It must be noted at the outset that my experience in South Bend, and more particularly, my experience in the now disintegrating Hungarian community of South Bend, was by no means one of­ a person largely ignorant of Hungary, Hungarians, or Hungarian culture, for in fact I have been to Hungary, in the school year 1974/75, at which time I was one of six American students studying in Szeged. Since that time I have become increasingly familiar with Hungarian history and the not insignificant contributions of Hungarians to the arts and sciences.

Be that as it may, it is, I think, almost pure chance that I - who am in many regards a not unworthy representative of the WASP community - should have become as intimately acquainted as I am with Hungarian culture.

The summer before my departure for Hungary, in 1974, I can recall having a casual conversation with a friend in which I mentioned in passing that Hungarian was a Slavic language. My friend, somewhat more knowledgeable in such matters than I, hastened to disabuse me of such an erroneous notion. “Hungarian is a Finno-Ugric language,” he said. “Whatever the hell that is,” thus marking the limits of his own erudition.

Since that time I have become less parochial in outlook. Certainly I have become more aware of those matters concerning Hungary and the millions of Hungarians for whom a sense of belonging and solidarity has to be sought outside their ancestral homeland.

Without further ado, let me now turn to the main subject of this talk. To wit, what were my impressions of South Bend, of its citizens of Hungarian origin or stock, and of the community which these citizens, with greater or lesser cohesion form?

First of all, the core of the Hungarian community of South Bend is made up of three distinct layers of immigrants:

1. The so-called old-timers, the survivors of whom did not come to America before the turn of the century. For the most part, the old-timers came in the late teens or early twenties, at a time when the political climate in Hungary was, to say the least, tense. Károlyi’s noble efforts to ease Hungary into and through the transition from being the lesser partner of the Austro-Hungarian empire to being free, independent, and of republican status were undermined by the aggressive posture of the powers soon to be granted autonomous statehood; i.e., what were to become Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and a Rumania wishing to push out her western border. The short-lived Republic of Councils under Béla Kún followed, which was replaced by the interminable Regency of Admiral Miklós Horthy. The Trianon Treaty, perhaps the single most important event for Hungarians of this century, under whose impact the psyche of virtually every Hungarian - even second  or third generation - has been formed, left the country with only one third of her original territory and virtually no natural resources. Hungarians coming to South Bend from this period, then, naturally sought to reestablish that sense of community and integrity which the dismemberment of Hungary had made look all the dearer.


2. In the years shortly following World War II comes the second distinguishable layer of Hungarian immigrants: the so-called DP’s, or displaced persons. Practically all of these had enjoyed some prosperity under Horthy’s reign. Their comfortable lifestyles, and in some cases, their very lives being endangered, they left Hungary very much begrudging the Communists their newly acquired power. These Hungarians were from a different, higher socioeconomic stratum than those who had settled in South Bend earlier. From the moment of their arrival in America, however, all economic and social differences between the two groups dissolved. If anything, the Hungarians of older standing in South Bend, by virtue of their having already established roots, enjoyed the greater prosperity. Nevertheless, the DP’s continued to feel socially superior to the others, which is to say, virtually the entire Hungarian community. They have not, therefore, really been assimilated into the South Bend community.


3. The 56-ers are the third distinct layer of Hungarian immigrants of South Bend. Perhaps because these freedom fighters and those associated with them were engaged in an altruistic battle, which for the better part was free of nationalistic chauvinism, their development in South Bend shows a tendency to regard lightly any sense of responsibility for the preservation of the Hungarian community per se, even to the point where their Hungarian betrays many influences of American speech. A 56-er whom we had the occasion to interview speaks English about as fluently as Hungarian, though perhaps with a few more mistakes. However, his Hungarian has been just as much altered by his acquisition of English, as his English speech has been limited and determined by his native language, Hungarian.­

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4. Of course, not all the native Hungarians who live in South Bend have ended up there via one of the three waves of immigration mentioned. A woman with whom Dr. Kontra and I stayed while in South Bend, did leave Hungary in 1956 but did not arrive in America until 1961. When we first met, I noted a resigned but nonetheless disappointed reaction that I didn’t not know Hungarian (a dissimilation necessary for the purposes of our field work). In general I find it to be true of Hungarians, but particularly so of the elderly ones, that they hold it both implausible and impractical that anyone should want to learn Hungarian. Therefore they do not presume to expect that anyone would be equipped with such arcane knowledge, unless he be of Hungarian origin. And when, as it occasionally happens, they do meet someone with not an ounce of Hungarian blood in him who has learned Hungarian, they are so pleased that they will praise him no matter how poorly he speaks. I know this from personal experience.

