taste. We type in the name of the thing we’re looking for and search through millions of
pages and sites, choose the best shop, place, price, quality, even guarantee, and we order
whatever we would like to.
Also, we can organize almost our whole life through websites. We can report the amount of
water, gas and electricity we used, together with our tax returns, while we ask for a meeting
with our dentist and take part in an auction at the same time.
Years ago, there were smart men in the industry, who realized that people buy what they need
in the best quality they can afford. But what if their things have long lifetimes. Here came the
planned obsolescence /elavulás/. Its basic idea is to influence the people to buy a little better,
a little more expensive things a little sooner than they actually need, just to keep the industry
working. They can do it in two ways: the first is that they make their products’ lifetimes
shorter, but just a little bit longer than their guarantees, so they buy new things when some
single, little tricks would solve the whole problem, like taking out a microchip. The other way
is to find out what the customer would like. They make lots of advertisements, designs, which
look better and cooler, than the older ones, and they take action and sale signs out /kiír/ in
their windows as bait for the people.
Even the product’s place on the shelf influences a single person in the shop: if something is in
the height of our eyes, we notice it sooner and think that it’s somehow better than the one on
the bottom of the shelf, which may be a bit cheaper, and sometimes better.
Whenever we would like to use the guarantee to get something repaired, we need the thing’s
warranty, or unless we won’t be able to hand it in /benyújt/. There are problems which can be
solved, but there are cases when we don’t have an other solution, just to buy a new one,
because it would cost less time and money for us. While we are in time, according /vmivel
kapcsolatban/ to the warranty, we have three options: usually in the first three workdays if we
have any problems with the product, we show the warranty and our newly bought thing, let’s
say a camera will be changed for a brand new one from the shelf. In the first one, two or three
months our camera will be sent to a head office, where if it’s possible, it gets repaired. With
the clothes, we can give them back and choose new things at the price of the piece we had
given back previously.
Despite /vmi ellenére/ this, I’ve heard that in America and England they change back almost
everything, even meat that was bought a few days ago, but wasn’t good enough for the
consumer’s taste. Sometimes I feel that as time goes on, people besides the laziness will have
so many idiot ideas, like the one I mentioned before, in connection with the meat.

9. Culture/entertainment - Kultúra/szórakozás
role of arts in the past and present - művészetek szerepe egykor és ma
public collections and their maintenance - közgyűjtemények és fenntartásuk/
historic sites - művészeti/ történelmi emlékek
mentorship/sponsorship/promotion - mecenatúra/szponzoráció/reklámozás

In ancient times art was for reasons that are not at least similar to nowadays’ sense. Like the
wall paintings in the caves, the arts were used to spread information, share knowledge or
collect memories to show them to others. These days we mean theater, dance, film, music,
writing and other methods of entertainment by arts. The reason why we turn to art is because
we would like to relax, enjoy something that we found beautiful or useful, or the artists would
like to get some money with what they loves the most. What I can perfectly understand. My
biggest dream is to live off writing.
We can see the moments of everyday life, like clothing, hunting, eating, child-raising, food
production, or even love and connections in the past on the paintings and drawings, or hear
about them in old songs. Also, while we are analyzing the old pieces of art, we even can see
the current beliefs /közhiedelem/ and facts that were there at the time when the pieces were
made. From the Gregorian music we know that in the Middle Ages God was a very important
topic, from the cave paintings we know how our first ancestors lived, from the paintings we
know what were people wearing and from the buildings we can track construction of the
evolution, and so on.
These days, I would say that the arts’ role changed from giving information to help relaxing
and entertain people. As we are walking on the streets, we plug our ears in and listen to our
favourite music to chill out, or to speed up the time until we get to a place from another.
When we see a painting on showcase /tárlat/ we think „Well, that would look nice on my wall,
I like the landscapes, instead of trying to figure out which biblical scene we can see, or from
what age is that picture from.
Also, there are different styles for different tastes: everyone can find the art form or style that
suits their needs /megfelel az igényeinek/ most. For me, it is hardly expressible /kifejezhető/,
as I enjoy drawing and painting as much as singing or writing novels, lyrics and poems, too,
like learning to play on different musical instruments. Although, it is very important to keep
in mind that because we are not similar, our tastes are different, too. This way there are things
that I really love, while my sister may think that’s not her cup of tea. Art itself is really
subjective as it satisfies everyone’s taste at the same time, but on different ways, with
different tools and productions.
The greatest arts are usually showed in museums, or their copies are on display /ki van
állítva/, to show people pieces from older cultures. A very big percentage of the important and
or expensive creations are in public collections, which mean that museums possess
/rendelkezik vmivel/ them, not average people. These masterpieces have special needs and are
very hard to maintain /fenntart/. These tasks /feladat/ need experienced and trustworthy
restaurateurs and professors to restore them to a quite good condition, maybe even better than
the original state. Also, they cost incredible amounts of money, and if something goes wrong,
breaks down and can’t be fixed on an original piece, the damage is irreparable, as we lost a
piece of culture and history. The other way to impair /megrongál/ the masterpieces is when
somebody wants to get rich soon, steal one from a museum or from a personal collection and
sells it on the black market. During this progress the artworks can go through incredible
trials /megpróbáltatásokon/ and can be losen easily for ever.
This was about the older ones, but we have to mention the artists of these days. Not everyone
of them has enough money to do artworks, so some richer people may help them with giving
money to work, but as a trade, they can get whatever they want from the artists. These
mentors’ and or sponsors’ task too, is to help their mentored ones to show their works on
exhibition in galleries or museums. This way more and more people can be informed about
the new talents, be interested in their works and who knows, maybe buy some masterpieces.
When somebody wants to get a piece of art, basically there are two ways to do it: the first one
is when they sell and buy things directly, at a discussed price, the other way is to organize an
auction. In the second case more possible consumers may show up and they race against each
other by who can give more money for a thing they would like to. Mostly, on auctions, we can
see antiquities or pieces of art from private collections, which were hidden from the world,
until they got to the auction, because maybe their owner died, or couldn’t pay their debts, so
decided to sell some unnecessary things.

