Hungarian and Online Communities: 12 Years Ago, I Unconsciously Planted the Seeds of My Current Life

Once again, it all started with a trip. I went to Budapest, and—unlike what happened with Russian (as I shared in a previous episode)—this time I wasn’t prepared in advance. I only got curious after coming back.

From Russian to Hungarian

Back then, I had put Russian aside because it was too difficult to study on my own. I mean, I was 15. I had no clue what “cases” were, or what declensions or verbal aspects meant. It was all just a giant mess.

I remember walking into a bookshop in my town and asking for phrasebooks in Chinese and Russian—I still have them!

After my Budapest trip, I went back to that same shop and asked for one in Hungarian. Around the same time, I also got a little Hungarian dictionary. I used it so much that today it’s barely holding together. Of course, I’m keeping it forever.

Hungarian... Why?!

What sparked my curiosity? Honestly, a few random things our tour guide in Budapest mentioned. She was great—just doing her job—explaining that Hungarian is distantly related to Finnish, that it’s a “difficult” and “unique” language… You know, the classic stuff you tell a group of not-so-young Italians on holiday.

But for me, that was enough.

Once again, the sound of the language hooked me. That always plays a big role in why I fall in love with a language.

“Hungarian is hard”? Challenge accepted.

Another thing that positively triggered me was this recurring comment:

“Hungarian is one of the hardest languages in the world!”

My reaction?

That’s bullsh*t.

Even now, whenever I hear something is “too hard,” I take it as a challenge. If I could learn it, that meant it wasn’t that hard. Simple.

Why this episode is called “Hungarian and Online Communities”

Here’s where things got different compared to my Russian phase: Hungarian brought me into my first online communities.

And now… alert: hard nostalgia incoming.

I joined a site called SharedTalk—a beautiful language exchange platform that, at the time, felt like a hidden gem. We're talking MSN Messenger era, pre-smartphone, pre-Facebook (or when it was still in diapers).

Here’s what would happen:

You’d start chatting with someone on SharedTalk. If you clicked, you added each other on MSN. That’s how I met many Hungarians—some of whom I’m still in contact with today.

I ❤️ Hungarians

Hungarians were amazing motivators.

The more they encouraged me, the more I studied. The more I studied, the more I improved. And the more I improved, the more enthusiastic they got.

That feedback loop was magical.

I will never stop being grateful to them.

But SharedTalk wasn’t the only thing that changed everything.

Let me give you some perspective.

You’re 15.

You live in a town of fewer than 50,000 people.

There’s no Facebook yet.

No online classes.

No Hungarians around (or, if there are, you have no way to know or contact them).

You go to school.

You can’t go to Milan alone (which is your cultural mecca).

You're a kid—curious, isolated, and hungry to learn.

So how do you break free?

You write all day in online chats. But… you desperately lack speaking practice.

Online calls weren’t that common yet. So, a huge gap developed between my written and spoken Hungarian.

It got to the point where, during a cruise, I met two Hungarian women working on the ship and wanted to speak with them—so I walked around with a notebook, writing down everything I wanted to say and reading it out loud awkwardly, because my brain wasn’t connected to my mouth yet.

Yes, that really happened.

Then came The Idea 💡

I decided to make YouTube videos in Hungarian.

About what?

About Italian.

Once again, I found myself teaching Italian—but this time, to a Hungarian audience.

Around that time, Facebook was slowly taking over from MSN, and people began asking for a group connected to the channel. That group still exists, even though I haven’t been active there in years.

Between 2008 and 2011, I made around 10 videos. They were very DIY.

I had no clue how to make proper videos, so I literally recorded PowerPoint slides with a camera. Later, I used a webcam and edited with Windows Movie Maker. It was clunky, but it worked.

A milestone… and a regret

That YouTube channel was one of the best things I ever did.

But it’s also one of my biggest regrets.

Because… I abandoned it for 10 years.

Why?

• “You’re in high school. Don’t waste time on YouTube.”
• “What about university?”
• “Focus on being normal. Get a real job. Don’t be a weirdo.”

So, I gave it up.

I finished high school.

I got a degree.

I got “a normal job.”

I walked away from what I really loved.

Until I realized…

Everything had been clear from the beginning.

The ten years I spent following the “normal” path were just a detour.

And when I finally came back, I came back stronger. More motivated. With more clarity than ever.

Final Thoughts: The Seeds Were There All Along 🌱

Twelve years ago, I had no clue what I was really doing. I was just following my curiosity, guided by instinct.

But now I see it clearly:

That tiny dictionary.

That SharedTalk account.

That crappy PowerPoint video.

Those were the first stones of the path I walk today. The one I chose—not the one I was told to follow.

So if you’re reading this and you’re 15… 20… 35… and you feel like you're wasting your time chasing some obscure passion?

You’re not.

You’re planting seeds.

And one day, you'll be glad you did.

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