Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Embici’s slow road to Greek

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
108 messages over 14 pages: 1 2 3 4 57 ... 6 ... 13 14 Next >>
stelingo
Hexaglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5592 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 
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.
1 person has voted this message useful



embici
Triglot
Senior Member
CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4370 days ago

263 posts - 370 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
Studies: Greek

 
 Message 42 of 108
12 February 2013 at 8:23pm | IP Logged 
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 4118 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 
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 4370 days ago

263 posts - 370 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
Studies: Greek

 
 Message 44 of 108
16 February 2013 at 2:08am | IP Logged 
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 4370 days ago

263 posts - 370 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
Studies: Greek

 
 Message 45 of 108
16 February 2013 at 1:30pm | IP Logged 
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 5592 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 
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 5638 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 
embici wrote:
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?

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 4370 days ago

263 posts - 370 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
Studies: Greek

 
 Message 48 of 108
28 February 2013 at 10:05pm | IP Logged 
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



This discussion contains 108 messages over 14 pages: << Prev 1 2 3 4 57 8 9 10 11 12 13 14  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.3594 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.