Language is still a major problem
We've been now living in Crete for the last year. We left Britain to enjoy a better lifestyle and a better climate. My wife and myself are over 50 and retired early in the hope of enjoying our lifes before our health deteriorates or we become too set in our ways. January last year we set off with furniture and belongings in an old Mercedes truck and drove to south east Crete where we now live. We have made some good friends locally but the language is still a major problem. Greece is a very popular destination and there are many British people living locally. Some help with the language from the BBC would be very useful.
Ed. note: Try our self-contained beginners' course Talk Greek
Sent by: John
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Greece is the perfect place to live!
I love living here everything you need is here. At the moment I'm studying for my gcse's and I'm using this fab site BBC. Great.
I have been learning Greek for 9 years now and since the beginning of last year I have been teaching. I completed the GCSE with A* and since then went on to teach it privately whilst studying for the A Level. I used this website a lot when I was learning and used to stay up late at night to watch the videos on BBC2! Now I use this website a lot with my students for listening exercises. It really helps one grasp the basics of everyday phrases! All in all, I highly reccommend the BBC language materials and website... it is extremely helpful and pleasant!
Thank you!
Reading what people have to say about Greece is wonderful. We would like to retire to Cyprus because it's a little hotter in the Winter than the other Greek Islands.
I would just like to say, what interesting stories in this forum. I have many happy a memory on the island of Rhodes, as my sis and niece or there! She married a Greek in 1990 and I would like to add she is fluent in Greek, and converses wonderully with her in-laws (who are lovely people) but she still has her Yorkshire roots. I did my first level of Greek in 1997, and got a distinction, but because of lack of using it on a daily basis, I am returning again to college in sept to brush up a little!! I hope to go over next year and work for a few months in Rhodes, I aim to live there in a few years, so I will keep all updated with the move.
In response to Elizabeth (2008-11-15) from Delaware who has had sucess using the Pimsleur method of learning Greek: I have also been using the Pimsleur method and have just completed Greek1. I found the course excellent. I would be interested in knowing how you got on with Greek 11 and 111. I find the courses very expensive to purchase and got mine from the library for £3.20 for a 3 month loan. Hopefully they will have the following courses available too.
Yassas. My husband and I fell in love with Greece 15 years ago and finally fulfilled our dream of buying a holiday home in the beautiful Peloponnese area last year. We still live in England but my Greek has definately improved by listening and repeating sentences and words either via CD or on line. I've also been complimented on my accent and am often mistaken for being Greek for that reason, so clearly listening and copying works! Main thing is to keep practising!
I have been learning Greek on and off for the past 5 years and have a pretty good grounding and can get by in conversations but no where near fluent despite my partner being Greek. We should make more effort to speak Greek at home but it rarely happens.
Children books are a little gentler on the mind when you also have a busy work and life schedule.
I do not live in Greece as I am only 15. however I have had many holidays in Greece and someday would love to live there. I am not learning the language yet but I am finding websites which I could maybe teach myself as I have much interest in Greece. I am finding the BBC very helpful as not only is it audio it also gives you the way it should sound which I am finding very useful. Thankyou.
Hello John. I have an interest on etymology and iIve created a blog entitled "English words of no Apparent Greek Origin" [http://ewonago.wordpress.com/]. There you can find the etymology of words like parliament, sincere, vow, library, mortality, stop, script, etc. All of them have a Greek etymon, a Greek root. In each post, you can also find modern Greek words related to the etymon, so you can learn them easily. Send me your comments. Best regards. John
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I've been to Greece/Corfu 8 times and this time I'm moving there, can't wait. I think it is the most amazing place there is to go abroad.
CORFU <3
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