A Xeno's View of Greece and Greeks Part 3 - What? You No Speak-a the Greek?

This week we address the Greek language. Being the root of much of what we say today, you'd figure maybe you'd understand a bit of Greek if you heard it. Sorry - you're wrong. When first encountered it is not a beautiful language to listen to by any means. It sounds nothing like any other language you are likely to have heard, and very few words are discernable at all as the Greeks speak so fast that even my wife can't understand them sometimes, and she is fluent.

My first exposure to the language was, of course, the curse words, which I still use (and quite well, I might add) to this day. There's something inherently funny about telling people who don't speak your language to say all your dirty words. Not sure why, but I've done it myself with non-English speakers and it's a good time (this was in 3rd grade, people, not like it was yesterday).

After the bad words, I went on to learn the letters and the numbers, and a few words here and there. On my first trip to Greece, my wife's Theo Niko (Uncle Nick for you xenoi) gave me, as a parting gift, a book and CD set to help me learn Greek. He told me "When you come back, you will know how to speak Greek!" Needless to say, 6 years later upon our return to Greece, I was nowhere near fluent, but I do understand and speak much more than I did in 2001 during my first visit. I used the book and CD, I watched Greek TV, listened to Greek music, asked my wife a million times "How do you say…?", even read the old kindergarten-level primer Theo Niko also gave me. It's just damn hard! I found at my age, it's very difficult to do any meaningful learning of this language without being completely immersed in it. I can read Greek pretty well – I just don't know what all the words mean. I can speak Greek at a very basic level, which is great for talking to our kids, to whom I speak Greek as often as my Greek wife, if not more often.  I'm the one talking in Greek to them while she tells them things in English. Go figure. If my kids ever speak Greek to you and you wonder why it's a little off, it's because they were taught by a xeno.

The language barrier has never been too big an issue in our marriage, as my wife is almost always around to translate whenever necessary. But the fact that the little Greek I do know I speak very well (I've been told I barely have an accent) has gotten me into situations where I have no idea what is going on. When we visit Greece, I try to speak Greek as much as possible, and only speak English once I know the person is comfortable speaking it to me. When we go shopping I will greet the shop owners in Greek and, because I sound so good, they think I'm fluent, so they start rambling all kinds of Greek gibberish and I don't have a clue. Fortunately, I know how to tell them in Greek that I don't understand. "Den katalaveno!", I say quickly. "Milate Agglika?" "Do you speak English?" And they almost always do.

I am so envious of people who are bi-lingual. I'm pissed off that they stopped offering Greek as a foreign language in high schools (and even at my university). If my wife had been Hispanic, as I first thought, at least I would have had 4 years of Spanish classes as a foundation. I wish I knew what it was like to hear another language and not have it sound foreign to me, but instead to have it be just another way of communicating. I listen to bi-lingual Greeks talk and they go in and out between Greek and English all the time. I don't think they even know they're doing it.

I won't give up trying to learn Greek, and I feel like I'm always getting better. I will be sure to speak as much of it as possible to my kids and to learn along with them. I'm not too proud to use a Level 1 primer with cartoon pictures - whatever works!

When we visit with my wife's family here and they speak Greek to me, I feel more at ease, and I can usually provide at least elementary answers or replies. On visits to Greece I feel more comfortable getting around and speaking to people. The worst part is that after spending a month there, when I really start to pick up the rhythm of spoken Greek, and am feeling great about trying to speak it - it's time to come home. I guess the only solution is to pack up and move there. Talk about expensive language lessons….

Σας ευχαριστώ για την επίσκεψη (Thank you for visiting)

Todd

Next Month, Part 4: Ελλάδα Μου (My Greece)