The Hungarians of South Bend are, in many respects, like Hungarians wherever one may find them. Even though they no longer live in Central Europe, their Carpathian basin homeland will always be home in their hearts. They sometimes display characteristics common  to what one might call an inferiority complex, conscious as they are of the relative isolation (almost entirely on linguistic grounds) of Hungarian culture, and thus of its failure to become a significant force in the mainstream of European culture.

Yet on closer inspection a certain intense pride and even snobbishness lies behind the familiar modest exterior of the Hungarian, whose language he instinctively fees is, if not generally recognized as such, a unique and powerful means of communication. If only spoken by about 15 million people in the world, - and enjoying virtually no following among students of languages, - Hungarian is perhaps for this very reason a passkey to a sort of elite.

The English spoken by South Bend Hungarians is more  or less good, depending on several factors. First of all, anyone who came to America at a rather late age with no prior knowledge of English - whether he came long ago or only very recently - has experienced great difficulties in acquiring English with any proficiency. Their speech is, naturally, slow, choppy, and delivered with little or no confidence. The v~w problem  is certainly not an unknown phenomenon among you. In Hungarian the sound [w] does not exist. In Hungarian orthography, however, both the letters [v] and [w] exist, the last of which occurs only in foreign and archaic words and names. The correlative of both sounds in the spoken language is [v]. Therefore two separate problems exist for Hungarian learners of English. First, they must learn how to make an entirely new sound (as well as acquire the ability to distinguish between the two sounds in others’ speech); second, they must be careful to observe that, nearly without exception, the letter w denotes the sound [w] and the letter v denotes the sound [v].

In any case, this dilemma is characteristically handled by these elderly learners of English by just pronouncing the sound [v] on any and every occasion, even when [w] is the desired phoneme. This has the virtue of being consistent, for one will never hear such speakers fall prey to hypercorrection and say [w] when [v] is the correct sound.

The English speech of the old-timers is generally not at the level one might expect from people who have spent more than half a century in the United States. On the other hand, there are good reasons for this being the case. The Hungarian community of South Bend - if such it can still be called - is a century old. The old-timers still around today did not therefore come to a town the likes of which they had never before experienced when they arrived in South Bend, but rather entered a growing, prospering  city whose Hungarian population was already significant. If the rows of wooden houses looked strange at first, there was nevertheless a butcher at the street-corner who made sausage just as they did back home. There were small businesses, an insurance company, a club or two, all established by the earliest Hungarian settlers or their descendants. In short, a true Hungarian community, a home away from home, had been formed. Hungarians were being employed with Singer Sewing Co., Studebaker and other companies and factories in such numbers that the average unskilled worker could easily spend a day at work having spoken little or no English.

This community, to some extent, insulated the new arrivals from the more idiosyncratic aspects of American civilization. Nevertheless, the community was by no means self-sufficient. To grow, it had to seek ties with American, that is to say, non-Hungarian businessmen as well. Even taking this into account, however, South Bend in the teens and the twenties (and well beyond) provided the more timid Hungarians a means whereby they could make ends meet just fine, with little knowledge of English. Thus it should come as no great surprise that Hungarians from this period speak English only when absolutely necessary - and then haltingly - and have serious problems in understanding English when it is spoken to them or in their presence.

Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to interview  any whom we have already designated as DP’s. Hence, I cannot make even the most general comments concerning their English.