10. Time/weather - Idő/időjárás

natural catastrophes and - természeti katasztrófák és
their consequences - következményeik
hole in the ozone layer - az ózonlyuk/
 dangers of global warming- a globális felmelegedés veszélyei

Nowadays is very rich in natural disasters, such as earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes and
tsunamis. To the best of my knowledge two thousand and eleven (2011) was the costliest year
on record in terms of /vminek a szempontjából./ property damage referring to /hivatkozva
vmire/ natural disasters across the globe. Just in the first two months of that year there were
several reports about billions of fish and birds found dead everywhere. There also were a lot
of strong earthquakes with more than 5.0 magnitude.
To talk a bit more about these thing with the viewpoint of a businessman, the insurance
companies were not in such bad positions for long years. The more catastrophes there are, the
more damage people have on their property, and the more damages the insurance companies
have to pay. This all can be explained by the global warming, of course, which is a huge
problem.
To start this topic from the beginning, I should explain what is global warming, why it
develops and is harmful for the environment. Basically it was caused by the different gases
the humans produce with their factories, cars burning and even with household appliances
/háztartási eszköz/, like the refrigerator, or even only with a simple deodorant.
Gases, like Freon start to devastate the ozone layer part by part, and this is what should not
happen. The ozone layer is like an enormous /hatalmas/ bubble around the Earth, and it is
what keeps most of the gases, like the oxygen inside. Also, this layer stops the dangerous ultra
violet rays which can burn the skin, or cause skin cancer. Without the ozone layer we would
not be able to breathe, to go out of the house or even to find a green spot somewhere around,
because it prevents the planet from drought /szárazság/.
But not everyone cares about it, as the whole layer keeps growing thinner and thinner, which
causes serious problems, as I mentioned before.
There is another important problem in connection with the ozone layer case, which we should
talk about, too. This one is the global warming.
Basically it is when we produce several kinds of gases, like carbon-dioxide, during a day, and
some of these gases reflect /visszaverődik/ from the ozone layer and get stuck inside of it.
Also, it keeps the heat inside, too. This way the average temperature raises everywhere. The
consequences are the melting polar ice caps and glaciers /gleccserek/, the rising sea and ocean
levels, extinction /kihalás/ of animals and more and more species /fajok/ becoming
endangered /veszélyeztetett/. Global warming is a very dangerous thing that we should be
aware of /tudatában van vminek/, or instead we will be able to swim in our back garden.
Now we can’t always see its marks but if we notice them, like the snowless, warm winter in
Hungary, we start worrying. This is the time when we should really talk about these problems
and try to slower the process, because in my opinion it is already too late to stop it. The only
thing we can do is to reduce the rising amount harmful gases in the air, use public transport
instead of cars, use the renewable energy resources, try to recycle instead of burning and
burying everything in our back garden, and we can even reduce the deforestation /erdőirtás/.
By cutting out all the rainforests, we don’t just take away the habitat /természetes környezet/
from various species of animals and plants, but we reduce the natural cleaning of the air. If we
just cut the trees out and don’t plant anything instead of in, in a few decades /néhány
évtizeden belül/ there won’t be enough clean air in the earth’s atmosphere. Also, the forest
fires are dangerous and important, too, because they might damage people’s property, too.
All in all, we really should think future of us because seeing the plants blooming in the middle
of winter may be a heartwarming feeling, but it’s hundred precent not natural.

11. Health/illnesses - Egészség/betegségek

science/research serving medical care/genetics - a tudomány/kutatás az egészségügy
 szolgálatában / genetika
alternative methods of healing - alternatív irányzatok a gyógyításban
health tourism - egészségturizmus
In the last few decades there have been many developments in scientific fields. Researches
and experiments help us improve our knowledge about our bodies, health and diseases. Based
on the results, scientists and doctors can invent new medicines, tools and methods which can
be much more effective and useful, even against the most-feared cancer, HIV and AIDS.
Interesting that, the best techniques and ideas were invented for military technology, but later
spreaded out. It means that we care much more about fighting each other than curing and
healing even our own nation. For me it is a bit hard to understand, but if powerful and
influential /tekintélyes/ people see it as the right way to go, let it be this way.
As I see the things, there are three main groups of illnesses. The curable ones, the incurable
ones, and the ones which can be cured, but will appear /megjelenik/ again in a period of
time /időközönként/. The incurable diseases can be life-threatening, like cancer or
autoimmune diseases but luckily not every case ends up in death.
To talk a bit more about them, there are different options to choose from, when you got one.
The first is that you become devastated /elpusztított/, not care about it at all, and slowly but
surely, it consumes /elfogyaszt/ you little by little. The second option is that you want to stay
alive, so you go to a doctor, and ask for help. You can get different types of medicines; go to
several therapies and treatments. Some of my family members had different types of cancer,
and as it is hardly curable, unfortunately they met their end.
Euthanasia is a method for gracious death, when somebody is suffering from something
which is unquestionably lethal, like cancer or HIV/AIDS. This type of death is requested by
the suffering people, who are not able to live with the fact that they would die in any moment,
like in the last period of cancer, or have so serious and life-threatening injuries or other
illnesses.
Though in some countries and states it is forbidden, people firmly /határozottan/ and
completely /teljes mértékben/ have the rights to their own lives and even death, which can’t
be taken by others. According to the law, people can take their own life by suicide or
euthanasia. If one’s forbidden, they choose the other awfulness.
By suicide, people can be prevented from suffering at the end of their life, from low living
standards, even from abusement and forced prostitution. It may be a relief /megkönnyebülés/
in these situations, and can free up more medical funds to others, who really need it, who
wants to stay alive.
Also, people who live in places where euthanasia is forbidden, they invented the „euthanasia-
tourism”, which is about that they go to a country, where it is legal and according to their
wish, they die there. This is another method for being free. Switzerland, the Netherlands.
As I see it, euthanasia is not a bad thing, as it keeps away people from suffering and
everything is happening as they want it to be like. In front of me, the only one thing that
would deter /elrettent/ me from it if I would be so ill, like in the last period of cancer, the fact
that my beloved ones may forgive it to me, as they could understand it. But suicide is
different. It is very selfish, even if everything is hopeless in your life.
Also, there are other alternative methods of healing, like the homeopathic medicines, which
are based on hundred precent natural components, like herbs, which were used since the
human appeared on Earth. Even a few decades ago there were no special medicines, drugs,
pills and other stuff, but there were the nature, which people would believe in. There were
some really nice samples when someone’s belief /hit/ was strong enough to get well. This is
the base idea of placebo pills. They are simply made of glucose, and mostly used as fake
antidepressant pills.
Of course, if we don’t want to fill ourselves with any kinds of pills or medicines, there are
other alternatives, like specific massages, energy therapies, essential oils, mind therapies, or if
whole body parts are injured, we can go and take up /hozzáfog vmihez/ some kind of sport.
As I had problems with my joints and musculature, I had to go play football and took part in a
physiotherapy class every half a year. Alone, it wouldn’t be so enjoyable, but as I’m going as
a member of a group made mostly of girls from my district and at my age, it’s much more fun
than work for my health.
To see things from the healthy side, we all should do some sports, at least as a hobby, because
it is very good for the lungs, heart, muscles and bones, and for our whole being. At least we
feel that we are doing something for our own health, and everybody can find something which
he or she would like in a sport, and attract them to do that.
Besides the sport, we should protect our immune system, too, as it is weak, it can’t protect us
from diseases which we are in touch every day. Wearing warmer clothes in the cold weather
or drinking at least one and a half, two litres of liquids a day is one of the best things we can
do, and it is not so hard to fill /megtölt/ a glass with water and drink it.
Avoiding alcohol and smoking also is a great thing, as we don’t destroy our own body by all
those harmful chemicals and other thing. Would you eat a piece of asphalt /aszfalt/ each day,
then breathe in a bottle of air freshener ? No? Then why do we smoke if the same things can
be found in a cigarette or a cigar? Well, people have strange habits in connection with their
bodies.

