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Embici’s slow road to Greek | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5833 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 41 of 108 10 February 2013 at 12:11am | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, I do indeed use Communicate in Greek. You will get more out of it if you have a teacher. It seems good in terms of providing real contemporary language.
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| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4611 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 42 of 108 12 February 2013 at 8:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's the middle of winter here and I was feeling a little nostalgic for a trip I was on
last year... Τον περασμένο χρόνο ήμασταν διακοπές στην Αφρική. Έχω ενα φίλο απο την Αφρική. Μας κάλεσε στην Κένυα για να περάσουμε μαζί τις διακοπές. Μας κάλεσε να τους επισκεπτούμε στην Κένυα για πρώτη φορά το 2011. Ο συντροφός μου δεν ήθελε να ταξιδέψει. Επιπλέον, εκείνη τη στιγμή, η κόρη μας ήταν μόλις δύο χρονών και δεν είχε υπομονή για μια μεγάλη πτήση. Αποφασίσαμε να ταξιδέψουμε τελικά το 2012. Περάσαμε 16 ώρες στο αεροπλάνο στο Ναϊρόμπι. Ήταν λίγο κουραστική η πτήση αλλά δεν ήταν πολύ δύσκολα με την κόρη μας. Ημαστάν δέκα έξι μέρες στην Αφρική. Μας άρεσε πάρα πολύ. Edited by embici on 12 February 2013 at 8:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4359 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 43 of 108 13 February 2013 at 6:59am | IP Logged | ||
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That was excellent! You have made no mistakes. Just one correction in terms of style, not grammar or anything.
"At the time" in this case would be more accurately translated as εκείνη την εποχή or τότε. Εκείνη τη στιγμή wouldn't really be said, because your daughter wasn't two years old just for a moment. You need to refer to a longer stretch of time. Εκείνη τη στιγμή is "suddenly", "at that moment" etc. It's not a tragic mistake or anything though. Why don't you record this text as well? It would be nice to write about that trip to Africa, if it inspires you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4611 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 44 of 108 16 February 2013 at 2:08am | IP Logged | ||
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I've been struggling to speak Greek during my Skype lessons. My teachers have been
impressed with some of my long complex sentences (thanks to Michel Thomas) but the rest of the time, I stumble a lot, messing up the cases especially. I looked at the first two lessons of Assimil Dutch. Wow, it seems so easy compared to Greek! The book is a lot shorter (although there's no claim that it'll get me to B2) and already the dialogues are far more fun and engaging. renaissancemedi, thanks for that explanation and the words of support. I've been wondering about the different expressions for time in Greek. There seem to be so many! χρόνο, καιρό, φορά all seem to mean "time" in English. I understand that φορά is like veces in Spanish or fois in French but χρόνο and καιρό? And you are right, I should record myself. I will work on that this weekend. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4611 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 45 of 108 16 February 2013 at 1:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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Progress this week has been less than stellar. I'm on the fourth day of a migraine.
I managed to do a Skype class through the fog of a migraine and it wasn't easy. According to Wikipedia: The word derives from the Greek ἡμικρανία (hemikrania), "pain on one side of the head",[1] from ἡμι- (hemi-), "half", and κρανίον (kranion), "skull". [2] Yep. That explains it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5833 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 46 of 108 16 February 2013 at 1:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well done on your paragraph embici. I learnt a few new words. I agree with renaissancemedi, you should write more about your trip. It would be interesting to read.
Hope you feel better soon. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| modus.irrealis Bilingual Triglot Newbie Canada Joined 5879 days ago 29 posts - 37 votes Speaks: English*, Greek*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Danish, Turkish | Message 47 of 108 17 February 2013 at 3:09am | IP Logged | ||
It's complicated and it's something you'll pick up after exposure. E.g. when χρόνος and καιρός both mean "a period of time", they are roughly equivalent, or when you want to say you have time to do something, you can use either. But then again, only καιρός is used in sentences like είναι καίρος να φύγουμε "it's time we left". And both words have meanings that they don't share, e.g. καιρός can also mean "weather" and χρόνος can mean "year" (with irregular plural). There's also the word ώρα, which can also mean "time", in e.g. τι ώρα είναι "what time is it", but when it refers to a period of time, it's shorter than χρόνος or καιρός. On the other hand it can also be used for the "time" in "it's time we left". And of course it has its own meanings like "hour". So yeah, it's complicated but it's something I think is easier to develop a feel for through exposure rather than learn rules for from beforehand. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4611 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 48 of 108 28 February 2013 at 10:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the encouragement, stelingo and thanks for that explanation, modus.irrealis. The words for time have been coming up a lot in my Skype sessions as well as the differences between έτος and χρόνος. I thought English had a lot of synonyms!
Lately, most of my efforts have been directed at preparing for my Skype Greek lessons. I have one a week with one teacher, and one every two weeks with another. Other than doing my homework for those lessons, I have completed part 2 of Language Transfer. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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