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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 4391 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 33 of 108 26 January 2013 at 5:47pm | IP Logged | ||
Καλό Σαββατοκύριακο σε όλους.
@modus.irrealis Yes, he learned Katharevousa at Greek school and then probably something different speaking with local Greeks. Since migration from Greece stopped in the 70s (I'm guessing) their Greek is probably stuck in a time warp. :) I haven't put in much time this week doing proper language study, unfortunately. I did attend a French conversation circle this week. The levels of the students really varied quite a lot with some people knowing very little. The teacher seemed quite good, however, at getting everyone speaking despite the wide range of levels. He stressed vocabulary over grammar. When he started the class he told everyone to put away their pens and papers. I was beginning to wonder if he was inspired by Michel Thomas. ;) The teacher is Lebanese-Canadian so his French is more similar to that spoken in France rather than in Canada. I've been interviewing Greek tutors this week and have a few more to interview next week. At first I tried to narrow them down by qualifications but due to the time difference I'm simply going with those who offer lessons when I'm awake. I listen to Greek radio when I can. Commercials are not hard to understand as they tend to be in very clear and simple Greek, and repetitive. I've been focusing on reviewing Teach Yourself Greek and Michel Thomas Advanced. I think I must have breezed through Assimil lessons 50-57 as they don't seem to have stuck in my brain at all. I have a few questions for others on the team so I might go ask those on the Team Sparta thread now. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4391 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 34 of 108 30 January 2013 at 7:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm on the 4th CD of Michel Thomas' Advanced Greek now. I have to chuckle when I type
"advanced" because I'm anything but in Greek. :) The advanced is a bit more challenging than the foundation. With the foundation course I could usually get my answer out before the students without the need to pause and I only listened to each track once. With the advanced I find myself pausing more and reviewing exercises. When I'm finished with it, I think I will finish up with Language Transfer which will hopefully further re-enforce what I've learned with Michel Thomas. I suspect it might even go further than MT as it seems to be much longer. Working with Michel Thomas doesn't get me writing so I think I should write something in Greek here again soon. I've also been listening to VocabuLearn which is useful when I can't pause or look at a book and I've just started reading Ο Μικρός Πρίγκιπας [Le petit prince]. In addition, I've registered on three different sites to find a Greek tutor. I've interviewed three so far with one more scheduled for tomorrow. I hope to be able to pick one by the weekend. This has been my first experience chatting with strangers on Skype but so far it's been nice (except for the one who didn't show up at the scheduled time). I attended our French conversation circle and listened to some podcasts in Spanish as well over the past few days. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4139 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 35 of 108 31 January 2013 at 10:36am | IP Logged | ||
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Don't worry if you don't feel advanced. I don't know that we ever really do with a foreign language. Just keep walking :)
I adore the MT for German, but writing is my problem as well... Ο Μικρός Πρίγκηπας is a favourite! After you finish that, try something written originally in greek. What do you mean Language Transfer? Edited by renaissancemedi on 31 January 2013 at 10:38am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4391 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 36 of 108 31 January 2013 at 3:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Language Transfer is a free
language learning audio-only program that is based on the Michel Thomas Method. They have a Greek for English speakers program and English for Spanish speakers with more in the works. Crush, from our team has just completed it and liked it. I'm looking forward to reading some stuff written in Greek originally. For now, the books that I have in Greek are ones that my partner bought for our daughter: mostly Ντόρα η μικρή εξερευνήτρια :) which is helpful for me now as I know the themes from watching and reading so much Dora in English. :) Can you recommend some good children's books in Greek, renaissancemedi? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4139 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 37 of 108 31 January 2013 at 3:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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I could suggest some things, it's just that I am not sure about your level. However I wouldn't hesitate to try, and see what happens.
Modern childern's book, not really, but more classic ones yes. Μάγκας by Πενελόπη Δέλτα is a good one. I would also suggest essays by Seferis called Δοκιμές. Wonderful language, clear thoughts, advanced though. Also, buy a newspaper and really read it. You'll get some good vocabulary out of that, and the next newspaper will be easy! Edited by renaissancemedi on 31 January 2013 at 3:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4391 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 38 of 108 04 February 2013 at 2:44am | IP Logged | ||
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In the past few days I've had two Greek lessons via Skype. It's very taxing trying to
speak Greek after mostly passive exposure but it's been fun. I've narrowed it down to two tutors. At first I was going to go with the most qualified and highest rated. Then I realized I had to narrow it down to those that teach during the day in this part of the world (not easy). Then I went with two that had κέφι. :) My sources for Greek books have been: Greek City Video in Toronto, and, Books in Greek, in case either is of help to anyone. Edited by embici on 09 February 2013 at 9:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4391 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 39 of 108 08 February 2013 at 1:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've been reviewing Assimil Greek mostly these past few days; mainly the active wave.
The boring dialogues and my slow progress were the reasons I had put it aside for several weeks. But then I started reviewing comments about Assimil on this site and read something about not expecting much after the passive wave. That is, I should have viewed the passive wave as giving me familiarity with the sound and feel of the language while the active wave is really where I would start learning. So I have been doing an active wave of the first 20 lessons or so, doing a bit of scriptorium and shadowing as well as translating. I've also been doing a bit of writing as my homework for my Skype lessons and reading some of my daughter's Greek books (mostly Dora the Explorer). I think we've gone to our last French conversation circle this week as new students keep joining and they all have almost no knowledge of French. We're just not getting much out of it anymore. We toured a local French-language primary school this week (our daughter starts kindergarten in September) and we managed to talk with the administrator, teachers and students in French for the hour or so we were there. In the past, I would have been too shy to speak to people in French when I knew they spoke English well but reading this forum and seeing people practise their target languages on YouTube has encouraged me to give it a try. Another reason I'm thankful for this forum! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4391 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 40 of 108 09 February 2013 at 9:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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I completed Michel Thomas Advanced Greek today. It's good stuff--a real confidence booster. I recommend it to fellow Greek learners. It doesn't cover as much as Language Transfer so I think I will carry on with that one.
I finished a very brief composition in Greek but rather than post it here I have sent it to my tutor in Athens so we have something to discuss at tomorrow's lesson. As I've mentioned, this is the first time I'm using Assimil. Out of curiosity, I recently got Assimil's Dutch with Ease and from what I've seen so far it has far more interesting dialogues than the Greek book. But, I may have to put Assimil aside for a bit as my tutors use other materials. Namely: Ελληνικά με την παρέα μου, Ελληνικά Α', and, Communicate in Greek (I believe Stelingo from out Team uses this one) I haven't spent much time with any of these to form and opinion yet. Edited by embici on 10 February 2013 at 1:24am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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