ZSUZSA PONTIFEX was born in Hungary and has a degree in Hungarian and English from Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest. She has studied Russian and English literature in Moscow and in London. After three years teaching English and Hungarian in a Budapest secondary school she moved to Britain, where she worked for the Hungarian section of the BBC World Service.

Since 1990 she has been running Hungarian Language Services (HLS), a language school and translation/interpreting agency which teaches Hungarian to diplomats, businesspeople and private individuals. She also sets Hungarian language exams for the Foreign Office and the Institute of Linguists.