Category:

Bulgarian

Southern Slavic languages

Translation

Can I do Hungarian?

By Nick Nasev

April 10, 2025

min read

So it seems that every translator regardless of language has received the Amazon ad looking for Brazilian Portuguese translators.

Crazy, eh? 🤪 Well, I can beat that one.

My profile shows what appears to be an impressively extensive list of languages that I work from. To be brutally honest, that's thanks mainly to the breakup of Yugoslavia transforming Serbo-Croatian into four highly related now separate languages 🇷🇸🇭🇷🇧🇦🇲🇪. But the list does mean I get requests for work from a whole array of languages way beyond my capabilities.

Like the time many years ago I received a request for translating from Hungarian.

Sorry, I don't know Hungarian, to which the requester replied...

"But you know Bulgarian, and Hungarian and Bulgarian both end with '-garian', so I thought they'd be the same?"

Erm... no 🫤

OK, so the Hungarian and flag colours are the same: red, white and green 🇭🇺🇧🇬

Hi, zdravo, bok, zdravei, g'day! I’m Nick Nasev, an Aussie of Balkan background living in the UK. I’ve been a translator and editor for 20+ years. If you have an interest in languages and all things Balkan, Eastern European, Australian and beyond, along with a dash of corny and irony, then stick with me as I rant about my experiences and stories.

Your text deserves to be taken seriously; have it translated and edited with confidence.

info@nicknasev.com

Contact me with the details of your text at info@nicknasev.com

Continue reading

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min read

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min read

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min read

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min read

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min read

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min read

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min read

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min read

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min read

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min read

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Children who interpret for their family members who do not know the local language are often portrayed as heroes. But what do these children think?

January 30, 2025

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min read

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Serbo-Croatian? Yes, I still work from it.

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min read

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min read

Hindi/Urdu and Balkan languages... the links between them

There are words that are the same in Hindi and Urdu as in Croatian and Romanian?! How can this be? Find out here...

October 23, 2024

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Can the "world's most accurate translator" do Australian English?

Does DeepL live up to its claim of being "the world's most accurate translator" when it comes to Aussie English? Get ready for some zingers!

October 15, 2024

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The time US military officials used a computer to predict the outcome of the Vietnam War...

A cautionary tale about how human behaviour overrides data

September 29, 2024

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International Translation Day and the Dragomans

How the Ottoman Empire granted its translators and interpreters, the Dragomans, with respect and status.

August 21, 2024

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Meyk lov - not vor

Why you shouldn't trust automated translation on LinkedIn or anywhere else. And are the Macedonians being targeted?

June 26, 2023

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Any place, any time…

👍The best thing about being a freelance translator is being able to work at any place at any time. 👎The worst thing about being a freelancer translator is being able to work at any place at any time.

April 26, 2023

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English language translation tips: use of long forms of country names

Republic of Serbia 🇷🇸, Republic of Croatia 🇭🇷, Kingdom of Norway 🇳🇴, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 🇬🇧, Oriental Republic of Uruguay 🇺🇾, Plurinational State of Bolivia 🇧🇴 …

February 20, 2025

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What's my 'mother language'?

International Mother Language Day and Global Language Advocacy Day are on! So what do I consider to be my 'mother languages' and why one of them is under threat...

January 8, 2025

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Subtitling is easy, right?

Some notes on how subtitling is not simply plonking words on a screen

November 19, 2024

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Indian and Australian English... the links between them

India and Australia have common bonds that go beyond a passion for cricket. Here are a few words that Indian and Australian English uniquely share...

October 15, 2024

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The time US military officials used a computer to predict the outcome of the Vietnam War...

A cautionary tale about how human behaviour overrides data

October 14, 2024

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"Merci" is how you say "thank you" in which language?

It may come as a surprise but it's not just in French...

September 6, 2024

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"Can you identify the text here?"

Did you know that people regularly contact me to identify text they can't decipher. That's what happens when I know a number of languages.

October 23, 2023

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You know that time when Madonna was interviewed by a Hungarian tabloid? Or when translation goes hilariously bad…

We all know how some translations can be so bad that they’re unintentionally hilarious, like the viral examples from Engrish.com...

September 14, 2023

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Working in IT? What do you call yourself? An IT-ian, a Hitechist…?

Working in IT? 👩🏻‍💻 Would you call yourself an IT-ian, Hitechist or Startupist?

August 28, 2023

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Watch out for the killer squirrels! It’s “silly season”… or is that “cucumber season”?

Watch out for the killer squirrels! 🐿️ We’re very much in “silly season” right now in the UK 🤪

August 26, 2023

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Tina Turner… Australian cultural icon!

Did you know that Tina Turner has been one of the biggest contributors to Australian culture? 🦘 Honestly, her impact has been huge! Here’s how…

August 24, 2023

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You do Montenegrin and Bosnian, right?

Two more language directions have been added to my Institute of Translation and Interpreting profile

August 23, 2023

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Generic or specific? The issue stopping the free-trade agreement between the EU and Australia

Would you believe that the names of all these famous products are the cause for the deadlock in the free-trade agreement negotiations between the EU 🇪🇺 and Australia 🇦🇺. How come?

August 21, 2023

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Smoker’s remorse… or how false friends can be deeply expressive

🟰 Words that look the same or similar in two languages but have two, at times radically, different meanings are called “false friends”.

June 22, 2023

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So what are Fantales?

They are chocolate-covered chewy caramels 🍬 that were often so hard to bite into that they kept many dentists in business 🦷. Nothing particularly unique so far, you might think.

May 30, 2023

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The personal touch

Translation can often be a very sedentary existence, plugging away in front of a laptop, with little or no face-to-face contact with clients👨🏻‍💻

April 12, 2023

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“You can find the Doonas in Manchester”

Now this might sound a bit random 🤨 but this is something you’ll hear all the time, in all places… in department stores in Australia 🇦🇺. How come? 🧐

February 3, 2025

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Cancer and gallows humour: Thank you for the flowers 💐; I hope they die before I do!

What's one constant when it comes to the cancer experience? It's the gallows humour. Yes, it gets very, very dark. Why is this so?

September 15, 2024

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15 years cancer-free!!!

And I know because of an annual procedure a work colleague advised me to do...

June 14, 2024

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It's Men's Health Week... and I'm 15 years cancer-free!!!

The story of how I found out by chance that I no longer had cancer