Üdv! Did you ever find yourself in a situation where you had no idea what was being said? Well, the brave people taking part in the What the Hungarian?! feature can experience exactly that. 5 qoutes, 5 guesses, 5 answers. Arina’s up for the challenge. How well would you do?

You get 5 passages in Hungarian from books you’ve read, and a couple of hints.
You have to guess which book they are from. And for extra fun, try to guess what the qoute might be about!
You can also ask 1 question regarding each passages which I’ll answer with “yes”, “no” or “I don’t know” – as I didn’t read each of the books.
You can’t use a dictionary or a translator.
And you just have to have fun!

Simple, isn’t it?

Today’s player is Arina, one of the Asylum Ladies, who also runs her own SFF blog.

I was very young the first time my parents put a book in my hands (most likely an inventive way to shut me up and keep me still) and have not found it in me to stop reading since. Oral tradition has a special place in my heart—it was due to my grandparents speech storytelling that my love for languages and stories was ignited, and so I’ve grown to love fantasy and sci-fi above all, as genres particularly influenced by folktales.

1.

“A testem merev az erőfeszítéstől, megtettem az első lépést, majd még egyet. A kalapács mozgása szabálytalan volt, megállt és újraindult ahogy küzdött a mágiám ellen. Nem tudtam, hogy egy tárgy képes gyűlölni egy személyt. Csak akkor vettem észre, hogy az ajkamat harapdálom, amikor megéreztem a vér sós, selymes ízét. Arra kényszerültem, hogy időnként óvatosan a útra helyezzem a kalapácsot, hogy levegőhöz jussak és találjak egy kis manával átitatott területet. Visszanéztem a folyóra, majd a Városra. Ezzel a sebességgel elérem a nyári fesztiválra.”

Hints: Book 1 of a series, self-published, male author, tree

Arina: I’m freaking dying, ok, no, I can do this! I see “a” and “az” are probably “a” and “an”?? Fantastic, this will get me through the entire text. “A test”, that’s probably what we’re starting with here. “Merev” is most likely a verb, omg where are your verbs?? In all honesty, this language is beautiful and so different from any I know. There is literally no resemblance to any language I recognize and I fucking love it. Ok, the trick here is distancing yourself from seeing English word patterns in the words (ironic since that’s what got me guessing right -probably- some of the quotes ahead…).

The “tree” clue makes me thing of Children but I guessed that ahead, so… I think “Városra” is probably a huge clue I’m missing. I’m voting Children on this one. As to the quote itself gotta concede on this one and say I’m utterly lost. Something about a festival?

(Well, “a” and “az” are our version for “the”. “test” means “body” in Hungarian and “merev” is definitely not a verb. It means “rigid” or “stiff”.)

Guess: Children by Bjorn Larssen

The correct answer: Children by Bjorn Larssen

The original quote

“My body stiff with exertion, I took the first step, then another. The hammer’s movement was irregular, stopping and starting as it fought against my magic. I didn’t know an object could hate a person. I only realised that I was biting my lip when I felt the taste of salty, silky blood in my mouth. I was forced to carefully lower the hammer to the road’s surface every now and then to take a breath and find another spot with a bit of mana. I looked back at river, then towards the City. At this speed I’d reach it in time for the summer festival.”

2.

“A bíbor hanga lelapult ahol feküdt; felette az ég halványan és szürkén terült el minden irányba. Hajnalodott, a novemberi levegő fagyos és nedves. Ám a gomba gyűrű, amely körülvette ahogy térdelt még zavarba ejtőbb volt mint jelenléte a hangás lápon.
Ösztönös félelem kerítette hatalmába a látványra, akadozva szedte a levegőt ahogy megfagyott miközben próbált felállni. A gombák vastag, krém színű szárakon nőttek, széles barna kalappal és halvány csepp alakú mintázattal. Bár nem alkottak fenyegető fizikai határt, néhány hüvelyknyi magasságukkal, nem merészelte megtörni a kört.“

Hints: stand alone, traditionally published, queer author, England

Arina: I’m about to blow some minds here, I just identified the word November there so I’m basically becoming fluent (she says confidently and probably failing miserably). And probably the word snow? Though tbh it’s just that snow in Portuguese is “neve” so the “nedves” reminds me of “snows”. It probably means “elbow” or something completely unrelated but I’m going with my logic of November something snow. Gotta admit I’m basically just following the clues here. Is Ösztönös „Autumn”?

Is this The Faerie Hounds of York? That was my first guess.

