It's all Greek to me!

Γεια σας!

This post is not in any way a lesson in Greek - I'm a beginner myself! It's really about how we are managing to live on this island surrounded by the language without speaking it. Obviously it's everywhere, but then so is English as you will soon find out. 

The Greek alphabet is ANCIENT at almost 3000 years old!  It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet and further back still - the Egyptian hieroglyphs and eventually led to the formation of the latin alphabet.There are 24 letters to the Greek alphabet and funnily enough the English word 'alphabet' comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet - Alpha and Beta. 

I have to show you the alphabet though just to set the scene, so here it is......

Once you know the alphabet and how each letter or combination of letters sound, you can read Greek as it's a phonetic language. You may not understand it but you can read it! It's a good start though!

Greek alphabet

It's just taken me half an hour to write that list, alternating between Greek and English on my newly set up American/Greek keyboard which I actually bought last year when my Mac keyboard started acting up, changing the names of files etc all on its own. Yes a bit scary so I disconnected it, called Apple and they said they "Mmmmm - you live on a Greek island - that could be a problem getting to a service centre". They said they could send me a new keyboard out for an extortionate amount of money. I think not. So here I am with my new keyboard bought from a shop in the capital Argostoli that cost 10 Euros. It has English and Greek characters actually ON the keyboard so it has come in very useful for my Greek lessons. All I have to do to alternate between English and Greek when I'm typing is to tap the Caps Lock key and remember to tap it again of course to revert back, which I have often forgotten to do and ended up writing sentences of gobbledegook.

My new keyboard with Greek characters

Three and a half years living on this Greek island of Kefalonia and only now am I starting Greek lessons. Better late than never I suppose. I did buy the Rosetta Stone language software before we came to live here and although they use an immersion based learning technique to teach a language (in other words there is NO English in it at all), I eventually thought it would be easier to wait until I fully 'immersed' myself in the country before 'immersing' myself in the language!

I do have a bit of an advantage though - I did Russian to 'O' Level standard at school back in 1977. How is that ANY help I hear you ask? Well it's actually a big help. 

The Greek alphabet was a model for the Cyrillic alphabet and the Russian alphabet uses letters from the Cyrillic alphabet to write the Russian language so there is a link between the two. 

When we first arrived on the island, we noticed that most, but not all, of the road signs on the island were in both Greek and English. 

This is very helpful for those who don't read Greek but I actually enjoyed trying to read the Greek with the bit of Russian I have. It worked too. If we needed to find a place when travelling I could read the name of a village on a road sign.
In fact some of the traffic signs are in English only. I didn't really notice this for a few months as I was so used to seeing the signs in English back home but then it dawned on me - Why are they in English?

The sign for Sami (Notice the stop sign is in English and NOT Greek)

Greek/English signs

The top signpost gives directions for the village of Χαλιώτατα. 
It would be more appropriate, in my opinion, if the English word was written as 'Xaliotata' and not 'Chaliotata' (as the 'X' in Χαλιώτατα is pronounced like the Scottish 'ch' in 'loch'). That is the correct translation of the Greek word. We've noticed a few sign posts like this that when Greek words have been translated, the 'X' has been converted to a 'Ch' for some reason. Even on Google maps it's written as Chaliotata! Tut..tut..... Just observations.

While I was taking a photo of the above signpost, I noticed the one below - Ha ha! 

You'll notice that most Greek words have a 'stress' sign above a certain letter where you put the emphasis on the word. This is very important as some words are spelt the same but have different meanings when spoken, according to where the word is stressed. 

An example is:

ευλογία which means 'blessing'  (stress on the ί)

and

ευλογιά which means 'smallpox'  (stress on the ά)

Could be a bit embarrassing if you wanted to give someone your blessing and instead gave them smallpox! 

Another anomaly - the word 'Kefalonia' - until we started living here we would pronounce the word with the stress on the 'o' as in 'KefalOnia' (like many tourists still do) but in fact the Greek word for Kefalonia - Κεφαλλονιά has the stress on the ά at the end of the word. So it's actually KefaloniA.

