7th meeting: From days to seasons

MEETING

This time around we met in Cafe Europa in the city center. Fruzsi had got this idea that we could teach each other days, months and season in our own languages. She had planed it smartly and she brought us these small cardboard cards to write on. This was such a good way to learn, because we were able to place things in different orders, compare them, play with them and take them with us when leaving.

LEARNING

For my surprise this meeting, which sounded very simple in the beginning, ended up being very interesting. First we did write down all the information and then compared them to each other. Even if Finnish and Hungarian are told to belong to the same family of languages, there just is not any resemblance when it comes to words.

Okay, it could have ended there, but then we started to wonder, why are the days called by the way they are. I had to admit that I had no any idea, why Monday is maanantai in Finnish. So, we started to Google this kind of information. I found out that maanantai comes from Swedish language and it refers to moon. So this time around, I did not only learn about Hungarian language, but also  about the origin of Finnish names for days and months.

DAYS

Hetto means Monday, but it also means the beginning of the week in Hungarian.

We did conclude that szobath would come from a word Sabbath, which is a rest day according to Jewish.

Vasarnap means a market day.

 

MONTHS

For my surprise Hungarian names for months are very similar to English ones, as you are able to see in the following.

In Finland we have this kind of a song in which all the months and what happens in them are mentioned. Apparently there is one in Hungary too, so we did compare these songs too. For instance, in Hungary January is thought to be a month of storms.

SEASONS

According to the seasons we had this discussion, should winter or spring be seen as the first month of the year. We have not ended up to any conclusion yet. What do you think?

GLOSING

It does not really  matter how simple and small the thing to teach is. If you wonder and ask, question your knowledge and knowledge of the others, you will learn things that you did not plan to teach or learn, and it can unexpectedly be fun too.

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