This one is rly hard, since I’m mainly grasping at straws trying to connect some words to English, since there seem to be a scarce few that take from it or are influenced by it… Finding it impossible to do that in this one, which is amazing but doesn’t bode well for me :p

Since I’ve kinda sort of deduced that “a” is an article, and November is in there somewhere. I started to guess this quote:

“The purple heather was flattened where he had lain; the sky above stretched pale and grey in all directions. It was just past dawn, the November air chill and damp. But more troubling than his location in the heathered moors was the ring of mushrooms that encircled him where he knelt.

An instinctive fear flared in him at the sight, and his breath stuttered as he froze in his attempt to rise. The mushrooms grew on thick, cream-coloured stalks, their caps broad and brown and speckled with pale teardrop markings. Though they did not form an intimidating physical border, growing only a few inches tall, he did not dare break their circle.”

So I basically just contradicted my whole damn self since there’s no “Autumn” in there…Still, I see the “nem”, which I think represents a negative, in the right places so I’m keeping my bet because I got a gambling problem.

(“nedves” is wet or damp. You are not *that* far with “ösztönös”, but our word for Autumn is “ősz”. “Ösztönös” means “instinctive”. You are right with “nem” though, it means “no”.)

Guess: The Faerie Hounds of York by Arden Powell

The correct answer: The Faerie Hounds by Arden Powell

The original quote

“The purple heather was flattened where he had lain; the sky above stretched pale and grey in all directions. It was just dawn, the November air chill and damp. But more troubling than his location in the heathered moors was the ring of mushrooms that encircled him where he knelt.
An instinctive fear flared in him at the sight, and his breath stuttered as he froze in his attempt to rise. The mushrooms grew on thic, cream-coloured stalks, their caps broad and brown and speckled with pale teardrop markings. Though they did not form an intimidating physical border, growing only a few inches tall, he did not dare break their circle.”

3.

“A valóság visszatért Malikhoz mint vízcseppek egy rozsdás csapból, és lassanként a hívást elnyomta a karaván hajtók kiáltása állataik felé, melódiák a zenészektől akik az elmúlt idők Solstasias-airól regéltek közönségüknek és a település egyéb hangjai. Számos ember megállt, hogy az idióta fiúra bámuljon aki majdnem halálra tapostatta magát, s tekintetük súlya forrósággal öntötte el Malik arcát. Addig csavargatta tarisznyája elnyűtt bőr szíját míg tenyerébe nem vájt. Szeme sarkából árnyakat látott vibrálni, és Malik szorosan behunyta a szemét míg meg nem fájdult a feje.”

Hints: Book 1 of a duology, traditionally published, female author, green cover

Arina: I see Malik, that’s Malik, this is A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A Brown.

Wait did you leave the name TO TRICK ME? Is this another book with a Malik?! I’m so intrigued by the “Malikhoz”, what does that mean? “Malik’s”? I also see “Solstasia”, so pretty confident on this guess. “Karaván” is “caravan”, maybe?

I think it’s this quote:

“Reality returned to Malik like drops of water from a rusty faucet, and slowly the call to story was drowned by cries of caravan drivers to their beasts, melodies from musicians regaling audiences with tales of Solstasias past, and other sounds of the settlement. Several people had stopped to stare at the idiot boy who had almost gotten himself trampled to death, and the weight of their gazes sent heat rushing to Malik’s face. He twisted the worn leather of his satchel strap until it bit into the flesh of his palm. Shadows flickered in his peripheral vision, and Malik squeezed his eyes shut until his head hurt.”

Mainly because I’m guessing on the basis of where and how you would take the quotes from, so I did a search for “caravan” and “idiot”, which are the only words I recognized, on my Kindle :p Turns out “idióta”, “idiot”, or “idiota” is a pretty multicultural designation. Now I’ll have some fun trying to decode which word means what and what grammar rules are in place… I’ll start with, maybe “vibrálni” which I think means „flickered”?…

(“Malikhoz” means “to Malik”. I think I meant to get Solstasia out, but mistakes happen and you deserved to have an easy one anyway. And yep, “karaván” means “caravan”, and “idiot” means “idióta”. I guess that’s pretty universal, lol.)

Guess: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

The correct answer: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

The original quote

“Reality returned to Malik like drops of water from a rusty faucet, and slowly the call to story was drowned out by cries of caravan drivers to their beasts, melodies from musicians regaling audiences with thales of Solstasias past, and other sounds of the settlement. Several people had stopped to stare at the idiot boy who had almost gotten himself trampled to death, and the weight of their gazes sent heat rushing to Malik’s face. He twisted the worn leather of his satchel strap until it bit into the flesh of his palm. Shadows flickered in his peripheral vision, and Malik squeezed his eyes shut until his head hurt.”

