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Embici’s slow road to Greek | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| 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 57 of 108 12 April 2013 at 2:14am | IP Logged | ||
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I have been using Routledge's Greek: An Essential Grammar of the Modern Language. I'm
finding it extremely helpful. I hear that it's good to use materials that are only in the target language, but grammar is my weak spot so I appreciate having English explanations. 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. 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 58 of 108 12 April 2013 at 9:36am | IP Logged | ||
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LOL yes, the posessive genitive (γενική κτητική).
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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 59 of 108 09 May 2013 at 3:14am | IP Logged | ||
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My Skype lessons seem to be getting more enjoyable now as I'm getting more comfortable
using what I've learned. I have been having 1-2 hours of lessons a week for a couple of months now. Unfortunately I've been spending less time studying on my own as work and home life have been taking up more of my time. Things should slow down in June so I hope to pick up speed then. I've been sticking with lessons for now. I've been contacted by a few Greeks who want to practice their English with me, but I've mostly declined because I think they will quickly get scared off by my beginner Greek. Maybe I'll make that my goal in the summer: to find some conversation exchange partners. Since I find I don't have a lot of time to sit down with my books and audio I listen to VocabuLearn Greek when I have a chance and I re-read Dora the Explorer in Greek to my daughter at bed time. Fortunately she's at the age where we can read the same books over and over again and she doesn't tire of them. The pictures and familiar themes keep her interested enough to listen to the Greek. In fact, I have read her Dora books in Spanish, French, Greek and English and she seems to enjoy listening to them all! She's even learned to roll her Rs recently. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5335 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 60 of 108 09 May 2013 at 7:37am | IP Logged | ||
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What a great idea to read the same children's stories to her in different languages! I have done it in English
and French, but if I had tried Greek I suspect the kids would have put their foot down. And I am sure your beginner's Greek is not that bad :-) 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 61 of 108 04 June 2013 at 1:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm still plugging away at Greek.
Work has been very busy, and stressful and creeping into my personal time a lot over the last couple of months so my study time has greatly decreased. I have one hour of Greek lessons via Skype every week so that helps. I'm on lesson 9 of Ελληνικά Α'. I find that even though many of the grammatical concepts are not new, it re-enforces what I've learned elsewhere. It has no grammatical explanations whatsoever so I'm not sure I would use this book for self study but it's fine with a teacher. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5866 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 62 of 108 04 June 2013 at 3:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Glad to see you're still plugging away :) I've just realized the other day that i've been on this site for nearly five (maybe more?) years and have only learned one language reasonably well. My original goals were to speak 5 or 6 languages well by now, haha! Btw, how are your Skype lessons? I did a couple Skype lessons in Chinese, some better than others, i actually found a teacher i really liked. But paying for things online in China is a royal pain (to do lots of things like pay in foreign currency you have a Chinese ID card aka be a Chinese citizen) so i eventually just dropped it.
Hope i can catch up with you one day :) Keep it up! I also really enjoyed reading about how you read stories in foreign languages to your daughter! 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 63 of 108 08 June 2013 at 4:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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The Skype lessons have been interesting. I've had lessons with six or seven different
teachers by now and I've settled on one. I'm not sure he's the best of the bunch, but I invested in the text book he recommended and I feel I need to plough through it! He is also quite friendly and keeps the conversation moving. His price is also reasonable. I was surprised by how much the quality and price varied between teachers and sites. For example, I went to one site which was fairly high priced, and supposedly more professional and the teacher I had there expected me to come up with lesson plans and conversation topics. I found that strange. If I wanted to do all that myself, I could have looked into cheaper options like "speaking practice" or a conversation exchange. I have found Skype lessons incredibly helpful. It has really improved my spoken Greek a lot. I'm thinking of starting up a conversation exchange now that I can carry on a wee bit of conversation in Greek (plus life and work have gotten a little bit less hectic lately). I'd also like to try it to brush up on my Spanish which is terribly rusty for lack of use. I'm curious how I should begin. Is it normal for people to just start up right away with the webcam? It seems a bit strange to talk to a complete stranger that way but, I did do that with the italki, Myngle, and verbalplanet lessons. Does anyone have advice for the first time? I suppose I could just do a search of this site for some advice, couldn't I? :) Crush, I'm surprised about the difficulties you've experienced paying for Chinese lessons. Paypal isn't an option on those sites? 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 64 of 108 08 June 2013 at 8:35pm | IP Logged | ||
I discovered a copy of Ελληνικά B' in London the other week, and have just started using it. Haven't got far yet, but so far I am liking it. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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