12. Sport - Sport

first-class sports – mass sports/doping - élsport – tömegsport/dopping
professionalism/amateurism in sport/extreme - profi/amatőr sport/extrém sport
sport and women (chess, boxing, weightlifting) - sport és a nők (súlyemelés)
sports and marketing - sport és reklám

Sport is a very important thing is one’s life. It can protect our health, our body, refresh the
mind, strengthen us inside and outside, not to talk about the reduction /csökkenés/ of the daily
stress. As we are different, we can’t all be in just one specific sport, so during the centuries
and millenniums, people invented several kinds of sports with different moves, rules,
equipment /képesség/ and requirements /követelmények/. Some are dangerous, some are not,
your choice may depend on your physical abilities and the fact that how adventurous you are.
There are extreme sports for the adrenaline lovers, like hiking, windsurfing, scuba diving
/búvárkodás/ or parachuting /ejtőernyőzés/, slow sports which need more concentration and
more use of your brain, like chess and golf, there are the martial arts and their branches
/ágazatai/, and the list could go on for long pages.
For me, I tried lots of sports as a hobby and/or a form to keep fit, folkdance, cycling, running,
horse riding etc.
As I see it, women might like doing sport more than men, as we are considered to be more
worried about our health and shape, so small wonder that we have at least the same number of
girls as boys on each training. Men are said to be lazier and I would say we can see less men
running on the streets alone.
Health problems can be a cause why people take up /belekezd/ different sports, like jogging
against obesity /túlsúlyosság/ and heart problems. Sports can do wonders for our health, by
strengthening our muscles, bones, heart and lungs. An other cause why we choose them as our
free time activities is that the fact that it reduces the daily stress and the chance of getting a
heart attack.
In Hungary soccer is definitely one of the most popular sports, besides handball, which shows
increasing statistics. I would say that a very big percentage, about 80% of the young boys play
soccer regularly, and if we ask a little boy what would he like to become, he would answer:
soccer player. A lot of boys practice it as their favourite activity during their scholar years, but
when they finish their schools, they give it up and find a suitable /testhez álló/ job.
Some boys still keep running after their dreams and they become soccer players until they
can. As a player, you won’t be able to be on the pitch until the end of your life, because as a
forty-year-old man, you are considered to be a veteran, a very old player. When you get too
old, you quit the team and have to find another job, which is a very unlucky situation, unless
you would make a good leader and teacher, and a team would need your help as a couch.
For women, it’s usually not the same, though we really do like sports. There are many
exceptions /kivétel/ that show, we can be even better than the males. Just for an example, the
first Hungarian world champion in karate was a female, not a male. Even, there are the very
famous chess-player girls, the three Polgár sisters. Their father taught them how to play chess
at a very young age and they become so great professionals that they and their father had to
invent other, more difficult ways to play this black and white, but not at all boring game.
And once if we talk about chess, we should also mention some idiot sports, like chess boxing.
I’ve first heard about it a few years ago. It is made up of several turns, one game of chess, and
a box match. The player who wants to win has to be very fit both in body and mind.
Also, there is the so famous wife-carrying competition, which was invented in Finland as has
the basic idea that the husbands have to carry their wives on their back at the fastest speed
they can, through several barriers. Who is the fastest and doesn’t hurt, drop or leave his wife
wins.
An other idiot sport which spreads around the world with the speed of light is the cell phone
throwing. You just have to toss /dob/ it in the air, the goal is that it has to fly a long distance
up so high, and land at the furthest point. Sometimes I can’t see a clever point in a game or its
rules, but it still can be very enjoyable for someone.

13. Media - Média

objectivity/impartiality of providing information - a tájékoztatás objektivitása, pártatlansága
stars/celebrities - sztárság/celebség

As this age is considered to be the age of information, media plays a very important role in
our daily lives. The television, the radio, newspapers and the Internet are just a few examples
of communication. Technology today makes it possible to destroy a person's life with the
click of a button or a tap on a cell phone.
When we wake up in the morning, we turn on the TV, watch the news or the weather forecast.
While having breakfast, a lot of people like to read their favorite newspaper, and when they
set off to work, they turn on the radio in their car. At their workplace, or after they got home,
they use their computers to surf the Internet.
Of course, we can’t stay out of the current political topics or not be influenced /befolyás/ by
one of the parties, as every single form of media reflects /reagál/ the interests of one party, at
least. None of the tools of the media can be considered to be objective, though, we still keep
using them, as we form our opinion based on our own ideas, interests and needs, not really on
what others may say.
In Hungary, I would say that the most used form of media is the Internet, as it is available
almost everywhere, it is fast and by the time we get the daily newspaper in our hands, there
are already at least five updates about the same topic we read in the morning. The more
people use the web to search for information, the age of printed news is about its end, because
we can choose what we want to be informed about, and what is out of our interest. That
probably is the reason why there is a significant difference in the number of newspaper
ordering between these days and a decade ago.
This is not the same with the TV, as it was and still is very popular. As soon as we get home,
turn it on, we can listen to music, watch a film or sit down in front of fascinating /lebilincselő/
series. According to our own taste, we can choose whether we would like to watch something
on a public or a commercial channel. The main difference between them is that the public
channels run on the money of the government and are mostly available for everybody, while
the commercial channels use the commercials for their living. The highest price of a
commercial is at the time when a channel gets a punishment for something, like the program
proved to be harmful for younger kids, or the age mark /korhatár/ at the corner is not good. It
has a psychological reason: when people hear that there will be a break at programs, they
switch the TV to that channel and watch the clock counting back. The first seconds and
minutes are very influencing when everything starts again, as people see those advertisements
first.
An other great source of income /bevétel/ are the reality shows and other programs, which are
based on the viewers votes. People sit down in front of the screen and send text messages to
keep their favorite characters in the game or competition they are watching. Sometimes the
money we spend on sending those messages can be incredibly much, and this money goes
only to the founders and the show runs on. We should think about that it could me much more
useful if we would send that money to a charity, but as it’s a human habit, we like to spend
money what entertains us, not on things that would be good for others, like orphans too.
Also, while we are await the show to go on, there are other long commercials, which are
usually very boring and annoying for an average person, but this is the price of our favorite
programs to run. During the five or ten minute long advertisement time we switch to an other
channel, and watch the news, which is usually about the bad things that happened in the
world. We rarely hear about the opening ceremony of a new school or hospital, because not
everybody thinks it to be important, but likes to hear more about natural disasters and other
sad things, like protesting /tiltakozás/ ended up in catastrophe. Also, we can’t hear a lot about
the current political issues, though it is sure that all of the channels, writers and speakers have
their own opinion and tell the stories from their viewpoints /álláspont/, sometimes influencing
our decisions and feelings about the political parties.
When somebody decides to work as a writer, reporter or editor, they have to participate in
different style classes and practice a lot of different styles. I knew that because I’ve
Communication and Media science degree. Although that was not our main major we had to
write articles in the styles of specific newspapers for practicing. In Hungary, we can easily tell
apart which newspaper, website or TV channel reflects which political party’s interests.
That’s why I say there is no objectivity, and it can never be, as people may try not to take
their personal feelings, interests and thoughts in a report or an opinion-piece as hard as they
can, but yes, there still is at least a tiny piece of it in their products.
The government always takes control over public channels, just for an example, HírTV is for
the right wing, ATV is for the left wing party. I found it a dirty thing to take advantage of our
everyday habits and influence us through daily routines, like reading, listening to radio or
watching TV. They use our time of relay /közvetít/ for their own interests.
I don’t watch news or other programmes like that. I watch a lot series. One of my favourites is
Grey’s Anatomy. This television medical drama is about Meredith Grey, who was raised by
her mother, the famous surgeon, Ellis Grey.
Many people want to know everything about their favourites. In my opinion they should care
about their life not others. That’s way celebrities can be. They are ridiculous. Personally I
think that we are a too small country to this many celebrities.
Stars are maybe different or maybe not. But I think some singers, actors, authors etc. are very
different from celebrities. They try to move to your heart by their songs, movies or books, not
their scandals.
 14. Hobby - Hobbi
preserving traditions hagyományőrzés
exclusive hobbies (golf, riding, scuba diving, etc.) - exkluzív hobbik (lovaglás,búvárkodás)
hobby and/or professionalism? - hobbi és/vagy profizmus?

