Greek as a Foreign Language
Posted by Joe Hallwood - 18:28 on 08 January 2009
I remember flying to Greece for my first TEFL job, sitting on the plane trying to get my mouth round 2 simple words; parakalo and efharisto. It must have looked a tad strange, this chap reading a small book and making odd gutteral sounds and suggestive mouth movements.
It wasn't long before I was growing in confidence with the Greek language. I had the philosophy that speaking Greek was as much about using gesture as it was about the correct vocabulary and pronunciation. So, in a matter of weeks I found that I could talk philosophy and politics in the local tavernas my Greek was that good. Well, I took the slience of my Greek friends as agreement to what I was saying in Greek rather than anything else.
Tavernas are a big part of life in the mountain town of Tripolis, especially during the cold winter nights. They are like pubs in the UK, except that you get to sit and eat vast amounts of nice food over a prolonged period. Well, one such night after going straight from school to meet others at the taverna (this was about 9.30 in the evening), we had had the usual delectable intestine stew washed down by heavily resinated wine and I left since it was a school night (what a good boy). Half way home, I realised I had left my tie (it was the only one I had) so back to the taverna where my friends were, asking urgently where my tie was "Pou einai krevati mou", I kept asking. Again the silence and blank look, which meant they understood. So, no one had seen my krevati. The waiter , who spoke reasonable English, came over and asked me what I was looking for. "Krevati mou" I explained. "OK", he says "I understand. But we no have your bed here, only this" He held up my tie. "This is your kravata, yes?" I was now bright red, my friends were laughing, and I understood that the blank silent look didn't mean quite what I thought it did.
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