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TAC 2013 Team Sparta’s Greek Team Thread

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
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stelingo
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 Message 97 of 231
27 December 2012 at 2:19pm | IP Logged 
@ Solfrid Cristin Είμαι Ελληνίδα transliteration Eimai Ellinida.
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Solfrid Cristin
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 Message 98 of 231
27 December 2012 at 2:38pm | IP Logged 
stelingo wrote:
@ Solfrid Cristin Είμαι Ελληνίδα transliteration Eimai Ellinida.


Thanks! I know that "Ime"/ "Είμαι" is the correct way to say "I am " in Greek - it is just that my brain refuses to come up with anything but the Russian "Ja/ я" when I am supposed to translate it.

Another thing I find puzzling: In principle "Den/then" means not and "Ochi" means no, but in the sentence (Not very well) (After the question "Do you speak Greek") what I hear is "Ochi póli kalá", which in my head translates into "No very good". Can "no" then in Greek sometimes be used in stead of "not"? And is that a rare case, or is it fairly common?
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ellasevia
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 Message 99 of 231
27 December 2012 at 3:02pm | IP Logged 
Solfrid Cristin wrote:
Another thing I find puzzling: In principle "Den/then" means not and "Ochi" means no, but in the sentence (Not very well) (After the question "Do you speak Greek") what I hear is "Ochi póli kalá", which in my head translates into "No very good". Can "no" then in Greek sometimes be used in stead of "not"? And is that a rare case, or is it fairly common?

I had to think about it for a few minutes, but I think I've figured out the rule. Δεν can only used to negate verbs, while όχι is used for everything else. That's why you say "δεν μιλώ πολύ καλά" (I don't speak very well), but once you take out the verb it becomes "όχι πολύ καλά" (not very well). Likewise, you could say "δε θέλω αυτό"(I don't want this), or simply "όχι αυτό" (not this).
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stelingo
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 Message 100 of 231
27 December 2012 at 6:13pm | IP Logged 
If you think that's confusing I cannot get my head round the Greek word for yes, ναι which is pronounced exactly like the Czech word ne, which means.....no(and also not)! I have to constantly remind myself it isn't negative when I hear it. Another confusing thing (please correct me if I'm wrong ellasevia) is that Greeks, instead of nodding their head to indicate yes, shake it from side to side. I believe this is also the case in Turkey.

Oh, and by the way there is another word in Greek for not, which is used to negate the imperative. (There may be other uses, I'm not sure) eg. μη μιλά don't speak.

Isn't Greek wonderful? :-)
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Crush
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 Message 101 of 231
28 December 2012 at 8:36am | IP Logged 
I just made a log for the 2013 TAC:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=34744

Also, Jack:
I read in another log that problems with the links were due to them using Chrome. Maybe the site has some issues with Chrome that are causing your links to get messed up?
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renaissancemedi
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 Message 102 of 231
28 December 2012 at 8:51am | IP Logged 
stelingo wrote:
Another confusing thing (please correct me if I'm wrong ellasevia) is that Greeks, instead of nodding their head to indicate yes, shake it from side to side. I believe this is also the case in Turkey.




If I may say something on this one. I don't know about Turkey, but in Greece we do nod to say yes. We throw our head back to say no, usually lifting the eyebrows and saying "ts" at the same time. Sounds weird when described!

I love your thread, sorry for the intrusion!


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LanguageSponge
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 Message 103 of 231
28 December 2012 at 9:23am | IP Logged 
stelingo, Greek is wonderful! Using ναι to mean something positive is something I need to
get used to as well, as most of us do. What renaissancemedi explained above does seem a
bit odd to me written down, and I've just spent ten seconds attempting to imitate it, and
it still seems just as strange.

@ Crush: Thanks for mentioning the problems using Chrome. I do use Chrome so I will
begrudgingly try using something else. I wonder if it'll make a difference?

I will attempt linking to your logs shortly using a different browser.

Jack
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Solfrid Cristin
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 Message 104 of 231
28 December 2012 at 10:49am | IP Logged 
LanguageSponge wrote:
What renaissancemedi explained above does seem a
bit odd to me written down, and I've just spent ten seconds attempting to imitate it, and
it still seems just strange.

Jack


I was trying to picture you doing this in public, and thinking about how long you could do that before the men
in the white coats arrived (says the woman who speaks Italian mixed with Russian to herself, gesticulating
like a mad woman while she does that).

I tried it myself, and suddenly realised that this is what we do in Andalucia when we say yes ( except we say
sss and
not ts). So I agree that it looks strange on paper, but it felt quite familiar and normal when I did it. And I now
look forward to hearing from the rest of the members of team Sparta, who will presumably try this 15 seconds
after you have read this, if you have not done it already :-)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
Renaissancemedi: You are most welcome at any time! As you probably have seen by now we are a small
group who study Greek just because we love Greece and Greek so much, and in spite of not really having
the time for it, so we are delighted to have more native Greek speakers coming by.

Edit: Realized I got it wrong and read a no for a yes. Andalusians do this to say yes, not no.

Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 29 December 2012 at 1:20am



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