Best products from r/greece

/u/CarlPeligro answering here because its the same topic.

So I've been learning Greek for about 5 months now, so just slightly ahead of the curve on you guys. Hope you can benefit from some of what I have learned and the tools I have found.

By far I think the biggest jump for an English speaker is the inflection system. Most of us have experience with gendered languages via exposure to French, or Spanish, or something, so that isn't that big of a leap. But Accusative and Genitive case are a lot harder to get your head around. It took me 2 weeks or 3 weeks of playing with it for it to really "click". It may feel like a really tough hurdle, but it doesn't take that long to push through.

While it is possible to make rapid progress in Greek (or any language) I would put "watching tv/movies" and most useful reading 3 months to a year away as a goal. Certainly some will be faster or some will be slower, but expecting that at the start is just going to lead to frustration. That being said, you of course can and should start working through a book "reading" (really translating) it word by word which is excellent practice, but it ins't really "reading" imo, until you are getting through at least most of a sentence or multiple sentences at a time without getting stuck. I'm just starting to be able to read some newspaper articles or YA fiction (harry potter) and only having to look up say 1/10 or 1/5 words (depending on the article in question, and how much unusual vocabulary it uses)

Absolutely I my #1 recommendation is everyone learning Greek use LanguageTransfer (http://www.languagetransfer.org/complete-greek), which is free, to build a foundation in the grammar. I would recommend getting significant progress through this course prior to starting any intensive vocabulary practice, just because so much of the vocabulary has grammatical complexity due to the inflection system in Greek. If you memorize δρόμος as road don't understand what δρόμο, δρόμου, δρόμοι, δρόμων etc mean or why you would use them, then you will in effect have to memorize and learn that word a second time later. By far, having a full understanding of the basic grammar is a multiplier for every other activity you do in the language.

A very similar course to LT is the Michele Tomas course, which is commercial. Its fairly expensive, but can be found at some libraries, or... elsewhere online. Its slightly more "polished" than LT, since it is commercial, but I think overall LT teaches more grammar with more depth (and free!).

For building vocabulary, I strongly point to Clozemaster and Memrise. Clozemaster has the advantage of showing words in context, and in multiple conjugations. The downside is that many of the examples are idiomatic, and the "translation" often has very little to do with the Greek vocabulary/grammar that it matches against. While that's great for learning idiomatic language, it isn't actually that good of a tool for learning vocabulary.

Memrise is great, I build custom lessons from readings I am doing, or whatnot, which really helps cement those words. But what I really recommend is that "2000 words" lessons which are sorted by word frequency. I really wish I had started this earlier. Its very noticeable to me my increase in fluency from the last month or so of using this course, since the words are in frequency order, they pop up so often. http://www.memrise.com/course/426582/top-2000-words-in-modern-greek/ The first few lessons are all "and/the/or" etc, but from 50-100-200 on, they are great "meat" words that seriously show up constantly.

Duolingo my experience has been meh with so far. It has way too many "not useful" words early in the course, and the grammar is much more easily learned via LanguageTransfer in my opinion. But it is a good practice tool.

Install the google translate plugin in chrome (and for android). It makes doing a quick one word lookup much faster when trying to read something. But be careful, its easy to become too reliant on it and look up words that you should be able to remember or figure out.

Some helpful tools/sites

• http://cooljugator.com/gr - Greek conjugations of most verbs
  
• http://www.wordreference.com/gren/ great G->E dictionary
  
• http://www.lexilogos.com/english/greek_dictionary.htm - multi dictionary lookup (including the prior dictionary)
  
• https://forvo.com/languages/el/ Greek pronunciation isn't too hard, but sometimes its helpful to hear a native speak a given word. Google Translates robo-pronunciation is also fairly accurate though.
  
  
• http://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/tools/lexica/triantafyllides/ A very good Greek->Greek dictionary, including etymology. Right now, probably a last resort due to difficulty of reading the dictionary itself, but when nowhere else has the info, here is a great start.
  
