Chicago: Hungarian lyrics in "Cell Block Tango"

[BigMoneyJim]

I saw the movie Chicago over the weekend and loved it, but one thing keeps perplexing me: what is the English translation of the Hungarian woman's speech in "Cell Block Tango"?

I can find the lyrics searching the web with Google, but I haven't found a translation, and the translation sites I've found (Babel Fish primarily) don't translate Hungarian.

Here are the lyrics (spoken) I found on the web:

Mit kersek, en itt? Azt mondjok,
hogy a hires lakem lefogta a ferjemet en meg
lecsaptam a fejet. De nem igaz, en artatlan
vagyok. Nem tudom mert mondja
Uncle Sam hogy en tettem. probaltam
a rendorsegen megmayarazni de nem ertettek meg...

Assuming it fits with the other 5 stories in this song it's a story of her murdering a boyfriend or husband but denying responsibility.

Are any of you early retirees brushing up on Hungarian?

[MRGALT2U]

While I understand why this might be important to
some folks, I see little connection with retirement.
Although relatively new to this site, I assumed it was
pretty much confined to retirement related issues.
Info/comments about recent movies, Joe Millionaire,
the Bachelorette, Fear Factor, etc etc are best sent to
other venues. I am pretty certain that I speak for
many others when I say that we couldn't care less
what Joe Millionaire is doing. Please send the reviews/critiques somewhere else.

[arrete]

Quote:

Please send the reviews/critiques somewhere else.

I disagree. BigMoneyJim has place his post in the proper category - Other Topics.

Part of being a member of a board is getting to know and value other members. As we get to know them, we may want to communicate about topics other than retirement. You can always choose to not read topics in this folder. That's what's so neat about Dory's site. The OT posts really are segregated from everything else. You can completely ignore them.

Now about Hungarian. I spent a lot of time in Central/East Europe. I tried to learn the minimum of the language in each country so I could say hello, goodbye, and I'd like a dark beer. I gave it up in Hungary. The language is completely unlike any other European language. And Budapest is so westernized (McDonalds and Pizza Hut) that lots of people speak English.

Hungarian is part of the Uralic language group (according to Goode's Atlas) and the only other closely related language seems to be in Siberia. It is distantly related to Finnish and Estonian because I believe a while back, when the Huns were on the move, they broke into 2 branches - one went north (Finland) and the other south (Hungary).

The only other tidbit is that the porter at my hotel was actually named Attila.

And that's all I know.

arrete

[BigMoneyJim]

Thank you arrete, I was a bit taken aback by johngalt's reply and wondered if I had faux-paus'ed that badly.

But it does bring up a question I hadn't really considered. I viewed Dory36's message boards as a continuation of the TMF REHP board where community off topic posts were generally welcome, especially if identified with "OT:" in the subject so others could ignore it. (Although to be fair there were those that intensely disliked the off topic posts.) I omitted the OT: here thinking the forum implied OT:.

However now that I look around I don't see that Dory36/CapnBill has commented on whether off topic discussions are welcome. Without commenting on my particular topics (I know I probably frequently miss the target in interesting topics--maybe because I'm younger than many considering RE or maybe because I'm INTP or becasuse I tend toward politically liberal and socially conservative or because I fell on my head as a baby) perhaps Dory36/CapnBill can post a topic at the top of this forum declaring if this is an "anything goes" forum or restricted to ER-related subjects that don't fit in the other categories.

I know pop culture TV and movies aren't the hottest topics in FIRE, but I'm more interested in the angle a FIRE-minded person has on these topics than, say, E! TV or a fan site with consumption-minded 16-25 year-olds posting opinions. I liked intercst's comments in the other topic and arrete's comments here.

If off topic discussions are welcome then I will continue from time to time, but I do take hints well and stay away from areas where I got little response in the past. So far pop culture entertainment seems to be mostly out.

And back to the off-topic topic, thanks for the info. I didn't realize Hungarian was so rare. No wonder I couldn't get a free translation. But, so I know, how do I ask for a dark beer in Hungarian? I like dark beer!

-BigMoneyJim

P.S. If off topic posts are welcome perhaps the next one can be a poll for RE beer preferences; I have a feeling RE types generally prefer dark beer.

[area52]

Anything but "Lite"!

[arrete]

As I said, I can't ask for dark beer in Hungarian, but I can in Czech!

Chtela bych cerna pivo. I've left out a few accents, but that's the basic gist. It'll get you a beer, anyway.

The Hungarians aren't big on beer. They're wine people.

If you can say pivo or piva in a Slavic country and something like beer or bier anywhere else in Europe (except Hungary), you should get a beer

I assume Off Topic is what this folder is for. Maybe Dory will let us know when he finishes partying.

I think the board has just recently reached a point where people are getting to know each other, so OT posting is a new phenomena, but I think a natural progression in a message board. After all, there is only so much you can say about RE.

