English and Germany are widely spoken, particularly by the young, and it is not essential to speak Hungarian to live here, but if you wish to work in Hungary it is likely that you will need to learn the language.

There are a number of Hungarian language schools in Budapest and other main towns.

Added March 2007 by Ulf:
Hungarian is a lot like Finnish and Estonian. Many words are almost the same: Butter - voj (Finnish) - vaj (Hungarian)