Spoon's 2018 attempt at success [ ES | IT | EO | DE? ] + Greek FLC

[Elenia]

Hope it went well Spoon!

[Spoonary]

Thanks everyone. I'm now feeling as though maybe I built up a bit too much suspense about this thing I did, and I'm worried that when I tell you what it was, at least some of you will be disappointed. Saying that, I can't wait any longer so I'm going to reveal all now.

The truth is, I have applied for a new job. Now, I am very happy and comfortable in my current job and actually deciding whether to apply for this new one was a very difficult decision (I'm still not sure what I want to do really). If I could do both jobs, I would be delighted, as I don't want to leave my current workplace and the amazing people that work there, but this opportunity just fell in front of me and I had to take it.

As you've all probably guessed by what I said in my last post, this new position involves using Spanish every working day of my life, which is literally the only reason I am even considering it. The job is very similar to the customer service job I'm excelling at at the moment in English (even if I do say so myself ) albeit more focussed on the accounts/arrears side of things than the customer service.

Now, before we all get too excited (if, indeed, anyone is still interested at this point), I don't have the job yet. All the Spanish cramming* I did over the weekend was to prepare for a telephone interview I had yesterday (which still has to remain a secret from my current employer for several reasons, hence my reluctance to write anything about it the other day). The lovely Spanish lady I would be working alongside if I got the job called me to discuss my experience and skills and to test my level of Spanish. Although I had prepared well, the beginning of the call was painfully rough, due to nerves and the fact that I am out of the habit of speaking Spanish regularly (and have been for several years). However, I soon got into the swing of things and we ended up having a really nice conversation actually. No doubt there will be a second stage interview, if they feel my level of Spanish is good enough, so I'm not counting my chickens just yet, but I'm hopeful.

*By Spanish cramming, I mean watching a lot of YouTube, listening exclusively to Spanish music and podcasts, watching several episodes of Ingobernable, working out how to talk through my CV in Spanish and talking to myself to practise.

[Spoonary]

No, I haven't heard anything about that job interview yet, and I haven't done much with my target languages recently. However, I have jumped on the bandwagon and taken on iguanamon's Free and Legal Challenge, to reach an A2 level in a new language in 9 months, using only free and legal resources.

The language I have chosen is modern Greek!

I don't really have a reason for learning Greek, other than because I want to. Well, I like the way it looks, I guess

I wanted to write a big, long post about all the resources I would be using, but I haven't actually found that many yet, and besides, I have too much of a headache after work this evening to spend longer than necessary staring at a computer screen.

Saying that, I did have a few things bookmarked already so I spent the last couple of hours looking through those and going over the Greek alphabet, trying to pronounce some words. Becoming familiar with the alphabet is my first step, and I plan to spend the rest of this week and maybe even the beginning of next week on that. I have tried to learn the Greek alphabet before so I'm not starting completely from scratch but I'm still definitely a beginner.

I can see myself using Language Transfer and Duolingo in the near future to start putting some words and sentences together, but I'm also anxious to 'think outside the box' when choosing free resources, in line with Iguanamon's original ideas about this challenge.

Best of luck to everyone else taking on the challenge!

[Spoonary]

Ok, this weekend was supposed to be productive, but then alcohol and video games got in the way, so I haven't done anything with Greek since Thursday.

But anyway, let's get down to business.

My Pure Free and Legal Challenge started on Wednesday 21st February 2018 and will end 9 months later on Wednesday 21st November 2018, by which time I hope to have reached at least an A2 level in Modern Greek.

Firstly, I would like to define what I consider to be an A2 level, and as I have never really understood the Common European Framework all that well, I've been googling around to find out what constitutes A2 in a more practical sense than the usual, super general definitions. I have recently come to the conclusion that if I am going to achieve something, I need to know exactly what I'm aiming for, or there is no way I will ever get there, wherever 'there' may be. It's all well and good saying that someone at level A2 '[c]an describe in simple terms aspects of their background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.' (Wikipedia definition) but what does that even mean? What bits of Greek do I need to learn to be able to tick that box?

Then I came across Lexis, a Greek language school in Crete which offers Greek classes at all your favourite CEFR levels, as well as a few intermediary n3 levels used to allow for more specific tailoring to students' abilities/more classes for students to pay for . However, what I found most useful were the descriptions of what would be included in classes at each of the various levels offered, which gave me a better idea of which parts of the Greek language I would need to master in order to reach that A2 level/'A3' according to Lexis:

The Greek alphabet
Declension of verbs in present tense
Basic groups of nouns in the nominative and accusative cases
Place and time prepositions
Introducing myself and others/giving basic information about people
Describing basic activities and taking part in everyday conversations
Plural of basic noun and adjective groups in the nominative and accusative cases
Simple future tense and simple subjunctive of the active voice verbs of the first and second conjugation
Everyday situations (home, weather etc.)
Making simple comparisons
Simple past tense of the regular and irregular active voice verbs
Personal pronouns in the nominative, accusative and genitive cases
Simple imperative
1st conditional type
Passive voice verbs
Genitive case of nouns and adjectives
Conjunctions and basic linking of sentences

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, and some of the items included are still a bit general (what is an everyday conversation?), but it's definitely a place to start.