  For those who do like reference materials, I highly recommend Routledge's Essential & Comprehensive Grammars (2 different books, one a subset of the other) They are available from Amazon, and other place online as well. Very extensive, but also very accessible to a layperson. https://www.amazon.com/Greek-Essential-Language-Routledge-Grammars/dp/0415232104
  
  Also in that vein, the Routledge Reader is a great place to start reading. The readings are mostly of Greek fairy tales, and are given in order of increasing difficulty. Unusual vocabulary is footnoted, and questions for review etc are included for those that like "workbooks". Also available from Amazon, or.... other places. https://www.amazon.com/Routledge-Modern-Greek-Reader-Folktales-ebook/dp/B00WZID868/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484249630&sr=1-1&keywords=routledge+greek+reader
  
  When you do get to reading more advanced texts, the "Two language book reader" app on android is great. Upload an ebook in Greek and English, and it will alternate sentences for you. Also includes an in-built dictionary lookup (although it is limited, and is often hampered by Greek's extensive use of hyphenation to justify text) Makes it super fast to struggle through a sentence in Greek, then read the "real" English to see if you got it right. I'm working through Harry Potter this way.
  
  
  A few other sites :
  
  
• lang-8 - write essays or journal entries and get corrections from native speakers.
  
• HelloTalk - phone only, but lots of Greeks looking to practice English, that you can trade help with.
  
  
  
  

I know about Korinthos, that is why it is separated with a comma. My uncle lives in Korinthos. Our paternal village is in Achaia and that is where my father and grandmother live. I figure I can adapt on the ground, my dad who lives in Greece used to be a professional short order cook for years and I will be staying and traveling with him most the time.

I don't feel the need to invent some elaborate lie or backstory, other than the actual truth. I don't believe in what I call consumer choice doctrine, that everyone has a right to live a destructive lifestyle, just because they are hidden by comparative economic privilege. I am an actual vegan and know lots of people who are raised Greek or born there and they seem more supportive than the American mainstream. My mom is non-vegan, so is my grandmother, but they go out their way to make vegan food for me, even making laborious extra batches of spanakopita(I don't really know a food item more time consuming and painful to make than that). My dad who is also very chauvinist to a large extent, while chiding my mother for making me vegan(which is funny because she is not a vegan) took the time to cook vegan meals for me also, last he visited us. From what I understand most American vegans don't get that kind of support from their families. Also Greeks until the last few decades didn't have the resources to eat an animal centered diet complimented with more highly refined plant foods, which is less true for Americans, who have been eating more animal centered diets for much longer. Plus the Greek Orthodox Church has many fast days where you are not supposed to consume animal products. Our local priest who is not vegan pointed out to me, that you are supposed to fast on more days than you are nominally allowed to eat meat. So I don't know why I would have to tip-toe around Greeks from Greece about veganism and act like I am some agent from the CIA, holding top secret information that will offend Greek sensibilities without an elaborate and plausible cover story.

Also I am not vegan out of ideology per se, infact I would say the opposite, that eating meat is an a hidden ideology called carnism, and that I am being anti-ideological. Interestingly growing up in Nassau County the nearest suburb to the Queens borough of NYC as a child, the first time I encountered farm animals was in my paternal village as a pre-schooler at about age four or five. I used to hug the chickens, pet them, play with them. I would also play with the goats, dodge the rams, etc. I considered them friends, but I still ate meat back then, because that is what my parents raised me to do. Infact I played so much with them, my moms tell me I got chicken lice and had to have my head shaved along with my brother. I still have a picture of me hugging a chicken from that visit, but linux doesn't support my scanner. As an adult I watched the speech entitled, Η Πιο Συγκλονιστική Ομιλία Που Θα Ακούσετε Ποτέ(Greek subtitles) and he made a passing comment that everyone is born vegan but raised differently at some point. And reflecting on my past that is very true. Another thing I remember is my grandfather frequently pretended like he caught a rabbit, putting it in a cage for us to play with for a few short hours and days and then him lying and saying it go lost. I assume I ate those rabbits that I considered as friends and pets, because my family lied to me. If people were honest to kids, unlike my family and most other carnists, I don't think many children would be ok with eating meat, since kids are usually much more ethical and don't accept nonsense like, "that is the way it is and always has been." Kids are more questioning of social rules, but the world of adults lies to them.