In this running world not everyone has the time they would need to chill out /lehiggad/, but
we still have our interests in sports, art and other relaxing opportunities. I would say that
almost everybody has a hobby that he or she really likes to do. For some, this hobby is their
work, for others, their hobby begins after work time, or at the weekends.
A lot of the hobbies are based on old traditions and their practice, like painting, martial arts
and singing. For me, I have a lot of hobbies, but mostly based on old, traditional ones, such as
reading, singing, gardening and cooking. My grandma baked amazing homemade bread,
cakes, donut and pies. She was well versed in this culinary art. As she baked or cooked she
told me old stories or she sang many songs she had known since childhood. She had to
learned at her grandparents. She taught me a lot of stuff, but she had known more than I
would ever know. It is a legacy I treasure! We were a singig family and my grandmother was
our inspiration. My grandmother would sing songs and without asking we joind to her. For
many years my great-grandfather, my grandma, my uncle, my cousins and I sang in the
village choir. In this days I’m the only one who is still singing there. Futher more my
gradmother and my grandfather taught me dancing. I got dance lessons from them on every
Sunday after lunch. Reading, music, dance, baking, cooking are become one of the most
important and powerful things in my life because of my grandma. Her folk songs shaped my
life and decisions as a teenager and as adult. I will be forever grateful she taught me this
things. I still remember my grandmother singing as we baked or cooked in the kitchen. I hope
thos songs and traditions continue to reflect the decisions my future children will make.
Also, there are exclusive hobbies, such as golf, horse riding, scuba diving and others, which
are not practiced by every second or third person, since they need very special equipment
/képesség/ and personality, too.
I rarely ride a horse. I adore it, but I unfortunately I can’t do it regularly. Horses can be a real
passion to us, since these animals look at us as their partner, not as their boss, like dogs, and
not as their servant as cats. They are not pets, but partners. I don’t know who can’t imagine to
ride freely in a grassy area full of beauty, trees, song of the birds, scent /illat/ of the freshness.
It really is a pleasure for the riders, and for the horses, too, as they like to be free and simply
run out of the grey everydays.
I’ve never tried scuba diving. But it can be a breathtaking experience, while you swim with
colorful and interesting fish, see the outside world from under, you don’t even feel your own
weight, just the easiness of your body. Like you would be flying.
For a lot of people who are really into their hobbies, which is their true and only passion, they
might choose it as their profession. Humans like to do what they love to do, not obeying
/engedelmeskedve/ the rules of the society. There are many people who became famous
because they did what they wanted.
There are two ways for a hobby to become someone’s job. The first is when you do
something and you love it so much that you would like to live off money or benefit you can
make out of it. The other way is when you take something up /vmilyen tevékenységbe kezd/,
like painting or singing as a profession, and later you start to love it more and more, so this
becomes even your hobby, and you do it even at home or vacation, not just in work time.
Of course, we should make a difference between obsession and passion, as obsession
sometimes may not be as pleasant as it can easily turn into something that can be harmful or
make a fool out /kiakaszt/ of the obsessed people. Those ones can easily hand out /szétoszt/
money on things that are connected with their obsession, and they do it without any control.
But this is just the financial side, as they might take greater risks than they could overcome
/leküzd/.