If anyone has any more information about what someone at A2 should know, I would be very grateful to hear/read it. I need all the help I can get here

[Finolia]

If anyone has any more information about what someone at A2 should know, I would be very grateful to hear/read it. I need all the help I can get here

I found this https://www.omilo.com/greek-language-courses/greek-language-levels/. It is also a description of courses you can register for but a bit more specific than what you found. ^^

I also looked this up when I was preparing for my Spanish A2 exam I couldn’t find the website I used then but it was Spanish specific anyway so... maybe the Greek link is a bit helpful

I wish you good luck!

[Spoonary]

Thank you, Finolia. The information on the website you shared is much more specific than what I found, and will allow me to break everything down into bitesized chunks. I will probably follow a course or three anyway so I'll cover many of those topics without having to find all the information from scratch myself. However, I would like to have a study plan laid out, to make sure I do a bit of everything, and to be able to tick off topics as I've studied them.

[Spoonary]

Oh, I'm doing so badly with my language learning that I don't really want to tell you all about it Seriously, I wish I was as organised as LunaMoonsilver!

Greek
I'll start with something positive - I pretty much have the Greek alphabet/writing system down. While at work the other day, I was able to recall and write down all 24 letters in their capital and lowercase forms, so that's something. I can also sound out words (which makes me feel like a child learning to read for the first time, but is pretty cool) and only really have a problem with η when it follows another vowel at the end of a word (It's not an n. It's not an n.). Also, letter combinations are a bit tricky to remember still, but they will come with practice.

I used various sites and YouTube videos to learn the Greek alphabet, but the one resource I feel was most useful was this wikibook. Here, the letters were introduced one by one for the most part, followed by sample words (mainly easily-recognisable proper nouns or words of Greek origin which have made their way into English) with which to practise each new letter.

My cousin actually worked through these lessons with me the other day as, although the only language learning exposure she has had before this were several years of Spanish at school, she is particularly interested in Greek as she holidays there often. Only time will tell how much studying with her affects the progress made.

After that positive, the big negative is that that's it. I haven't done any more language learning in the last 9 days. I should probably start reading Borges at some point actually, now that I have created a group reading thread and everything.

[Neurotip]

No, I haven't heard anything about that job interview yet, and I haven't done much with my target languages recently. However, I have jumped on the bandwagon and taken on iguanamon's Free and Legal Challenge, to reach an A2 level in a new language in 9 months, using only free and legal resources.

The language I have chosen is modern Greek!

I don't really have a reason for learning Greek, other than because I want to. Well, I like the way it looks, I guess

Hi Spoon! Very excited about your choice of language - Greek is definitely next on my language bucket list. You shouldn't feel you need to justify it it's just an intrinsically beautiful thing. (in my view...)

I will be following your log with interest! Good luck with the interview result btw.

[iguanamon]

...I pretty much have the Greek alphabet/writing system down. While at work the other day, I was able to recall and write down all 24 letters in their capital and lowercase forms, so that's something. I can also sound out words (which makes me feel like a child learning to read for the first time, but is pretty cool) and only really have a problem with η when it follows another vowel at the end of a word (It's not an n. It's not an n.). Also, letter combinations are a bit tricky to remember still, but they will come with practice.
I used various sites and YouTube videos to learn the Greek alphabet, but the one resource I feel was most useful was this wikibook. Here, the letters were introduced one by one for the most part, followed by sample words (mainly easily-recognisable proper nouns or words of Greek origin which have made their way into English) with which to practise each new letter.

Congratulations on learning the Greek alphabet... for free and legally! Well done! Your experience reminds me of how I learned to read Rashi in Ladino. I had a pdf of Rashi and Hebrew letters with examples from Spanish cognates when I learned to read Ladino in Rashi and Meruba (Hebrew Square) scripts. I did have an advantage over you because Ladino started to be written in Latin script about a hundred years ago. So, I already knew the language from Latin script and just had to learn how to read in Rashi, from right to left. Still, it was difficult for me. I struggled with it at first. It did indeed feel like learning how to read again as a child! I'm still amazed that I can read in Rashi so easily. As you learn more Greek and read more, you'll start to get annoyed at the transliteration.

I've also managed to learn how to read Russian Cyrillic via Twitter from following Serpent and Vadim. This helps me with Greek to some extent. Obviously, I don't speak Russian, but it is kind of neat to be able to read it and spot some proper names and what few cognates there are stand out like neon signs.

After that positive, the big negative is that that's it. I haven't done any more language learning in the last 9 days. I should probably start reading Borges at some point actually, now that I have created a group reading thread and everything.

Yeah, I know. I had good intentions about reading Ficciones but having just finished Pride and Prejudice (in Spanish and Portuguese), I kind of need a little time to wind down before I start a next book. It's funny how reading a good book makes me feel. The author has created a world for me to enter and become a part of it. For me, reading a good book is almost like making a good friend. I can get involved with the characters' feelings and lives so much that I miss them when I'm finished reading it. I'll see how I feel about it over the weekend. Keep up the good work, Spoon!

[LunaMoonsilver]

Oh, I'm doing so badly with my language learning that I don't really want to tell you all about it Seriously, I wish I was as organised as LunaMoonsilver!

I wish I was as organised as I apparently seem got a lot of catching up to do around the forum this week! But looks like you're making good progress with Greek--learning alphabets is always something I find painful (I just want it to be in my head already), so you're laying a good foundation.

Hope you hear about the interview soon! I'm in the same boat, basically spending all my time staring at my phone instead of studying