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TAC 2013 Team Sparta’s Greek Team Thread

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renaissancemedi
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Greece
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941 posts - 1309 votes 
Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2
Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 209 of 231
07 April 2013 at 10:13am | IP Logged 
Gomorritis wrote:

Also, I recorded myself reading a chapter of the book, hehe. It sounded much better to me when I was reading it
than when I listened to my own recording. I think it all sounds too Spanish! I probably also read it way too fast,
probably I should read slower for now so I can better focus in the pronunciation. Truth is that I got excited lately
with my reading fluency, because one month ago I couldn't even read Greek at half that speed. I am much more
used to the Greek alphabet now.





I am speechless. I can't tell you how great you sound. Your speed is fine, by the way. So is your pronounciation, intonation and everything else really. I am not being supportive here, I mean it.
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Gomorritis
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Netherlands
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Speaks: Spanish*, English, Catalan, French
Studies: Greek, German, Dutch

 
 Message 210 of 231
08 April 2013 at 1:29pm | IP Logged 
Thank you. I do focus a lot in improving my pronunciation. My actual level of Greek is much lower than one might
deduce from hearing me read some Greek text. I always get obsessed with pronunciation. Around 10 years ago,
when I was attending a course in German in a class of around 20 people, I probably had the worst overall level in
class and yet the best pronunciation. The teacher was surprised by this contradiction and asked me if I had German
family.

Today I was wondering what is the difference between:

υγειά / υγεία
γωνιά / γωνία

According to the dictionary the meanings are more or less the same. Why these two terms?

Edited by Gomorritis on 08 April 2013 at 1:55pm

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renaissancemedi
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
Greece
Joined 4351 days ago

941 posts - 1309 votes 
Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2
Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 211 of 231
08 April 2013 at 1:43pm | IP Logged 
I assume you mean γωνιά/γωνία, corner.

Well, yes both words mean the same, and you'll find many words like that. I will not go into the language's history here, but it's probably the best explanation for all those types of the same word. One is more formal, another more colloquial etc., and in some cases only one would be appropriate. It's the style that one may choose to use that sometimes shows where one comes from, what one's political views are etc. But these are all details. The main thing is to be able to recognise those words. You yourself can choose to use only one of these types.

The two examples you mentioned are used equally, according to he flow of the sentence and how it rolls off your tongue. γωνιά and υγειά are more colloquial, but no big difference there so use both without a problem.
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embici
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CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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263 posts - 370 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
Studies: Greek

 
 Message 212 of 231
15 April 2013 at 5:31pm | IP Logged 
Since so many here are also learning Russian (among other languages) I have a question.

On my own thread I recently wrote this:

"I have long been aware of the fact that women and men have different endings on their
surnames in Greece. Beyond recognizing the difference, I never gave it much thought.
This Greek grammar book however mentioned that the woman's surname is in the genitive
case of her husband's. That got me thinking about surnames for women in Spanish.
Although I've never heard a woman in Latin America go by her husbands last name, I have read about how some women take their husband's name but put "de" before it. That is, if Yolanda Gonzalez marries Juan Garcia, she would be called Yolanda Gonzalez de Garcia. It seems very similar to the Greek custom. "

Are there other languages that do something similar? I know women's last names in Russian have different endings. Is it the genitive case as well?

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Gomorritis
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 Message 213 of 231
16 April 2013 at 4:09pm | IP Logged 
The reader "Το μοντέλο που ήξερε πολλά" is quite unpleasant, a lot of cliched characters, stupid conversations and
a lack of an interesting plot. I didn't feel like finishing it.

However "Περιπέτεια στη Μάνη" (επίπεδο 4) is enjoyable. It has more complicated sentences than the books from
επίπεδο 3, but the vocabulary still seems quite restricted, which is good.

Is anyone else reading these books?
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embici
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 Message 214 of 231
09 May 2013 at 8:40pm | IP Logged 
Gomorritis, your Greek sounds excellent!
I'm not reading those books, but I wonder if I shouldn't give it a try. I see there are several levels of Easy Readers by that publisher. How many have you read so far? Which do you recommend?


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Gomorritis
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 Message 215 of 231
09 May 2013 at 11:18pm | IP Logged 
From level 3 I recommend "Διακοπές στη Σαντορίνη" and from level 4 "Περιπέτεια στη Μάνη". They are both
written by the same author. Simple and pleasant stories, with a literary feeling. I found the other two books from
those levels (not counting the mythology ones, which I didn't buy) a bit obnoxious. They are either plotless or with a
very silly plot, and the conversations are ridiculous. From level 5, I started reading "Το μυστικό του κόκκινου
σπιτιού" and I have the feeling that it might also be good.

I have also started reading Harry Potter in Greek (finished 1st chapter), which compared to those readers could be
considered as a "level 6". Maybe I'm going too far too soon, as it requires too much looking up definitions. Also,
yesterday I received the following books that my girlfriend read as a child/teenager:

Το μεγάλο ταξίδι της κινεζικής πάπιας (Βασίλης Παπαθεοδώρου) - Recommended for +8 years old
Το αίνιγμα της πέτρινης γενειάδας (Λίτσα Ψαραύτη) - Recommended for +10 years old
Στον ίσχιο της πέτρινης κολόνας (Γιολάντα Πατεράκι) - Recommended for +11 years old
Ένα-ένα-τέσσερα (Βούλα Μάστορη) - Recommended for +14 years old

I'm really happy now that I have so many books in Greek!
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Ogrim
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France
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 Message 216 of 231
10 May 2013 at 8:41am | IP Logged 
embici wrote:
Since so many here are also learning Russian (among other languages) I have a question.

On my own thread I recently wrote this:

"I have long been aware of the fact that women and men have different endings on their
surnames in Greece. Beyond recognizing the difference, I never gave it much thought.
This Greek grammar book however mentioned that the woman's surname is in the genitive
case of her husband's. That got me thinking about surnames for women in Spanish.
Although I've never heard a woman in Latin America go by her husbands last name, I have read about how some women take their husband's name but put "de" before it. That is, if Yolanda Gonzalez marries Juan Garcia, she would be called Yolanda Gonzalez de Garcia. It seems very similar to the Greek custom. "

Are there other languages that do something similar? I know women's last names in Russian have different endings. Is it the genitive case as well?


Embici, I did not notice your question before now. As regards Russian, it is not a genitive. Russian treats names like any other noun, and as far as I understand, a Russian woman takes her husband's surname but adds a feminine marker. So the wife of Putin will be Putina, the wife of Nijinsky will be Nijinskaya etc.




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