Reading Basic Modern Greek for Americans (cardbox)

Comments

• # chelseacouture wrote on 02/03/2008, 01:16:

  wow, you spent all your time doing this? thanks! maybe i will learn it :)

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  • # The Winch replied on 02/03/2008, 23:26:

    Well, I was taking 4 language courses last semester, so I need all the learning help I can get and MindPicnic makes it much easier for me.

    For speaking though, I learn Greek best by going up into the mountains in Crete where no one speaks English (no one speaks English). But when you really want to learn a lot of words, not just survival communication, Mindpicnic is the best.

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    • # chelseacouture replied on 02/04/2008, 03:28:

      wow, you live in greece? or america? in your classes you learn by primsleur approach? does it work? i am merely learning russian,spanish, and german by online tutor and free websites :-( you of course are lucky!

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      • # The Winch replied on 02/04/2008, 12:46:

        I live in Germany. I had the opportunity to learn Japanese at Middlebury College's summer language program, which is arguably the best in the world. But here, I have to make do with mediocre classes at the local adult education school (in Germany they are called Volkshochschulen). Plus learning a foreign language from a teacher who mainly speaks in your own second language (German) is much harder. I wish they would take the Middlebury College approach and only speak the language they are teaching (except for when it is too hard to communicate a concept to some student).

        I do listen to Pimsleur for French, Japanese and Greek (my German is now better than what I can get from Pimsleur except for when I want to practice pronounciation).

        For Greek, I also bought this computer program from Greece called Filoglossia. I recommend it. You can order it on their website.

        I can imagine it's easy to find good Spanish courses (online, software or in person) in America. I saw one website. I saw one website with the intriguing approach of teaching you 138 key words in Spanish (ones that are so heavily used and/or can't be ignored in conversation because you can just point to the object rather than have to know it's name). I liked the idea of focusing on the most common words.

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        • # chelseacouture replied on 02/08/2008, 02:28:

          yah, i agreee. id like to learn common words rather than random things. i only study either from library books that i check out (not a very good selection, but it suffices) or on the internet. i found a website (www.livemocha.com) that teaches you languages such as german, english, spanish, french ,and indian. its pretty nice except i really dont like some of the things they teach. but its good for a FREE place to learn. im studying german through a book. i just checked it out its "conversational german" it looks good... i have a question for you. you know how you say like for example: "my name is chelsea" would be "mein name ist chelsea" but in the book it also says "Ich heiße chelsea" would that be correct too? or does everyone in german say mein name? yah, i listen to french through iTunes podcast...its pretty neat :) i would recomment but you have primsleur! wish i was in GE i would borrow it! i hope to travel to europe or maybe asia like russia? thats in asia. how old are you by the way?

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          • # The Winch replied on 02/08/2008, 02:52:

            Thanks for the tip about LiveMocha. In informal situations, you're most likely to hear
            Ich bin Chelsea.

            In formal or official situations you are more likely to hear
            Mein Name ist Chelsea

            I think (but I'm not positive) that
            Ich heiße Chelsea
            is sort of an all-purpose usage.

            I live in the part of Germany where Hochdeutsch is the normal version of German. In other parts, it's possible that the above guidelines I gave aren't the same.

            BTW, there's a funny expression here "Mein Name ist Hase" (sometimes continued with words from the original story "ich verneine alle Fragen, ich weiß von nichts".) I believe this was said to a policeman. Google it and you'll find out more.

            I'm not young enough to learn English as quickly as my toddler Kai will, and old enough to have a toddler ;-) I hope to have him speaking a little Greek too before he starts 1st grade. Kai has two cousins who live in Luxembourg (age 5 and 8) who are fluent in Luxembourgish and German and also speak some French so it's not all that unusual to see kids learning 2 or 3 languages. A Belgian friend of mine is fluent in 5 (4 of which he was fluent in by the time he finished high school).

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            • # chelseacouture replied on 02/08/2008, 06:13:

              so im guessing your like late 30s or idk. Yes, haha kai, is that japanese name? or greek ? i am not sure, the name is nice. I did not even know a language called Luxembourgish existed! wow, how little i know. when i am older (way older) and if i have kids i hope to teach them 5 languages too! ive been thinking about that. except maybe different from yours id pick spanish english korean german russian italian or arabic or some indian language xD because they are more commonly used in the USA, spanish and korean are used alot in CA, where i live. Ich bin Chelsea, really? wow. a studied a bit german a while back like maybe 15 or 16, ;] but now i am really into learning.i dont know why. sudden interest/ i am 18 so it wasnt that long ago. i have a russian tutor, he is also my age, but he is native Russian and speaks also greek japanese and he is learning english. in america, you cant get those languages from high school. they never offered it at mine :( across seas are lucky. Do you like the Russian language. i am making flashcards at the moment, learning the keyboard and just recognizing words like hi thank you and where? what how etc... i just like it because instead of like in english where you say: This is a ball its like "this is ball" something like that... no personal pronouns or something... i forget :p its weird though, i would never move to germany in my life, but i am learning the language. hmm. ironic

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