15. Studying/work - Tanulás/munka

(over)qualification/chances on the labour market - (túl)képzettség/munkaerőpiaci esélyek
lifelong education - az élethosszig tartó tanulás
employment opportunities/mobility - elhelyezkedési lehetőségek/mobilitás
chances of disadvantaged individuals/groups - a hátrányos helyzetűek esélyei
In almost all countries there is a law about what age children must study. In Hungary we have
to go to school until the age of 16.
Despite /vmi ellenére/ our plans, dreams and expectations future may hold unexpected twists
and can easily leave us disappointed. These days it is very hard to find a job in Hungary, as
the payouts /kifizetés/ are low and the taxes are high, not to mention the price of the food,
clothing, gas, electricity, water, and so on. We have to improve ourselves, study as much as
we can, and I would add as much as we can afford.
Years ago there were drastic changes in the education system. A lot more less sponsored
places are available and if you get a scholarship, you have to pay it back, when you go to
work abroad, or in the case if you don’t want to pay, you have to work in Hungary twice as
long as you studied, and you have to work out your debt in twenty years.
Also, it’s not always enough if you have a job, because you can lose it every day, and you
don’t have to make a mistake to become unemployed. That is why we have to study, study
and study, not just the things that we are interested in, but all the things we might need, as it
gives us more opportunity to find another job. It’s never too late to study and to update or
widen /kibővít/ our knowledge.
To speak a little more about working, we should mention how we can get a job. Basically, we
can do different things while we are studying, but these jobs are mostly available for only
students and young people, like in McDonalds. Or when you go to a specific kind of school or
course, you have to spend some time practicing the job itself, to go to a company and apply as
a student worker.
In other ways, like when you lose your job, you search the Internet, leaf through the
newspapers or go to an office, where you can talk with a person, who informs you about the
things on the job market, where you can go to work, or what should you learn more, et cetera.
You have to write a CV, which contains your personal details, studies, previous job
experiences, and maybe some reasons why would you be the appropriate person for the job.
You hand it in /bead/ to the company, where you would like to work, and based on it, they can
decide whether they would like to interview you or not. If they call you in, you have to talk
about the same things as you had written in your CV, and you have to show your knowledge
about the company, too, as it will be very important, if you got selected for the job.
If you get it, you will have to sign a contract that yes, you are there, working and serving the
company. In most places you have probation which is about 1 to 3 months long. If you and
your employer are both content /elégedett/, you will stay there, sign another contract that you
are a proved worker and you will get a bit more salary.
Of course, as you go upper the ladder you will have more important and maybe difficult jobs,
and maybe a different work time, also with more and more payout. It is called promotion but
if you aren’t working hard enough, you can easily get fired or your boss can decide if they put
you back to your old workplace. If you get a promotion, you may have to move to another
place. These habits are very different in each country.
Let’s take Hungary for an example. If somebody would have to move to somewhere else to
get more money, even just or 30 kilometers away, they rather stay and find another job nearer,
or stay content with their current work. In another country it’s not such a problem, like the
Turkish and the German would go even to an other continent just to get enough money to
maintain /fenntart/ a good living standard. These migrants would do even the dirtiest jobs,
instead of the people born to that country.
To look at the things from the companies’ side, they don’t have a big variety to choose from,
as they must employ disadvantaged people, too. They have to pay attention to them, keep at
least one handicapped /fogyatékos/ parking, build ramps next to the stairs, or use a lift, to
make the disabled /mozgássérült/ people’s working circumstances /körülmények/ easier.
Also, employing disadvantaged people mean advantages too, like tax reductions and some
financial support from the government. Taking this into consideration it might be more
worthwhile /megéri a fáradtságot/ to have some of those people in our company.
The connection between the employer ant the employed is a very important thing. When
someone is annoyed each day by their boss, they can’t do their best at their workplaces,
because they’re under great pressure and stress. The employers should be examples for how to
work and how to work well. As an employer we shouldn’t expect more from our workers than
we are able to do. If the see that we are asking for things we can’t do, they will be upset and
soon we can find ourselves alone in our own company.

16. European Union - Az Európai Unió

the role of the EU in world politics - az EU szerepe a világpolitikában
common/national currency - egységes/nemzeti valuta

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states
which are located primarily in Europe.
The EU was born in 1951 to end enmity /ellenségeskedés/ and guarantee a more peaceful
future for the old continent.
Back then, it was called the European Coal and Steel Community, set up by Belgium, France,
Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The rules of co-operation were set out /kiemel/ in the
Treaty of Paris.
Hungary joined on 1st May (of) 2004 with the entry of nine other countries, this has been the
biggest enlargement in the EU’s history.
Candidate countries had been guided through the accession process under the PHARE
program.
The single market was the EU’s first achievement /eredmény/, completed in 1993. Companies
are able to sell their goods anywhere and professional services can be offered in any member
state. The single market has led to increased competition of business resulting
/eredményesség/ in lower prices and a greater choice of goods and services. The objective of
the EU is to enhance /növel/ compatitiveness /versenyképesség/ in the world market.
The second major milestone of integration /integráció; beillesztés/ was the establishment
/alapítás/ of the Economic and Monetary Union, which aims to /igyekszik, törekszik/
coordinate economic policy and integrate the economies of member countries in the interest
/érdekeltség/ of steady /egyenletes/ growth.
In the EU 6 million jobs were created between 1999 and 2003. The aim /cél/ is to raise the
employment level, guarantee equal opportunities and encourage job-creating investments.
The EU has instituted /alapít/ various crossborder programmes to expand /kiterjeszt/ the scope
/lehetőség/ of learning opportunities for the citizens. (Leonardo Da Vinci/Erasmus Program).
The goal is to provide opportunities for lifelong learning to make people more competitive in
the job market.
The EU has established a comprehensive /széleskörű, átfogó/ framework /váz, szerkezet/ for
environmental protection, and EU participates /közreműködik, részt vesz/ in a lot of
international environmental programs. The EU’s objective is to involve the public in /részt
vesz vmiben/ protecting the environment.
Human rights, democracy and the rule of law are the EU’s core values. Since 1992, all
agreements on trade and cooperation contain a clause /záradék/ on safeguarding /megvédés/
human rights. Beside financial help, the EU promotes economic growth.

17. Culture and civilisation – Országismeret

The home country and the target language country - A forrás- és a célnyelvi ország
fame/recognition in the world - ismertsége/elismertsége a világban/
their relationship to each other - egymáshoz fűződő kapcsolataik
differences in traditions/ customs /ideology - eltérések a hagyományokban/ szokásokban

(The United Kingdom (UK) consists of England, Wales, Scotland (which collectively make
up Great Britain) and Northern Ireland. The UK’s geography is varied and includes cliffs
along some coastlines, highlands and lowlands and hundreds of islands off the western and
northern coasts of Scotland.
The most important sectors of the UK’s economy in 2014 were public administration,
defence, education, human health and social work activities, wholesale /nagykereskedelem/
and retail /kiskereskedelem/ trade, transport, accommodation and food services and industry.
The UK’s main export partners are Germany, the United States and the Netherlands, while its
main import partners are Germany, China and USA.
The United Kingdom is a recognized state with strong economy and deep-rooted traditions.
System of government of UK is kingdom and the citizens respect the royalties so much.
UK is one of the founding members of the European Union, but they didn’t changeover their
currency, the Pound to the Euro. Because of Pound is strong enough, even stronger than Euro.
The other reason of that, if they changeover to the Euro, the Queen should smile from the
back of their currency.
Official currency of Hungary is not Euro, neither, but the reasons are more serious. I see the
things that are going around me, Hungary is going deeper and deeper on the slope. More and
more countries and monetary unions and companies say that our country will end up with
bankrupt soon. But I hope something will happen instead of that.
All the same our country is small and in opinion of many nations it’s insignificant
/jelentéktelen/, we are professional in sports. For example time after time we are medalist in
Olympic Games.
Let me talk about a little bit ideology of these two countries. I think English people are more
kind, polite, and helpful than Hungarians. I honestly believe that the reason of it the our
economic situation. Because if you have enough money to live off, you become happier and
hopeful.
More and more Hungarians immigrate to the United Kingdom, to take their chance.
Hungarians in the United Kingdom include (Hungarian born immigrants to the UK and their
descendants of which there are a substantial number /jelentős számú/.) Since Hungary joined
the European Union in 2004, the UK’s Hungarian population has grown significantly
/jelentősen/, with the Hungarian-born population rising from 13,000 in 2001 to 52,000 in
2011.
Besides Hungarian immigrants there are Polish, Indian, Arabian, Syrian and so on. Number of
French immigrants is also substantial, and what is more there are French schools. There is
more tolerant attitude towards minorities and immigrants as compared to other countries in
Europe. The reason that London works as a multi-cultural international city is that
everybody’s there. Of course everybody speak or learn English.
English and Hungarian tranditions and customs are little bit different. Maybe the biggest
difference of celebrations connected to Christmas. In England when children go to bed on
Christmas Eve, they hang up an old sock at the head of their bed for Father Christmas, also
called Santa Claus, to put presents in. In Hungary Santa Claus comes on 6th of December.
Easter and namedays are not so important in UK such as over here. But the Queen’s birthday
is very significant there. In traditionally on second Sunday in June hundreds of people go to
watch the ʽTrooping of the Colour’ /”menetelés a színekben”/, that is, the Queen
inspecting /megtekint/ the troops /katonákat/ parading their regimental flag /ezredzászló/. This
is a colourful ceremony which takes place on the Horse Guards Parade in central London.