Na zdravi! (To your health)

arrete

[patnbj]

Now I don't now any Hungarian but here's a translation I found on the Internet.

"What am I doing here? They say, the famous Hungarian police, that I killed my husband. But I didn't do it, I am not guilty. I can't believe that Uncle Sam says I did it. They say I did it, but really I...."


I also found a machine tranlator for Hungarian. It wasn't very good--but good enough to tell me that the above translation is probably correct.

[dory36]

Yep -- Other Topics is pretty much "anything goes" as far as I am concerned.

I just modified the description to say:

Quote:

If it doesn't fit in another category, post it here! The "reasonable person principle" applies -- anything goes, outside of rude, obscene, or other stuff that doesn't belong on a public forum.

I'll reserve the right to delete anything that falls into the realm of diatribe, attack, obscenity, and so forth. But I have no problem with posts that, for the life of me, I can't connect with early retirement.

As Arrette points out, as we get to know others interested in early retirement, we sometimes want to chat with these folks about unrelated topics. That's what this section is for.

Dory36

[MRGALT2U]

Well, I stand corrected and now understand the need for non-retirement oriented commentary. Guess the problem
is with me (We have met the enemy and he is us?).
I find most pop culture boring or even offensive.
Can hardly stand to watch most network television.
Absolutely a borderline misanthrope. So, please just ignore that "man
behind the curtain". Like OZ, he is old and scary until
you get to know him.

[arrete]

Quote:

I find most pop culture boring or even offensive. Can hardly stand to watch most network television.

Actually, me, too. Which is why I didn't comment about the TV show or the movie. I just wanted an excuse to babble about Central Europe (they hate being called Eastern Europe - that's Russia). I haven't watched anything on TV for years, except terrible news events. I hate watching national news in general :P.

There are plenty of other OT topics. I'll probably bore the pants off everyone when I get my first baby birds to rehabilitate. I'm new at this and very excited.

It's nice to know someone who can quote Pogo. Maybe I'll get a book of the old strips. Somehow I bet they're just as relevant now as they were then.

arrete

[BigMoneyJim]

patnbj:

Quote:

Now I don't now any Hungarian but here's a translation I found on the Internet. [...]

Thank you! I searched I thought quite a bit and couldn't find it. I added parts of your translation to the search and found verifications of that translation. They vary in wording but largely say the same thing. Thanks!

johngalt:

Quote:

I find most pop culture boring or even offensive. Can hardly stand to watch most network television. Absolutely a borderline misanthrope.

arrete:

Quote:

Actually, me, too.

Hmm, maybe I should reconsider my upcoming in-depth analysis of Jerry Springer, Jenny Jones and pro wrestling plot twists. Seriously, though, I'm not a big TV fan myself. I watch more (timewise) than I realize, but there are few shows that I wach. JM was a morbid curiosity of mine and admittedly a completely worthless show and I'm not proud that I watched any of it, much less 3 1/2 hours of it. I generally avoid the so-called reality shows altogether. Asking for the Hungarian translation here was probably a bit out of line, but I'm prone to wandering out of line occasionally--especially when show tunes are stuck in my head--but it inspired arrete's telling of her interesting Europe experience, even if I did miss the fact that she already said she couldn't ask for dark beer in Hungarian.

For the record, I was completely kidding about Springer, Jones and "pro" <cough cough> wrestling; I had no intention of discussing them here and don't watch them.

johngalt:

Quote:

Well, I stand corrected and now understand the need for non-retirement oriented commentary. Guess the problem is with me (We have met the enemy and he is us?).

Not at all. It was an understandable difference of opinion, especially if you weren't on the TMF REHP board. If I were relatively new to the internet FIRE discussions and found Dory36's message board I'd probably think this was completely inappropriate, too. Thanks to Dory36 for clarifying what's allowed. Maybe this will pave the way for others to post more popular off-topic topics as I seem to have missed the mark so far.

Not to say that I won't post more, but I'll probably lay low here for a while to avoid dominating the OT forum with my topics. Well, that and I'm fresh out of topics.

I have not seen the movie as yet but after reading this discussion I know I will make the time to see Chicago. Hungary has many regional dialects and depending on the time frame of before the invasion or after the revolt you find the difference in the language. I was raised by my maternal grandparents and the Hungarian spoken in our home differs from the young Hungarians that I have met now entering our country. I attended a global conference where the United Nations sent many representatives from numerous countries:Hungary having one delegate. During an evening event where each country was called upon to entertain this woman got up and song so the audience was asked if anyone knew what she was singing as they needed a translator. It was a song that my own Grandmother sang to me when I was a little child so I was able to tell the words in English and it was translated by others from English to numerous other languages. I tried to read the verse written and read your translation and I find it close.Thank you for the memories of a country that is now very small compared to decades ago.

Favorite Beers:

Shiner Bock--the champaigne of Texas

Old Rasputin--a head ache in a bottle

and of course, Guiness