Next Big Language - Apparently I'm Learning Greek Now

I have always had a habit of looking at languages and thinking that looks interesting.

Most of the time, this is harmless. Sometimes, it ends with me reading about Swahili grammar, Finnish cases or learning a new alphabet at 3am. So: I'm learning Greek.

This blog is going to track what happens next.

I'm a native English speaker and a life-long enthusiast for language learning. I already speak French, German, Italian and Spanish. I can have proper conversations, express fairly complicated ideas, argue a point, tell stories, understand humour and generallly function without feeling like I am constantly fighting the language.

That makes Greek quite a shock.

At the moment, my conversational range is roughly:

  • Γεια σου.
  • Με λένε Κρις.
  • Τι κάνεις;
  • Πολύ καλά, ευχαριστώ.

...a compelling dinner guest.

So Next Big Language is partly a language-learning diary and partly and experiment - what happens when a fairly experienced language learner goes back to absolute beginner level?

I'm not interested in pretending I'll be "fluent in 30 days" - I want to learn Greek properly and see how far I can realistically get over the next year while working full time and continuing to use the languages I already speak. I will be tracking my discoveries, mistakes, useful resources and hopefully some actually progress!

Πάμε. 


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