18. Public life 18. - Public life

the purity of public life - a közélet tisztasága/korrupció
political parties/elections/referendum - politikai pártok/
választások/népszavazás

Nowadays the economy and society changes moment by moment, leaving changes in people’s
life, too. A lot of bad thing are happening, also, but these crimes are caused by the people who
don’t want to agree on and accept everything that the government or the laws say.
These days corruption grows to greater sizes and a lot of policemen, politicians and other
people are being sent to jail, because they’ve been charged with corruption.
Besides corruption there’s very often smuggling /csempészés/, which is the clandestine
/illegális/ transportation of goods or people, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across
an international border, in violation of applicable /érvényes/ laws or other regulations.
There are a lot of economic crimes, like corruption. In economy, corruption is payment for
services or material which is not due to the recipient /elfogadó/, under law. Like when you go
at a higher speed somewhere that it is not allowed at that place, and a policeman arrests you,
you give money to the man to let you go, this way you don’t have to pay a fine, give him your
driving license or serve time in prison. If it turns out that you bribed /megveszteget/ a
policeman, both of you will be arrested and have to go to jail.
Corruption is dishonesty and illegal behaviour by people in positions of power. This is
certainly one of today’s much-discussed /túlbeszélt/ and over-disputed /túlvitatott/ topics. And
talking about corruption, it seems that the first institution /intézmény/ that comes to mind is
the police and the field of politics hand-in-hand with security guards.
So corruption is surely everywhere, and as long as human inhabit /tartózkodik, él vhol/ the
world it will be an inherent /benne rejlő/ phenomenon /jelenség/ of our life.
In Hungary, elections are held every four years, and it is a recurrent question for the whole
nation whether to go voting; if it really counts to give votes and which party is likely to win
finally.
Before the elections, during the campaign trail all candidates promise the world to the
electors. And if the leading party changes every four years, there is always someone else to
blame and it is always the previous government. In the promised wonder years, we are
flattered /kecsegtet/ to get higher wages /munkabér/, more income and pension /nyugdíj/,
better circumstances for life, and less taxes. Money means the basic source of life and
livelihood. So it is material wealth that is the appealing /megnyerő/ pulling power /húzóerő/,
and not just in western societies, since money makes the world go round.
However, we shouldn’t forget, that whenever new election times arrive, in spite of enticing
/csábító/ promises and hopes, the hands of the governments are tied to a certain extent /egy
bizonyos fokig/, and too much promise is always dubious when trying to be carried out too
quickly.
The age limit to vote is eightteen, but I think a person at this age is not old enough to form
/alkot/ their own opinion and see the world without the manipulating influence of family and
friends. At that age, I think it is a specially reappearing /újrafeltűnés/ phenomenon for the teen
to depend on and follow a group or just individuals they idolize. Whatever they hear at home
is mostly mind-forming for them.
Everyone should be well aware of /tudatában van/ the fact that having become a fully
conscious /tudatos, megfontolt/ constituent /választópolgár/ of the nation, it is not only a right,
but also an obligation for the electors to go and give their votes.
Considering the various ways citizens can express their opinions affairs state, a referendum
can be regarded /tart vmilyennek/ as an evident solution. It develops a sense of political
awareness and responsibility in people. Since the result is held as sacred, a referendum is a
perfect way for citizens to have an active role in decision making.
The very same thing, however, can also be considered as a way of weakening the significance
/jelentőség/ of the elected representatives. Despite /vmi ellenére/ all drawbacks /hátrány/,
Hungarian legislation /törvényhozás/ enables every voter to initiate /kezdeményez/ a
referendum himself provided 200.000 signatures are gathered.

19. Environmental protection - Környezetvédelem

prevention in environmental protection - megelőzés/elhárítás a környezetvédelemben
environmental catastrophes and their consequences - környezeti katasztrófák és
következményeik

People who have money usually like to spend it on things that are cheap to their wallets, and
sometimes think that the amount /mennyiség/ they currently have is not enough, if they can
have more from that. We don’t even notice it, but we are wasting in every moment of our life,
mostly energy, water and of course with that, money. Just for an example of waste: an average
person throws away the amount of food as their body weight multiplied by 500, during their
lifetime.
Fortunately, people are aware of the waste and it’s harmful effects on nature, and now a lot of
us is trying to help the environment and save the Earth, before it’s too late. In my opinion, the
appropriate /megfelelő/ education plays a very important role in protecting our planet. When I
will be a mother, I would definitely teach my children to the green lifestyle. What does the
3Rs mean: reduce /csökkent/, reuse /újra felhasznál/, and recycle /újrahasznosít/. In order
/vminek a sorrendjében/ to keep water and air clean, we should use less dishwasher, aerosol
sprays, cars and so on. Even reducing the number of the smokers would help, as the more
people who give up this harmful habit, the less dangerous smoke flies up in the air to poison
us, and to help destroying the ozone layer. This layer basically is made of ozone, and protects
us from the harmful ultra violet rays, but keeps all the carbon dioxide inside of it, which
causes the global warming, by not letting the air cool down.
Back to recycling more and more recycling bins are put out on the streets, helping to collect
garbage separately: paper, plastic, glass and metal. It makes a lot easier to reuse things, like
bottles, which are going into the factories separately and people don’t have to spend time on
picking out the different ones, all of them can melt down /beolvaszt/, to be born again, maybe
in an other form. This is how we can make toys for children from nylon bags.
Environmental protection is a practice of protecting the environment and can be done on three
different levels: individual, organizational or governmental, and all these are for the benefit of
the natural environment, and/or the humans.
Enormous factories, like leather factories use a lot of water, and they can’t store or reuse it, so
they have to give it back to nature, which in this dirty status is very dangerous for any living
being. So people started to invent things that would help them cleaning water, using different
filters, like sand chambers and chemicals, like germicides, disinfectants /fertőtlenítőszerek/
and so on with also dangerous and harmful things.
We are using cars and motorcycles more than public transportation, and this is a great hazard
to us. We pollute the air and also cause noise pollution. At least, we should try the carpool
/közös gépkocsihasználat/ thing which means when more people want to go somewhere, they
don’t go all alone, but use as less cars as they can, by fitting /bepréselés/ more people in one
machine, taking into consideration the allowed amount /mennyiség/ of people sitting in the
same car at a time.
Of course, public transport may not be the same comfortable, but it is cheaper and means
significantly /jelentősen/ less damage to the environment.
And because we don’t pay enough attention to nature, it keeps warning us, that it won’t last
until the end of humanity, by sending us natural disasters, as signs. Last years was very rich in
natural disasters, such as tsunamis, hurricanes, forest fires and earthquakes.
There also environmental catastrophes which are caused by humans, like oil spills on the
ocean, when a ship capsizes /felborul/ or like forest fires caused by arson. These things leave
a lot of damage behind them, like homeless and hurt people, destroyed forests, fields and
plantations, starvation and death both for humans and animals. I think the time has come to
face with our faults and their consequences, and try to protect what’s left, or we can lose it at
a glance /rögtön/.

