Meet Attila Bródy
Atti is studying international business at Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 — his first time living outside Hungary. He is the youngest of four brothers, speaks enthusiastic but imperfect English, and is slowly learning that Lyon is, as he puts it, a lot to take in. For a class project, he has recorded a short audio introduction. Then he asked two people to do the same. They said yes. He was surprised.
“OK, so… my name is Attila Bródy, but everyone is calling me Atti. I am from Pécs — is a city in south of Hungary, very beautiful, lots of history. I have three older brothers. They are all… very loud. I am also loud, but I think I am the most charming one. This is my opinion.”
“I am studying international business here at Lyon — Université Jean Moulin, Lyon 3. I choose this because I want to work in Europe one day, maybe in different countries. My father has small business and I think maybe I want to do something similar, but more big. He doesn’t know this yet.”
“Lyon is — OK, Lyon is a lot to take in. Food is incredible. But the people… she speaks so fast! My French is getting better, I think. Slowly. My English is also getting better. Also slowly.”
“The most difficult thing is that everyone here already has their friends. You arrive and you think — oh, this will be easy, I am friendly person. But is not so easy. You have to find your people. I am still finding mine.”
“Thank you for listening. This was Attila Bródy, from Pécs, Hungary. Goodbye.”
Atti’s English has some typical errors for Hungarian speakers. Did you spot them? He says “is a city” instead of “it is a city” (missing subject pronoun), “more big” instead of “bigger” (wrong comparative form), “she speaks so fast” instead of “they speak” (he/she confusion — Hungarian has no grammatical gender), and “I choose” instead of “I chose” (present instead of past tense). These are real patterns — not careless mistakes.
Atti needs someone to record a bio for his project. He opens WhatsApp and finds Nadia’s name. She lives two doors down. He types. He deletes. He types again. What should he send?
Nadia said yes. Now Atti needs to ask Ellie. He stares at his phone for longer this time. He types his first message. He deletes it. He types a second one. He deletes that too. What should he send?
Up next: Nadia agreed to record her bio. She was not enthusiastic about it.