So to answer your question, for a long time I sort of admired vegetarians, but assumed I couldn't be one because like many young Greek males, my mom cooked almost everything for me, and out of sheer logistics and laziness I couldn't change. One day I decided to read a seminal American novel titled "The Jungle" that exposed the American meat packing and slaughter industry of the early 20th Century that first allowed the economy of scale, distribution and low-cost to make the contemporary eating habits of consuming an animal product for every meal, everyday a possibility for a large portion of the population. I never read the novel, because the Critical Edition had in the back many articles about the past and current slaughter industries. which I read instead and that is the moment I decided I had to go vegetarian. After a few months of that, I listened to a radio program that extolled the health benefits of a vegan diet, and decided to go vegan. My last bloodwork in December 2013, I had a total cholesterol of 136 which means I have almost no chance of having a heart-attack or heart disease.

Great! I remember having the conversation with you about the spices! Glad you made it.

Looks delicious, would eat 7/7 :)

Constructive criticism:

• you have used what appears to be Penne pasta? (or something similar). We use really thick spaggheti. In Greece they are called "size #2" and are like a really really thick pasta (imagine the diameter between 'normal' pasta and what you used). You can buy them here: http://www.amazon.com/Misko-2-Pastichio-Pasta-500g/dp/B0038O9D1W?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0 although it's too expensive. If you are in any area that has a greek store they will have them. EDIT: I think these Bucatini from Barilla are available in the US and should be normal pasta price: https://www.barilla.com/en-us/products/pasta/collezione/bucatini
  
• I would only use 1 layer of pasta.
  
  As for how much to warm up to serve, I like it when the sauce/meat is warm and the pasta is still a little bit on the room temperature side.
  
  Serve with a side of Feta cheese!
  
  

Dash cams are not illegal, do you want to buy a recorder?

If you don't mind, I recommend to you a rearview mirror dash cam https://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Dash-Cam-Backup-Camera/dp/B07CBVR8R8, the important thing is that it includes SD card, Save money! Even better, there are 30% discounts now. code: QZSII6BU. Last week, I used this code to buy 2 mirror dash cam for me and my husband, and I found this code to be used multiple times.

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I found a copy of 'Greece: from Mycenae to the Parthenon' by Henri Stierlin in a charity shop and have just discovered this dedication on the first page. I think the last sentence means something like 'with many kisses' but I'm not sure about the rest.

Thanks in advance.

Some online resources: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/mlc/olc/online/greek.aspx

Try this one for a taster: http://www.xanthi.ilsp.gr/filog/

Pimsleur has the best audio courses, but they are expensive and do not really help in understanding the structure of the language (formal vs informal speech, different verb categories, declensions, proper syntax, and all that jazz). If you are serious about learning a foreign language, you have to follow the traditional route.

There are several official and semi-official free e-books, but as they are used in primary education for the children of immigrants, they are not suitable for you.

Buy this set instead, which is in the list of the recommended coursebooks of the Modern Greek Language Teaching Centre of the University of Athens: Communicate in Greek for Beginners

The cheapest price I could find is £20 through an Amazon seller.

Άσχετο, αλλά θα συνέστηνα ανεπιφύλακτα αυτό το βιβλίο. Είναι πραγματικά fun και easy read - πάντα το διάβαζα στην τουαλέτα πριν την διάδοση των κινητών.

Άλλα δυστυχώς, δεν περιέχει την Σταθερά ΚΚΕ.

• Games People Play: The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis
  
  
• Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 3rd edition

If you want to find out the real connection about modern Greeks and Greece in general to the Ancient Greece all you have to do is buy ''Gemma''. It's a book written by a PHD Philosopher Dimitris Liantinis and it explains in depth how and why we got here today as a country. It also goes in depth of analyzing other famous philosophers and poets who had a connection with Ancient Greece such as Nietzsche,Dante or even deconstructing Homer's Odyssey and why it's the best epic poem perhaps ever written.

