# We are *one* company



## tigrefurry

Hi,

first off, I'm new here, so - hello to all! 

I'm not (yet) actively learning Hungarian but I'm toying with the idea. At the moment I just need some help with the phrase mentioned in the title: We are *one* company - with the emphasis on "one", as opposed to a working environment that is split up into different units that seldom work together as one team or communicate with each other. In fact, this describes our company quite nicely at the moment, that's why we've chosen this slogan. ;-)

Google translate gives me the following phrase: Vagyunk egy cég!

My first question: Is this grammatically correct Hungarian? And second: Does this bring across the point of "we are *one* company" or does it simply mean "we are *a* company"?

I'd be really glad if someone could help me with this! 

Cheers,

tigrefurry


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## Olivier0

Grammatically Google translate is certainly wrong at least as for word order, because the rule in Hungarian is that the most important part of the sentence is just before the verb, which is certainly the case if there is an emphasis, so _vagyunk_ "we are" should be at the end.
I leave it to the native Hungarians to tell if it could be _*Egy* cég vagyunk_ or _Egyetlen egy cég vagyunk_ or another solution.
-- Olivier


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## tigrefurry

Hi Olivier,

thank you for your help! 

Egy cég vagyunk sounds (more) reasonable then. Looking forward to more input...


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## francisgranada

Or "Mi_ egy _cég vagyunk", putting more emphasis on _we_ (mi) and writing _egy _in italics. _Egy _means both "a/an" and "one"; when it is prounounced with stress then it corresponds to "one". 

"Egyetlen egy cég vagyunk" is ok, but at the first glance it seems to me a bit "complicated" for a slogan. _Egyetlen egy_ means something like _one unique, one only_.


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## tigrefurry

Thanks, this sounds good!

... and has motivated me to learn some Hungarian on my own. My true love is the French language but Hungarian is really interesting. I look forward to sticking around a bit here.


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## Zsanna

Agreeing with the explanations above, I have just some doubts about this "egy cég" expressing really _well_ (in a slogan/motto) what you would like to. (Word by word translations work very rarely for these sort of things in Hungarian.)

Without claiming that this would be the solution, I think one should think more about giving a bit of a "swing" to the expression, like:
*Együtt, egy cég* (= Together, one company) - or something like this.


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## francisgranada

I agree, but I think "Mi_ egy _cég vagyunk" is also good, just for the ambiguity of _egy_.  I.e. "we are _a_ company", but not only: "we are (really) *one *company". 
(I don't know if I have expressed myself understandibly enough... )


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## Zsanna

You, have, francis, you have. 
But I think this is the question of the "magic" of translation... Even though something expresses the meaning perfectly (esp. if you think about it, if there is enough context, etc.) a slogan/motto should do the same job with less effort from the reader. 
People shouldn't have to digest mentally what is in front of their eyes because usually it doesn't stay there for long enough. It should "grab" them (or convey its meaning - if any) the moment they see the words. 
You could say that the sentence is simple enough not to be difficult to understand for the first reading but this is where I'm not quite sure: it is too simple (although a bit still long a for a slogan) to convey only one meaning. And if the reader had to start wondering about "why _one*_?" - the effect is lost, gone - as if nothing had happened.

*...not a conglomeration of companies? ...haven't split up despite some rumours? ... etc. etc.


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## tomtombp

It might be just me but to me "Egy cég vagyunk" as a slogan is totally clear. It means we all work together for the same goal. It wouldn't make me start thinking of anything complicated like conglomeration, etc.


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## francisgranada

tomtombp said:


> It might be just me but to me "Egy cég vagyunk" as a slogan is totally clear ...


I agree.


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## Zsanna

I am sorry if with my overwhelming imagination and 25 years of translation practise behind me I misled the crowd.


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