Dubbed

I have never seen a dubbed movie. Those that I have seen in foreign languages have been with subtitles. It’s rare that, as an English speaker, I should need any sort of translation to experience a culture and its entertainment. I often forget how fortunate I am to speak English.

This weekend my roommate and I found a theater showing the new “Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” in English with Hungarian subtitles (the closest to just English that’s offered). The movie was great and tears were shed. The trailers beforehand were an odd mix of the two languages but the strangest thing was seeing Samuel L. Jackson dubbed. The most difficult part of the whole thing was ignoring the subtitles but eventually even that was easy.

As an American, I’m surrounded by familiarity wherever I go. Even in Budapest there are Starbucks, McDonald’s, KFCs, Pizza Huts, and an absurd amount of Burger Kings. There are also a lot of European brands that are well known in the U.S. including H&M (there are two in just one mall and several more throughout the city), IKEA, and Zara.

This weekend I found myself in a lot of touristy areas of the city where I noticed a strong concentration of English speakers. These areas are filled with shops and restaurants with English-speaking employees, making it easier for international travelers since it’s the most common, well, common language.

Saturday I got breakfast not too far from my dorm at Zoska where, despite being in an alley between tram stops, is a very popular spot with English speakers. I went to H&M (yes, it has the same things as in the U.S. but I needed socks) and walked back to the dorm via Váci Utca, a very popular tourist street lined with shops and vendors where English is the language you hear most from those around you.

Today we went to Café Gerbeaud, home of the Gerbeaud chocolate cake and one of the most traditional coffeehouses in Europe, for dessert. Of course we got the Gerbeaud cake and some tea – both were amazing. Between bites of the glorious cake I noticed that every server that came to our table immediately began speaking English before they ever heard us, probably because it was in a touristy area on the edge of a Christmas market.

Gerbeaud Cake

We visited the Christmas markets in Vörösmarty Tér and on Fashion Street where we had no problem asking vendors how much the citrus wreath or the (insanely fuzzy) slippers cost. Some even struck up a conversation, asking where we were from, why we were here. It was simple and something that could just as easily happen in the U.S.

Vörösmarty Tér

Fashion Street

The citrus wreath currently bringing Christmas cheer and wonderful scents to our dorm room.

One of the first major miscommunications I’ve encountered occurred Saturday night. There was a mulled wine festival on the street I live on and each business participating was marked with a mannequin. We went to Rombusz, a small square down the road with a food truck.

My roommate and I decided to order together for the sake of ease and intended to get two cups of one deciliter each (since that’s how it’s measured and priced). There was some confusion between our limited Hungarian and the vendors’ lack of any English and we ended up getting one cup of two deciliters and paying double to get a second one. Thankfully, it was still only approximately $1.00 each (and pretty good!).

The situation was minor and turned out all right but it was a reminder of how frustrating a language barrier can be. We had tried to explain the confusion but to no avail. As it was being sorted a bilingual girl offered to help. We had already handed over the extra 280 HUF, but it was a kind gesture that I’ve found to be fairly common.

Language is something that’s so easy to take for granted, especially for English speakers. I have the privilege of seeing movies and talking to others in my native tongue simply because it’s the most commonly shared language. Sometimes it seems as though the whole world is dubbed for our convenience.

Still, there is one thing most shopkeepers, store clerks, and waiters like to hear in their own language: thank you//köszönöm szépen.