20. Current topics/events - Aktuális témák/események

public life/politics/NGOs - közélet/politika/civil szervezetek
economy/arts/sport - gazdaság/művészetek/sport

NGO is a catch-all /mindent megvizsgáló/, vague /bizonytalan/ term, which refers to /céloz
vmire/ any independent voluntary association /egyesület/ of people acting together to
achieve /elér/ common purpose, either to the benefit of their own members, or in the interests
of their fellow countrymen.
Religious organisations, scientific bodies and trade unions are also treated as NGOs by the
United Nations.
National NGOs champion /síkra száll/ their causes at national level. International NGOs, such
as Greenpeace conduct /vezet/ their programmes worldwide (and serve their members and the
universal public by disseminating /elterjesztés/ information, designing and implementing
/végrehajtás/ projects and conducting /irányítás/ research).
It is better to say it in the very beginning that I do not have any political views or interests,
before we would start. I don’t watch news, but I hear things about the current political
situations.
These days so many things are happening and running on TV, like the Europe migrant crisis
or mingrants in the USA. All of them are so important, because every step of humanity have
consequences and if we do something, it not only affects our own life, but it has influence on
others, too.
(„For the world’s two largest economies, energy consumers and carbon emitters to come
together like this, there is no reason for other countries – whether developed or developing –
to not do so as well.”)
Recently the other huge problem is the migrant crisis. The eyes of the world are upon us. The
migrant people come here without registration, they don’t let them register. Some of the
migrants try to go forward to Germany with fake documents. Lately our government has
beefed up the border between Hungary and Serbia with army and has built a fence.
The illegal crossing of the country's border is a crime punishable by imprisonment
/börtönbüntetéssel járó bűncselekmény/. Like in the case of America, people staying in the
states illegally are being expellee /száműzött/, when it turns out that they are illegal
immigrants, and they might be punished for it, as for working without any documents or
permission.
All in all as I see the things that are going around me, Hungary is going deeper and deeper on
the slope /lejtő/. More and more countries and monetary unions and companies say that our
little country will end up with bankrupt soon. But I hope something will happen instead of
that.

Let’s talk about a more neutral topic, like sports. In 2020 the Olympic Games will hold in
Tokyo. That will be the second time it is organized there, and the 32th Olympics at all.
It is a very important event in history, as it is held every fourth year in different countries and
it involves a lot of people from different countries. In my opinion, involving so many nations
symbolizes a kind of peace between them, as they are racing each other friendly, and those
who do not play a fair game were attacked by each group, even if he or she is their best
competitor. Whoever takes any drug or tries to dope /doppingol/, automatically excludes
/kizár/ themselves. In 2020 the Game’s organizer expected 33 kinds of sport and 339
competitions are will hold. Also they excepted 206 nations attend with 11,090 competitors. I
honestly believe that this is a very good thing to hear, because at least in sports we can join
each other.
The Paralympics are also important, though less people watch it on TV. Basically,
Paralympics are held for the disabled /mozgássérült/ all around the globe, who do sports. It all
began in 1984, when professor Dr Ludwig Gottmann, who was working with soldiers, who
came back from war with spine injuries organized an archery competition for the injured
people. It was a great experience for the competitors and the beginning of the development of
parasports. The doctors working in the same hospital soon recognized how much the sport
means to the people they cure daily and how effectively sports help them with making the
recovery progress faster. Due to the combination of sport and medical help in a rehabilitation
program the war-damaged men could keep their physical and mental conditions fit, and
helped them overcoming /felülkerekedni/ their bad experiences.
To talk a little about art: in ancient times art was for reasons that are not at least similar to
nowadays’ sense. Like the wall paintings in the caves the arts were used to spread
information, share knowledge or collect memories to show them to others. These days we
mean theater, dance, film, music, writing and other methods of entertainment by arts. The
reason why we turn to art is because we would like to relax, enjoy something that we found
beautiful or useful, or the artists would like to get some money with what they loves the most.
What I can perfectly understand.
Of course besides movies the books are also important in my life. If I can, I read a lot. My
favourite author is Wilbur Smith.

21. Globalisation - Globalizáció

Uniformity - uniformizálódás
dressing, eating, culture, consumer products, etc. - öltözködés, étkezés, kultúra, fogyasztás
globalisation/maintaining national characteristics - globalizáció/a nemzeti sajátosságok

As ancient /ősi/ people started to explore the world they didn’t know, they met new cultures
and traditions as they found other ones living further from them. By conquering new areas,
slowly they started to adapt to the new things and take the more improved nationalities’ habits
and traditions, like the Arabic numbers, the medical and healing traditions, all in all they
adopted everything that could be useful them sooner or later. It is how the habits and
traditions got mixed and the bounds blurred little by little /apránként/.
These days it is the same way, but with little changes. We are not trying to conquer others, but
we still take the other’s habits, we move from a place to an other, change even our country,
and nothing is fixed in our lives, only our relatives.
If we take an American and a Hungarian boy and a girl for an example, probably there’s no
difference between them, except from their mother language. Why? Because as globalization
spreads the youth try to be similar to each other, we forget about our old traditions, make or
adopt new ones from other cultures. We may be against something in our country, so we
move to an other, maybe to a new continent. Everything can be changed and changes from
moment to moment, not taking into consideration the color of our skin, the religions, the
origins, the backgrounds, and we don’t even notice it, when we cook a traditional French dish
or go to a Chinese restaurant in Spain, even though we are Germans, who originally were
born in Hungary, and so on.
If somebody would ask about the languages, well, there are hardly any bounds these days, as
in the schools kids start to learn foreign ones, before they could even speak, write and think
well on their mother tongue. Thanks to globalization, we hardly can tell apart
/megkülönböztet/ a French, a Spanish, a German and a Hungarian girl, because everyone can
change their body so drastically that even their mother could not recognize them.
On the Internet we can find texts in all the languages that exist now, but sometimes extinct
/holt, kihalt/ languages can show up, which – despite the fact that /annak ellenére, hogy/
officially are not used – may be in use, like Latin, which primarily is used in medical fields.
There are multinational companies which were born in a place and then became too big for
even the whole country, and as it collected more and more money, decided to spread a little
and built a new branch in a near country. Just to mention some of them, there is Audi in the
car business. It is a German company, but there is a factory in Hungary, in Győr. These
multinational companies make it available to buy their products at lower prices, as they try to
produce the parts in the places it worth the most. Also, by spreading it gives people more
opportunities to work, and they don’t always need a lot of experience. This way we can keep
our nationality and traditions without any change or influence made by the other countries we
could have work if we would want to work for a specific company or work in a specific
business.
Of course, be letting /beengedése/ those factories into our countries also means that they
pollute our environment too, which is a problem, but people don’t usually like to think about
it, as they see the lower prices and the influence of those products. This is a form of
uniformity as we dress, eat and use almost in the same way every time. After these, everyone
can decide whether /vajon/ globalization is good for them or not.

