Six months in, and I figure I have maybe 150 study hours under my belt, though that's a guess. I feel like it's been a lot, and I wonder why I feel like I'm stuck at the early beginner's stage. Then I look at the data from FSI, which estimates that you need over 350 hours of class study just to reach "elementary proficiency" in Greek. And I realize I am doing alright, but still have a long way to go.
Greek.JPG
The combination of Language Transfer, Assimil, and Pimsleur seems to be working. I won't be able to do a proper self-evaluation until I actually get to Greece in mid-September. I'm currently on my second run-through of LT, and it helps me identify the patterns I see in Assimil. I'll start the second level of Pimsleur next week, and anticipate that that will help push me to the level of "talented tourist." I use Memrise as a back up; it doesn't feel like a solid learning tool to me, but it helps on those nights where I don't have the energy to hit the main courses & just want to do something, or when I have extra energy to do just a little bit more.
I can't imagine that I will be reading
The Little Prince or
Harry Potter by the end of the summer. Both look too daunting. The final sections of Assimil are at a B2 level, and it takes me many attempts, and many evenings, just to understand a twelve-line dialogue.
Assimil's
Le Grec is a solid course, but it doesn't have the humor or silly jokes that you find in the Romance Language courses, and it doesn't have the interesting content you have in their Ancient Greek or Latin courses. The story line revolves around a group of friends voyaging to a small village. It's fine for what it is, but I wish it were more engaging.
In my mind I divide my languages up into first-tier languages (I can read books, or listen to podcasts, and incorporate them into my daily life; the Romance languages fall here), second-tier languages (I learned them to a basic level, but would need to study hard to speak them again; Turkish, Arabic, and Indonesian fall here), and third-tier languages (I've flirted with them in the past, but never progressed far & just remember basic ideas about their structure; German and Japanese fall here). It would be nice to bring Greek up to the first level, but I don't know if that's realistic.
Or rather, it's realistic, but I don't know if I would be able to keep up the intensity needed for another year or two. We will see.
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