Just so stressful! 😂

I have to admit though when we shopped at the supermarkets for the first time, it was daunting. All of the Greek food labels were overload on the eyes, and there wasn't the English on them to help, unlike the road signs. Now when we shop, I keep the receipt and once home I try to decipher each item on the list, using Google Translate to help. I enjoy doing it so that makes it easier. Now when I look at a receipt, I can pretty much decipher what we've bought. It takes a while but I get there in the end. There's something about being able to read another language and understand it. Hopefully in the not too distant future I'll be able to hold a conversation. Speaking it, and understanding someone speaking Greek, are two different things though. 
If you DON'T read Greek, you WILL be able to identify ONE item on the receipt below! See if you can spot it.

Supermarket receipt

I've found a number of words when you 'read' them are English words.  Examples from the above receipt are:

'ΜΠΑΝΑΝΕΣ' - which reads as 'Bananas', so like I said, if you can read Greek you can fathom out a number of Greek words.

'ΤΖΙΝΤΖΕΡ' - which reads as 'Ginger'. (A 'p' is pronounced as an 'r' in Greek)

Getting down to basics, the words Yes and No - now here's the problem I've had with these two words.

Yes in Greek is ναί (pronounced 'ne') which sounds negative - like no.

No in Greek is όχι (pronounced 'ocki') which sounds positive - like OK - yes.
In other words, the wrong way round. 

Even now, after three and a half years of living here, I have to think just that microsecond longer before I reply to a question.

I have also just recently found out that the question mark (?) in Greek is written as the English semi-colon (;). How did that come about? 

We live close to the very picturesque harbour village of Agia Effimia. In the summer, the harbour would be full of yachts, but now in December it's empty.

Agia Effimia (December 2019)

...and about two years ago during the autumn we noticed that a shop along the harbour front had a sale on. Even though we've been to the village many times before, I've never really noticed the name of the shop - 'Ola Kala'. In that split second as I looked at the sign, the letters OK stood out. The Greek words 'Ola Kala' translate as 'all is good' (ie Okay) Could it be that the English word 'Okay' derives from these Greek words? A bit of research later that day did show that it is one of the many possible origins.

Ola Kala on the harbour front. New trees planted as the Palm trees died.

Ola Kala (In Greek, it would be όλα καλά)

Text books - it was back to school in November

Greek language lacks a 'sh' sound, so my name (Sharon) presents a problem when I introduce myself. I used to get Saron (as in the gas but spelt differently!), so I now introduce myself as 'Sharon as in Stone'. That seems to do it - Ha ha!

So as I write this post I've had six Greek lessons. It was a group of six of us (all English) along with our teacher Alex. It's so much more fun in a group. We get to study each week in each others houses and have a cup of coffee and a laugh along the way. As I look around the table I can see the determination in people's faces, and you need that to learn Greek. It's hard. The lessons include speaking, reading and writing Greek, and all the grammar that goes with those. A friend who is learning is dyslexic. I can't imagine what that must be like when learning a new language, but she is fiercely determined that she will do it. I wouldn't say there's been blood, sweat and tears but very close!
Tanya organised a very relaxing Sunday lunch for the group on the south of the island at Lourdas. It was a beautiful warm sunny blue sky day. 

From the left - Tanya, her partner Mark, Bob and Wendy, my partner Mark and me, Alex, Liz and Ivan. (Denise is missing from the photo) Tanya's photo.

The group of six has now though been split up into two groups of three. On Sunday December 8th it was another gorgeous blue sky warm sunny day. We spent our lesson in the garden. Not only did we learn Greek from our teacher Alex, but some geography and history along the way. What I like is that we have a laugh in amongst the intense focus, and believe me you have to focus. It's a hard language to learn.

Focus!

  

From the left, clockwise - Alex (teacher), Tanya, Liz and myself

After the lesson, in the afternoon we took our usual dog walk along the sea front at Sami and Karavomylos.

