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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 4609 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 25 of 108 16 January 2013 at 9:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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Assimil is an interesting course.
I was getting really frustrated comparing the content of the lessons I'd completed in Assimil with what I was actually able to produce in Greek, either spoken, or especially written. Writing one grammatically correct sentence, with proper spelling is quite challenging. Faced with this frustration, I decided to put Assimil aside for a bit and I returned to Michel Thomas and Teach Yourself. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I now understand the majority of the TY text. In fact, I think half of Assimil covers more than the whole TY does. This is interesting because both Assimil and TY make claims of getting you to B2. Of course, I have to say, one thing I'm I really enjoying about MT and TY is the explanations in my native tongue. I had never heard of the Aorist in English so when I face such terms in French, it really slows me down. Over the last few days I've been spending a bit more time reviewing vocabulary and I've signed up for a few trial lessons via Skype with some Greek teachers. It's difficult to find a teacher due to the big time difference between Greece and here. Hopefully they won't mind teaching me while I'm in my pyjamas and drinking coffee. ;) I cut off my introduction a bit short last time, omitting a very important part of my family: my μωρό ! Η οικογενεια μου έιναι μικρή. Έιμαι μοναχοπαίδι. Ο σύζυγός μου έχει μια αδελφή. Μένω με τον συζυγό μου και η κορίτσι μου σ'ενα μικρό σπίτι. Το όνομα την κορίτσι μου έιναι Άννα. Η Άννα έχει τέσσερα χρόνον και μιλαί αγγλικά και γαλλικά. Το Σεπτέμβριος αρχίζει το σχολείο. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4357 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 26 of 108 16 January 2013 at 10:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Η οικογένειά μου είναι μικρή. Είμαι μοναχοπαίδι. Ο σύζυγός μου έχει μια αδελφή. Μένω με
τον σύζυγό μου και το κορίτσι μου σ'ένα μικρό σπίτι. Το όνομα του κοριτσιού μου είναι Άννα. Η Άννα είναι τεσσάρων χρόνων και μιλάει αγγλικά και γαλλικά. Το Σεπτέμβριο αρχίζει το σχολείο. Very well as always:) Just pay attention to details Anna "is" four years (old) in greek, not has. The girl is neutral grammatically, although female in reality. And your girl's name, is genitive case in greek as well as in English. Pay attention to the genders, the cases, the stresses and the endings. But is was very good, such mistakes will go away through practice! Να σου ζήσει η Άννα! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4357 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 27 of 108 16 January 2013 at 10:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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By the way, I am switching courses all the time with my German and russian. I find what you say on assimil very helpful.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4609 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 28 of 108 19 January 2013 at 1:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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Καλό Σαββατοκύριακο σε όλους.
Many thanks, once again renaissancemedi. Reading your corrections I kept thinking, "I knew that!" Somehow I have to better internalize what I'm learning so I can better recognize these types of errors. Ah... it's η κόρη and το κορίτσι. I think I won't forget that one now. I find with a full-time job and a pre-schooler at home, it's not easy finding enough time to study. I find that the longest stretches of time I have available to study are when I'm doing housework and cooking. But I haven't found an audio program that is quite right for that. Having to pause MT is a pain. I sometimes review older Assimil lessons but I often find myself tuning them out. Does anyone have any suggestions? I recently purchased Vocabulearn Greek which is helping a bit but I don't want to spend so much time on vocabulary in isolation. What else I've done these past few days: I've finished the second CD of Michel Thomas' Advanced Greek, lesson 57 of Assimil (PW) and I've been working on lessons 7 and 8 of Teach Yourself. French conversation circle begins on Tuesday so I should spend this weekend loosening my tongue for some French again. Edited by embici on 19 January 2013 at 4:40pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5333 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 29 of 108 19 January 2013 at 3:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Your study situation sounds extremely familiar. I say that I study by the "no-time-to-study-method" and it is
extremely slow and frustrating sometimes, but it is better than nothing at all. I long for my student days doing nothing but do what I like the best - learn languages. But we'll both get there in the end. It just takes a little time, that's all :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4609 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 30 of 108 21 January 2013 at 12:03am | IP Logged | ||
An example of why it's good to consult different materials: As I've mentioned already, my spouse is Canadian-born to Greek parents. To my untrained ears he seems typical of heritage language speakers in that he can carry on a conversation in Greek while throwing in English words here and there as necessary. The other day I was trying to speak with him in Greek using the imperfect. I used ήμουν (I was) and he said ήμουνα. I did not remember seeing the latter in Assimil, or hearing it in Language Transfer or Michel Thomas so I was confused. Well, we were both confused as he was totally unfamiliar with my version. We were both trying to sort out what tenses we were talking about. Now I see that chapter 12 of Teach Yourself does show both forms, but with no explanation for the difference. I did find this on Wiktionary: http://en.wikti onary.org/wiki/ήμουνα There seem to be a lot of alternative verb forms in Greek. On the French front, the Canadian public broadcaster is conspiring against me. After the switch to digital, they ended French-language TV service to my city. However, Netflix is starting to carry some French-language TV shows so I've just started watching one called Les Parent. (Parent is a very common surname in Canada, it's not a typo.) Unfortunately, most anglophone Canadians are completely ignorant of French-Canadian cultural productions. I include myself in that category, sadly. So, I really don't have much of a clue about what's hot or what I would find interesting in francophone music, literature, TV, films, etc. I will have to add research to my to-do list. It's going to be a cold week this week (-11 on Tuesday, τι κρύο!) so a good week to stay inside, and hit the books. Since it is already Monday in Europe, I believe, I will wish you a Καλή εβδομάδα ! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| modus.irrealis Bilingual Triglot Newbie Canada Joined 5877 days ago 29 posts - 37 votes Speaks: English*, Greek*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Danish, Turkish | Message 31 of 108 21 January 2013 at 12:39am | IP Logged | ||
That is certainly true. I'm in a position that is probably very similar to your husband's, and because I learned Greek largely as a spoken language (although I did also go to Greek school on the weekends), it's the more colloquial forms that are more natural to me, so ήμουνα rather than ήμουν or ήτανε rather than ήταν, or in the third person plural παίζουνε rather than παίζουν, etc. etc. But the written language usually shows less variation, it seems to me. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4357 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 32 of 108 21 January 2013 at 7:31am | IP Logged | ||
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It's nice to know all the variations so that you can recognize them. You will end up using the forms that come naturally to your lips anyway, so don't feel like you need to use everthing. Just look them up, and keep them in mind. I agree about the fact that written forms tend to be less varied, but then again when you write for the forum, do express yourself just as you feel like :)
I always say that learning the rules in greek grammar is very easy. But good luck with the variations and the exceptions! Assimil and all the courses are just a starting point. There is no way that they include everything, in any language I guess. I'm trying to have that in mind myself, for russian and German. It's so great that you have someone to talk to. That's why your level is so good, perhaps. Keep writing in greek, even if it is only a sentence a time! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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