In the third part of our series, you'll have the chance to discover Kamila's most symbolic object related to Hungary. Surprisingly, she even found some funny connections between it and Kazakhstan.
When I first came to Hungary in 2024, everything was new and a little overwhelming — the streets, the pace of life, and of course the words I heard. I knew that if I wanted to feel comfortable here, I had to learn the language — not necessarily perfectly, but sincerely.
I got a book of Hungarian words and grammar. It was an ordinary language book, “Magyar Kompakt”, nothing special about it. But for me, this book became special.
I remember sitting on campus between classes, sometimes with only fifteen minutes of free time, and instead of scrolling on my phone, I would open this book.
I read words out loud, underlined the ones I saw for the first time, and even attempted to pronounce words without knowing their meaning.
It was a slow process on some days. Some words were difficult. But each time I understood something on the street or even managed to respond in Hungarian—however little—it made me feel triumphant.
When I started learning Hungarian, I thought it would be totally new to me. I was surprised right away. I noticed some words that sounded like words I know in Kazakh, like “alma” and “anya”. The word for late “késik”, is a lot like the Kazakh word “keshigu”. I also found out that the word for beard “szakáll” is similar to “sakal” in Kazakh.
I was happy to find these similarities. Hungarian did not seem hard anymore. It was like a language that is related to Kazakh. Both languages put words together in a way by adding endings and that helped me understand how the grammar works.
This language book is a reminder of my patience, my curiosity, and my decision not to remain an outsider.