Ya sas!

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pianofortississimo
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Ya sas!

Post by pianofortississimo »

Hello! I'm a student from the Philippines, studying European languages. Right now, I can speak French, Spanish, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese. I recently became engrossed (hmmmn... obsessed, more like :twisted: ) with Greek, which I started to study just this summer, as a way to kill time. I got my first text and audio from the Foreign Language Institute, although I feel that the functional aims of the lessons were not... suited to me (Lesson 1 was, Me sinxorite, pu ine i prezvia/ to proksenio/ o stathmos? :? ).

Wow, hope this site can be of some help to me, and you guys, too! It would be nice to make some new friends.

modus.irrealis
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Re: Ya sas!

Post by modus.irrealis »

Καλωσό?ισες!

I just wanted to say that since it seems that you're learning Modern Greek, and while there's a bunch of people here who can help out with that, the Greek forums here are mainly (or maybe only) for Ancient Greek, so I think it'd be okay to mention that if you haven't seen it yet, over at the WordReference Forums there's a Greek section with lots of helpful native speakers.

Gonzalo
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Post by Gonzalo »

Hi and welcome,

I've been also using FSI course for a while but it was frustrating sometimes because I felt that I was learning nothing. I moved then to Cyprus Greek course and I am finishing the beginner's level (101&102). It's really nice and encouraging.
http://www.kypros.org/LearnGreek/

Despite I am not registered (but I usually read such forums) like modus.irrealis says, Wordreference forums will be always helpful.

Regards,
Gonzalo

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Scribo
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Post by Scribo »

Υασ σας!

pianofortississimo
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Post by pianofortississimo »

@ Modus: So the Greek here is Katharevusa? Or something entirely different?

@ Gonzalo: Well, the FSI Greek course works quite fine for me, except for that little bump in the pragmatic-functional aims of the course (Heck, I wouldn't even have known how to say, "Me lene José" had I not been looking around for more Greek thingies on the net), which of course, is suited to those who aim to work for the FSI, but not for students like me. I'm pretty stuck right now in chapter 5 as I'm doing my thesis this year and I can no longer use the course to kill time (this time, it's time that's killing me :cry:).
Might I ask then, whether the course in http://www.kypros.org/LearnGreek/ is 1. free, 2. modern, 3. the major dialect and 4. fast enough? See, I catch on pretty quick, and frankly, that's another reason why I haven't been studying the FSI course as often as I should-- it drags. :?

Gonzalo
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Post by Gonzalo »

Hi,

Cyprus course is fast in the sense that it's presented by means of graduated dialogues and you shouldn't be worried enough about your vocabulary acquaintance. I did study FSI course up to chapter nine and I really got bored because I needed to came back a lot of times in order to review vocabulary.

I don't know what you refer to when you said modern but in what concerns to vocabulary you won't find "mp3 player", "computer" or "Windows Vista" :lol: because it was written in the 1960s, but it´s anyway useful. Modern in the sense of commodity? Well, with FSI course I needed of one or two hours per day to finish a lesson and a half one and with Cyprus course I spend a daily hour and I can go through three or four lessons with ease and focusing where I need it. I think that thirty minutes should be just enough to follow the course properly and finish a lesson or even two lessons in a day. I use to listen to them once and then one more time to try to write down what is said and after that I take a look at the notes and see if it´s right.

It presents the major dialect despite -as it was made a lot of years ago- sometimes an old-fashioned and artificial dialect is used -καθα?ευο?σα- but you are warned when it's employed.

Of course, it´s free and you´ll only need to create an account. Besides, there´s a forum in each chapter in order to ask whatever which troubles you. I am really satisfied with the results and I´ve ordered a Grammar and some reading stuff right now.
http://books.google.es/books?id=NlSLftj ... ry_s&cad=0
www.deltosbooks.com/


Regards,
Gonzalo

P.S.: I got tired when after a month I was only able to say sentences -quasi- learn´d by heart. Είναι κανένα καλό ξενοδοχείο εδώ κοντά; ?αί, είναι ένα μικ?ό α?ιστε?ά αλλά πολ? καλό. Κι υπά?χει επίσης ένα εστιατό?ιο στο ξενοδοχείο; Μἀλιστα, κι μήπως το α?νάκι είναι το πε?ίφημο φαγητό τους. Και η π?εσβεία και ο σταθμός είναι καλές. Isn't? :lol:

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Post by annis »

pianofortississimo wrote:@ Modus: So the Greek here is Katharevusa? Or something entirely different?
Ancient — Homer, Plato and that crowd. Modern Greek pops up from time to time.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

modus.irrealis
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Post by modus.irrealis »

pianofortississimo wrote:@ Modus: So the Greek here is Katharevusa? Or something entirely different?
Like annis said, Ancient Greek -- roughly speaking the varieties of the Greek language that were spoken before the fourth century AD (although many works written after that date are written in those varieties). Katharevousa, on the other hand, is (very very roughly speaking) Modern Greek grammar with Ancient Greek inflections, but that means it has some similarities with Ancient Greek (and I've found that knowing one helps you with the other).

Gonzalo
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Post by Gonzalo »

By the way. If anyone here is learning Modern Greek , I recommend deeply http://e-vivlia.blogspot.com/
It offers a great catalogue of free books.
Regards,
Gonzalo

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