Finnish or Hungarian

LL   Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:49 am GMT
If you only had time to learn Finnish or Hungarian, which would you choose and how would you do it? In other words, what materials would you use? Of course, you are not limited to American and English materials.

I'm interested in hearing your opinions/arguments and back-up, of course.

Please don't say "Learn Chinese" or some other language. I don't know any languages in this family, so that's why I'm asking. I do know a few words of Finnish. I like Hungarian food and culture.

You may respond in any language.
bram   Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:06 am GMT
Hi K.T., I would learn Finnish not for any linguistic reasons but rather because Finland is more appealing a country in my opinion. Also, the language is purer and less contaminated by foreign loanwords.
Skippy   Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:32 am GMT
For me, Hungarian. I'm biased, however, because I'll probably end up visiting that region more often.
Entbark   Sat Apr 11, 2009 5:36 am GMT
I'd probably choose Finnish because a lot of music that I like comes from Finland. I bought a book on learning Finnish from a used book store, but I haven't read through it all yet. I don't know much about Hungary or the Hungarian language.
onefootinthegrave   Sat Apr 11, 2009 5:44 am GMT
If your planning to spend a lot of time in Finland, learn Finnish.

If your planning to spend a lot of time in Hungary, learn Hungarian.
macska   Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:17 am GMT
Hi, I'm European and my mother tongue is not English: I've chosen Hungarian and I've been using two texts: an old one called Colloquial Hungarian by Jerry Payne and another very useful book: Teach yourself Hungarian by Zsusza Pontifex. In addition, I've got small dictionaries, cassettes and cds. I find Hungarian to be a fun, nice and logical language, the most difficult aspect is the vocabulary in my view, since it is completely different from any other European language, except maybe Finnish and Estonian but I was told that these two languages are not so similar to Hungarian, even though they all belong to the same finno-ugric family of languages
LL   Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:49 pm GMT
Thank-you for your opinion. I'll look at them both. I was encouraged to read that vocabulary is the most difficult aspect of Hungarian-that's the kind of thing that can be learned.
tűpő   Mon Apr 13, 2009 3:22 pm GMT
When you get tuned in, the vocabulary is no more difficult.