# My Travel Diary



## Meaghan

How do you say "My Travel Diary" in Hungarian?

Also, "My Travel Journal."


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## Zsanna

Hello Meaghan and welcome to the forum

I suppose you mean My Travel Diary or My Travel Journal as synonyms and you mean speaking of yourself, am I right?

I think there isn't just one possibility for that in Hungarian (either) but it could be: Utazási naplóm.


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## Meaghan

Yes, as synonyms. Thank you!


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## francisgranada

Without knowing any further context,  I'd prefer "(Az) útinaplóm" or "Az én útinaplóm" (the latter in case the pronoun "my" is explicitly important or  emphasized, e.g. in the title of a book.)

P.S. _Az _is a definite article, corresponding to the English _the_.


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## tomtombp

francisgranada said:


> Without knowing any further context,  I'd prefer "(Az) útinaplóm" or "Az én útinaplóm" (the latter in case the pronoun "my" is explicitly important or  emphasized, e.g. in the title of a book.)
> 
> P.S. _Az _is a definite article, corresponding to the English _the_.



I agree that "útinapló" is more idiomatic than "utazási napló".

I would not add "Az én". It sounds redundant to me. There have been other threads about this but "m" at the end already indicates it's yours so you should not repeat it by adding "Az én" unless you want to (over)emphasize it's yours and not somebody else's. I myself would not use it even then. To me it sounds like "my travel diary of mine" would sound in English. 

It depends on the context but if it's clear that you are the author I may not even add "my" which is "m" at the end of the words in Hungarian. I'd simply say "Útinapló".


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## Zsanna

Francis's suggestion is fine, I agree, my only problem with it is that I wouldn't even know whether it is one word or two. (I couldn't find it in any dictionary.)

The only _idiomatic_ expression I've found is: _útleírás_ that is close enough but that is not a private diary/journal. (It is a literary work of a kind.) 

It seems to me we can just go around it but we won't find a perfect solution. (Feljegyzések az uta(záso)mról/úti feljegyzések would be a bit long, this is why I didn't suggest it even though they sound best to me.)


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## tomtombp

Zsanna said:


> Francis's suggestion is fine, I agree, my only problem with it is that I wouldn't even know whether it is one word or two. (I couldn't find it in any dictionary.)
> 
> The only _idiomatic_ expression I've found is: _útleírás_ that is close enough but that is not a private diary/journal. (It is a literary work of a kind.)
> 
> It seems to me we can just go around it but we won't find a perfect solution. (Feljegyzések az uta(záso)mról/úti feljegyzések would be a bit long, this is why I didn't suggest it even though they sound best to me.)



No, for me "útinapló" is just what the OP is looking for and it is commonly used for just that, no matter what dictionaries say.  And it is one word.

"Útleírás" is something too vague to me. If someone said it to me without context I wouldn't know what he or she means. "útinapló", on the other hand is clear.

"Feljegyzések az uta(záso)mról/úti feljegyzések" are not only too long and unnecessarily complicated they don't even sound idiomatic to me.


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## Zsanna

_Útleírás_ is not vague, it has a nice definition (see Értelmező Szótár or here *- sorry, in Hungarian only) and is a totally valid, existing word - indicating a genre of writing (for publishing) or a sort of book that contains somebody's description of their travelling.

*According to this, we could also suggest: útirajz, útijegyzet or even útilevél. (As I suggested above, there are several possibilities.)

P.S.
"Feljegyzések az uta(záso)mról/úti feljegyzések" are not only too long and unnecessarily complicated they don't even sound idiomatic to me.
But then Hungarian can be a complicated language... (especially when it means to be exact)


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## tomtombp

Zsanna said:


> _Útleírás_ is not vague, it has a nice definition (see Értelmező Szótár or here *- sorry, in Hungarian only) and is a totally valid, existing word - indicating a genre of writing (for publishing) or a sort of book that contains somebody's description of their travelling.
> 
> *According to this, we could also suggest: útirajz, útijegyzet or even útilevél. (As I suggested above, there are several possibilities.)
> 
> P.S.
> "Feljegyzések az uta(záso)mról/úti feljegyzések" are not only too long and unnecessarily complicated they don't even sound idiomatic to me.
> But then Hungarian can be a complicated language... (especially when it means to be exact)



Thank you Zsanna for your research again. The point of my previous message was I find "útinapló" just perfect for what we are looking for here and I'd look no further to find alternatives that are either not used or have different or more general meanings.

Following this forum for a while I've noticed that we tend to end up in past centuries suggesting using old-fashioned and/or poetic expressions that are not in use any longer, especially not in everyday conversations.
I know I represent one end of the wide spectrum of forum members, most certainly the rarer end as most of the members have linguistics background while I'm not too much into grammar. I just speak naturally and I think Hungarian is a language that can't be spoken based on grammar rules. Most importantly one should make sure it flows well. That can only be felt rather than explained or justified. Please take my inputs with that in mind.


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## francisgranada

tomtombp said:


> ...  I would not add "Az én". It sounds redundant to me. ...


I agree (except of some special contexts).


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## franknagy

Meaghan said:


> Yes, as synonyms. Thank you!


Útinaplóm, útibeszámolóm, útikalandjaim.


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