Those whom we call 56-ers seem to be, for the most part, very eager to have material success. One man we interviewed has built up his own business in such a meticulous fashion that now he can boast of the kind of financial security which has generally been associated with the American Dream. Just as his economic status is incomparable to that of virtually all of the old-timers, so is his English. Although he came to South Bend  when already a young ,  today his English at times will pass as a native speaker’s. There are certain problems he has and will continue to have: th-s are pretty much a matter of hit or miss with him. Overall, however, his accent is very thin and his speech is fluent.

At all events, he has always been eager to seek out  contact outside the Hungarian community and to learn English just as well as was necessary for his purposes.   Being the top man on the totem pole, as he is in his company, means that he be a skilled communicator. And that he is. He can make a point succinctly, and he will not waste words in an attempt at eloquence. These things notwithstanding, however, he can still be uncomfortable speaking English in certain situations. Language for him is a tool, a means to an end. He is not interested in correcting some very basic grammatical errors he consistently repeats, much less in refining his speech or cultivating an elegant style.

Another 56-er we met, a skilled laborer, told us in our interview with him that the first advice he received in America was to learn English, “because without it, you’re dead.” His English is about as proficient as the businessman’s, although on the surface such would not appear to be the case. Being in a different socioeconomic bracket, his English has been fashioned by the speech of working class and lower middle class people, with whom he has been in contact almost uninterruptedly since his arrival in South Bend some 24 years ago. Therefore many of his mistakes are merely the colloquialisms he has picked up, not commonly recognized as Choice English.

Besides saying “ain’t” and “if he would have” instead of “if he had” in stating  a condition, he came up with such things as “I have saw” and “I seen.” It is interesting to note, too, that although the conjugational system of Hungarian is much more difficult than that of English (at least on the surface), you will find this man, and others, saying “he like,” “it go,” and so on.

This is doubtless partly attributable to the impact of the so-called “high cost rule.” Since five of the six forms (in the present indicative of English verbs) are alike, it becomes almost reflexive to want to make all of them the same.

What of the Hungarian community in South Bend? First of all, however diminished in strength the community is today, it undeniably exists. If one strolls down the right street, one will hear Hungarian spoken. The community boasts of three Hungarian churches; two Catholic and one Presbyterian (református), a club and a tavern. There are still many Hungarians with small businesses throughout the city whose names fill up signs and placards. Every year the Hungarians of South Bend participate in what they call The Ethnic Fair, where folk dancing and ethnic cuisine are the main attractions.

However positive all this may appear to be on the surface, a deeper look will uncover the following: the people one hears speaking Hungarian, be they on the street or on the bus or wherever one may pass them, are elderly. Rarely does one meet children or adolescents, or even young adults who just happen to be conversing in Hungarian. In one home where both the mother and the father are native Hungarians, their two daughters, still preadolescent, speak Hungarian unevenly and with a thick American accent.

Next, the churches.  The oldest of them, St. Stephen’s, still very beautiful after 75 years or so of existence, today no longer stands in the heart of the Hungarian community. Over the past twenty-five years or so, new ethnic minorities have come into the area, and the Hungarians have gone out. The laity is no longer made up of mostly Hungarians. As a matter of fact, the church is now frequented by Chicanos more than anyone else. In addition to the regular English services there is one in Spanish as well. For some years now Hungarian has only been the language of confession, by the ever dwindling number of Hungarian/speaking members. Only last year the pastor of the church, Msgr. Peterson, stepped down from the post he had filled for some twenty years.

Our Lady of Hungary Church, whose pastor, Msgr. Sabo likewise retired only last year, is faring much better. Nevertheless there are many troubling things to consider: 1) the parish meetings, which had been conducted entirely in Hungarian around 30 years ago, now begin and end in English, a word of Hungarian  perhaps being uttered at coffee break; 2) whereas only 15-20 years ago services in Hungarian outnumbered those in English, now there is but one Hungarian service and that seems endangered.

In conclusion, so long as these institutions exist, some semblance of Hungarian communal life will be preserved. Without a more determined and purposeful attitude on the part of the younger Hungarians, however,  - one which would admit of a reversal in the alarming trend towards total ignorance of their ancestral language -, the Hungarian community must surely vanish.