22. Current questions of ethics - Aktuális etikai kérdések

animal experiments - állatkísérletek
nuclear experiments - nukleáris kísérletek

Big companies and factories test cosmetics and other chemicals on animals. And during
experiments of genetic engineering they also might involve animals, because of the fact that
some plants or their engineered versions may be harmful or poisonous to human beings, so
scientists use animals first to decide whether /vajon/ real people can test it, or not. There are a
lot of animal-rights activists who try to protest against at these animal experiments, as they
think that the animals also have feelings and rights for the life, for a healthy and liveable life.
For example, PETA is an organization for the animal rights. Some people are interested in it,
some don’t know anything about it, but bigger percentage /százalék/ of people simply just
don’t care about it and buy the things they see on the shelves and in the advertisements.
However, there are companies which don’t do any experiments on animals and they are still
famous for their products. Mostly they don’t use any chemicals, just plants and herbs as it was
in the past, when people hadn’t have great knowledge of the things, but had known if
something was or was not good for them. (GIGI, Himalaya Herbals)
If we care about the animals rights a bit, we can search after, buy and use cosmetics which
were not tested on dogs, cats, rodents and on other pets. I just use natural cosmetics. Because
they test chemicals on smaller animals, which may even happen to be our favorite family
dog’s puppy, who we sold last week to a kind stranger.
Also, people want to be ready for everything, even if somebody attacks them. They invent and
produce more and more dangerous weapons like the nuclear ones.
There are many experiments on them, and in my opinion they are really disgusting and not for
neurasthenic /gyenge idegzetű/ people or the ones living in families. I have heard that there
were even experiments on babies and stillborns without the permission of the parents. Despite
of the fact that some got Nobel-prizes for their experiments, it is still an unbearable
/elviselhetetlen/ thing for me.
I read about a child whose mother was pregnant with her when Chernobyl was happened. She
has omnifarious /mindenféle/ allergies and baby teeth at the age of twenty-nine.
But there were other terrible events in the history of the nuclear experiments, like in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, during the Second World War. According to a few years ago
released /közzétesz/ reports, about 45,000 people, mainly Soviet soldiers, were deliberately
/szándékosan/ exposed to radiation from a bomb twice as powerful as the one dropped on
Hiroshima just nine years before. At 9:33 a.m. (nine thirty-three a.m.) on 14 th (of) September
1954, a Soviet bomber plane dropped an atomic weapon. The bomb exploded above Totskoye
testing range /térség/ near the provincial /vidéki/ town of Orenburg. Thousands are believed to
have died in the immediate aftermath /közvetlen utóhatása/ and in the years following. The
pilot flying the bomber developed /betegséget megkap/ leukemia and his co-pilot developed
bone cancer.
The experiment was designed to test the performance of military hardware /katonai
fegyverzet/ and soldiers in the event of a nuclear war. There are no official figures showing
how many of the 45,000 people sent to Totskoye testing range died as a result /emaitt/ of the
test. Thousands died. These people were used as guinea pigs /tengerimalac/, tested, and then
left to die slowly of cancer. The state does not want their tragedy recognised because it would
cost money. Nobody wants to know.

23. Current questions on economy/society - Aktuális gazdasági/társadalmi kérdések

smuggling goods/people - áru- és embercsempészet
dangers of smoking/taking drogs - dohányzás/drogfogyasztás veszélyei

There are various motivations to smuggle. These include the participation in illegal trade such
as in the drug trade, in illegal immigration or illegal emigration, tax evasion /adókikerülés/,
providing contraband to inmates of the prison or the theft of the items being smuggled.
Examples of non-financial motivations include bringing banned items past /átvisz/ a security
checkpoint – such as airline security –, or the removal of classified documents from a
government or a corporate office.
A lot of smuggling happens in our country too, especially from the Ukrainian and Serbian
side. Hundreds of Roma people and different families benefit from smuggling, and even they
live on the money or other benefits they get from it. Incredible amounts /összegek/ can be
smuggled through the borders and unfortunately, the smugglers are not always get noticed as
they worked out different tricks against the checks. They transport not only cigarettes and
drugs, but even petrol and small animals, like rare birds, which are illegal to hunt for in a
country, but are eaten and bought at a high price in other places, where these species can’t be
found. Mostly the animal smuggling people get the animals here, in Hungary and usually
transport the rare species to France.
Also they can smuggle people, who, – in a hope of a new, good life – would sacrifice
everything that is theirs, but usually are caught. This is why they started to immigrate
illegally. Though they still had to eat, so they started to work, also not legally. Today, this has
become a huge problem again. The eyes of the world are upon us because of the migrant
crisis. The migrant people come here without registration, they don’t let them register. Some
of the migrants try to go forward to Germany with fake documents. Lately our government
has beefed up /megerősít/ the border between Hungary and Serbia with army and has built a
fence.
The illegal crossing of the country's border is a crime punishable by imprisonment
/börtönbüntetéssel járó bűncselekmény. Like in the case of America, people staying in the
states illegally are being expellee /száműzött/, when it turns out that they are illegal
immigrants, and they might be punished for it, as for working without any documents or
permission.
Let me to talk about an other topic: dangers of smoking and taking drugs. People like to try
out dangerous things, especially when they are young, they feel that they are strong and
powerful from every viewpoint and they think they can let themselves do anything. Very
often they try out smoking and drinking alcoholic drinks, and sometimes even drugs. If
somebody does this more than they should, they can easily become addicted and these kinds
of obsessions mean great health hazards and people can easily die, because of overdose or
something like that. I don’t do drugs. I have never tried any of them. I never smoked. Of
course, smoking is not good for the passive-smokers, neither. These are the people that
basically are not smoking, but are breathing in the air that somebody polluted with the smoke
of their cigarettes. Serious measurements /méreteket/ have been taken in Hungary, and from
the 1 st January 2012 smoking is banned and punished in public places.

I was not even able to read or hear anything else about this topic. I don’t feel myself able to
talk a lot about this, since it made a deep and bad impression on me, and it caused me really
unpleasant dreams.