December 8th - Sami, basking in the late afternoon sun.

Looking towards Ithaca

It's the olive picking season now. As you pass the olive groves in the car you can see people sitting in the fields on warm sunny days picking the olives off the branches which have been cut off the trees. Lots of olive wood too! I DO like these olive trees. It's a busy time for the olive presses, the olive oil being bottled as I blog. We have been very fortunate this year in that we have been given 4L of freshly pressed olive oil from friends and locals. No additives, no colouring, just the oil as it is, straight from the olive press. That will keep us going for about a year.

We've just started using this olive oil from our friends pressed olives

Now that's what you call Olive oil! Look at the colour!

Olive oil is supposed to be kept in dark glass bottles or stainless steel tins in a cool place as it degrades with heat, light and oxygen but we keep the clear glass bottle in the the cupboard, and not on the table, so that should be OK. 

It's not a good idea to store olive oil in plastic containers as the chemicals in the plastic can apparently leach out into the oil, so we've been bought a 5 Litre stainless steel olive oil container to store the remaining oil in. Always learning something. 

Olive oil - In Greek it's 'Ελαιόλαδο΄ You'll see it on the containers in the photos below and yes it's as hard to say as it looks!

Signpost for an Olive Mill

There are some lovely 10 Litre stainless steel olive oil containers which I've taken a liking to and I'm collecting used ones by various means (nothing illegal I hasten to add). 

A little true story here.....Just a few weeks ago when I first decided to collect these containers, I was sitting at the front of the house in the afternoon enjoying the warm sun with a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit contemplating olive oil containers (just setting the scene here) and thinking wouldn't it be great if I could find some on our travels. I know we could buy them at the local DIY shop but that's no fun when I could possibly get them for free, but where would be the best place to find them? Should I try the Olive Press? Should I look in some bins? 
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw a man walk along the track with what appeared to be an olive oil container in his hand! Just at that moment! Honestly. I watched him disappear along the lane out of sight and wondered if he was taking it to the bin. 

Just a note here....... 

Here on the island there aren't the individual ugly green, blue and brown waste bins that you find outside every house in the UK. There are large bins (normal waste and recyclable) situated at strategic points in or just outside the villages that you walk to, to deposit your rubbish.   

Continuing the story....... 

I waited excitedly. A few minutes later the man walked back WITHOUT the container. I was up off the chair, shouted at Mark inside the house that I was going to the bin and ran along the lane. Sure enough, one olive oil container later, I returned to find Mark waiting for me, shaking his head but laughing at the same time. Success!
On mentioning this to some friends, they went about collecting more containers from bins for me. Sometimes when we were out with Bobby on our dog walk, there would be a lovely surprise on the coffee table on the patio when we got back. Yay! Another container and a different design too.  

Not sure how many designs there are but so far I've collected seven. I'll use them as plant pots for our herbs - mint, sage, rosemary, thyme and basil as well as chilli peppers etc. Much better than brown plastic pots and very sturdy. They just need the tops taken off, holes cut in the bottom and pebbles for drainage. Enter Mark.

Seven different olive oil containers (December 12th)

Of the 7 designs in the photo above, see if you can decide which design has the more modern look and which one looks traditional. Most of the designs use green, gold and black obviously to reflect the colours of the olives and the oil itself but when you think of Greece the colour that springs to mind is definitely BLUE. Blue sky, blue sea, blue and white flag etc. 

Enter the Herb Garden.........'Herbidacious'

'Herbidacious' - herbs waiting to be repotted

Mark hard at work removing the tops of the containers

Two of the containers now potted up with herbs

I noticed while out in a cafe in the summer, that feta cheese tins were being used for herbs but I haven't managed to salvage any of those yet. Just a matter of time though.......

Feta cheese tins being used in a cafe garden

My Greek text books are calling; must go and do my homework......

Until my next post...........Αντίο σας!