Το πιο δημοφιλή self help βιβλίο είναι αυτό

Βέβαια self help θα μου πεις δεν είναι και πολύ προσδιορισμένος όρος. Τον εαυτό σου θα τον βοηθήσεις διαβάζοντας γενικά. Αλλά άμα δεν κάτι έτσι που να σε βάλει σε σκέψεις και να γαλουχήσεις τον χαρακτήρα σου όπως νομίζεις δες και αυτά

The Way to Wealth

[Self-Help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Help_(book) (Βάλε μια δεξιά παρένθεση ) στο τέλος του link όταν ανοίξει αλλιώς δεν ανοίγει )

Trump: How to get Rich (Seriously no joke διάβασε το)

Μείνε κοντά σε πιο πρακτικά πράγματα γενικά και απέφυγε παπαροφιλολογίες.

In Epiros, Ioannina is the largest city but very historical, as it has a lot of Ottoman influence. During Ottoman occupation, Ali Pasha (the regional ruler) was headquartered in the city and I believe you can also visit his castle. Just outside the city, you can visit the oldest remaining oracle in Greece, the Oracle at Dodona.

Further west in Epiros, up in the mountains, you can visit Lia, which is the setting of the events in the book Eleni (full disclosure just about everyone in the book is a relative of mine). There is a small hotel there that opened thanks to the publicity from the book. From there you can head to Igoumenitsa on the coast and ferry to Corfu.

> το εχω δει εκεί, αλλά δεν θα έχει 500 χιλιάρικα shipping?

Πήγαινε μέχρι checkout να δεις πόσα μεταφορικά σου λέει. Το βλέπω εδώ και είναι σε Prime που έχω, οπότε μπορώ να το πάρω για σένα και να στο στείλω με απλό ταχυδρομείο αν θες και είναι πολύ ακριβά τα μεταφορικά του Amazon. Δε θυμάμαι ακριβώς πόσο είναι τα μεταφορικά με Royal Mail, κάπου £4-5. Στείλε μου αν θες :)

Θεωρω πως το rubber dug debugging δεν ειναι κυριολεκτικο. Δηλαδη, απλα μπορεις να εξεταζεις τον κωδικα χωρις να μιλας κυριολεκτικα σε ενα πλαστικο παπακι. Η ιδεα ειναι οτι οταν περιγραφεις κατι σε καποιον, παραλειπεις λιγοτερες λεπτομερειες. Μπορεις απλα να περιγραφεις το προγραμμα σου σε ενα φανταστικο φιλο. Ετσι και αλλιως ολοι οι προγραμματιστες εχουμε τουλαχιστον ενα φανταστικο φιλο.Εψαξα για ελληνικο site αλλα δεν βρηκα τιποτα. Το ebay εχει καποια, αλλα ειναι ακριβα (20 euro και ανω). Νομιζω η καλυτερη επιλογη σου ειναι το Βρετανικο Amazon. Βρηκα αυτο. Λεει 8 λιρες, και free shipping. Τσεκαρε το.Αν τελικα αγορασεις απο αμαζον, προσεχε να ειναι απο Βρετανια για να μην πληρωσεις τελωνειο. Γενικα, απ' οπου και αν αγορασεις τελικα προσεχε να ειναι απο την Ευρωπη.

This is the product Im looking to buy. Not really sure where Amazon shipments come from but I'm sure they also send from their EU sites.

Try the german amazon or uk amazon. Also german mindfactory has it cheaper than 318.

Handling & Shipping at mindfactory is 30 euros, amazon may be cheaper.

IMO getting pc parts from germany/uk/every other european country is only beneficial if you buy alot of components e.g. cpu, gpu, ram, motherboard, psu etc. The price difference can be around 10~40 euros on every product, making the 30 euro shipping meaningless

For short, go either with the german amazon, the uk amazon, mindfactory and check geizhals for cheapest price. Geizhals is kinda like skroutz but for germany/austria