4.

„Nem akarjuk magunkra vonni a katonák figyelmét, amint kimászol valaki hálószobájából gyümölcsökkel a karjaidban, az valóban emlékezetes lenne. Ültetek neked egy átkozott mangófát, hogy ne vegyél többet a standoknál” mondta.
„Gondolj bele. Forró étel. Egy kényelmes ágy ezek helyett a kérges fák helyett.” Szavai puhák, élcelődőek voltak. „Mi van ha hagysz besurranni egy üres házba a következő városban? Nem fogunk bántani senkit.”

Hints: Book 2 of a series, traditionally published, female author, arrow

Arina: Ok, I haven’t read many sequels this year (whoa?! Mind-blown realization) so I’m preeetty sure this is The Archer at Dawn by Swati Teerdhala.

Totally a sidenote but „forró” in Portuguese is „party”.

As to the translation this is a hard one. I think I recognize the words mango here and there (fascinating that „mangófát” seems to be „mango tree”? So, you connect two words when they’re part of one another, or are one thing made of different parts?). I also seem to see the word „stand”, so my guess is this quote:

“We don’t want to draw the attention of soldiers, and you scampering out of someone’s bedroom with an armful of fruit would have certainly been something to remember. I’ll plant you a cursed mango tree so you can stop buying them at every stand.” He said.

“Think about it. Some hot food. A nice bed instead of these scaly trees.” Her words were soft, needling. “What about letting me sneak into an empty house at the next town? We won’t be hurting anyone.”

(Yup, I kinda wanted to pick an easy-ish quote so went for the mango. And yes, “mangófa” is “mango tree”.)

Guess: The Archer at Dawn by Swati Teerdhala

The correct answer: The Archer at Dawn by Swati Teerdhala

The original quote

„We don’t want to draw the attention of soldiers, and you scampering out of someone’s bedroom with an armful of fruit would have certainly been something to remember. I’ll plant you a cursed mango tree so you can stop buying them at every stand,” he said.
„Think about it. Some hot food. A nice bed instead of these scaly trees.” Her words were soft, needling. „What about letting me sneak into an empty house at the next town? We won’t be hurting anyone.”

5.

“_ kilépett az árnyékból ahogy a fák utat nyitottak egy nyitott tér felé amely a kapuhoz vezetett. Ahogy gondolta, négy férfi állt az őrhelyen. Ketten fáklyát tartottak a hátrébb, a fal mellett álló csoport két szélén. Előrébb, egy másik harcos egy kivont kardot tartott ami csillogott a fáklyafényben. Mindegyikük egy vászon vagy háló öltözetet viselt, vastag állatbőrökkel és szőrös irhával borítva, hogy távol tartsa a hideget. A szabadon lévő bőrfelületet szórványosan tetoválások borították, látványosan átszelte az arcukat.”

Hints: Book 1 of a series, self-published, male author, Storytellers

Arina: Ahhh the „Storytellers” makes me think of Children, but then it could refer to one of the books I read thanks to Storytellers on Tour and thus be not even close to Bjorn’s stories?? Is felé „fell/fall”? I ask like that will immediately tell me which books this is… You took out a name here so I’m guessing it’s pretty recognizable.

I think „ahogy” is some kind of plural pronoun or at least indication of several people. I’m basically just saying random things to sort of disguise the fact I have no idea what this quote means ahah. You were mean enough that not many words are the same among quotes so I can’t use general awareness of the others to assess this one :p As above says, „fák” I have no idea. I’m going to guess The Skald’s Black Verse by Jordan Loyal Short because I can, and because I’m eager to read The Weeping Sigil so I think about it 24/7.

(“felé” means something like “toward”, “fell/fall” would be “esett/esik”. As for “ahogy” I would translate it “as”, and “fák” is the plural for “tree”)

Guess: The Skald’s Black Verse by Jordan Loyal Short

The correct answer: The Jealousy of Jalicce by Jesse Nolan Bailey

The original quote

“Annilasia emerged from the shadows as the trees gave way to an open area leading to the gate. As she had presumed, four men stood at the post. Two held torches on either side of the troop, placed farther back along the wall. Standing farther upfront, another warrior handled an unsheathed sword that glinted in the torchlight. Each wore a linen or mesh suit, overlaid by thick animal hides and fur pelts to banish the chill. Tattoos displayed in sporadic patches of exposed skin, distinctly sweeping across their faces.”