efcharisto

We are determined not to be the people who go to a new country and rely solely on the English of the people we meet, expecting that their foreign language classes are more effective than our own schools'. Apparently Greek is a fairly difficult language to learn, so we chose the Pimsleur program to ease us into rudimentary Greek. On Monday we drove to Kentucky from Pennsylvania, the perfect opportunity to listen to the 30-minute lessons which are essentially little more than mindless repetition. In fact, it was so mindless that I became almost hypnotized and lost all ability to think.

As the deep-voiced man told me--in English--to repeat the Greek phrases, I would dutifully rattle off the nonsensical sounds and pat myself on the back for sounding exactly like him. By the middle of lesson 3, we had come to the point where we could ask a single man or woman how he/she is doing, if he/she understands English or Greek, and if he/she is Greek or American. I'm not entirely sure what to do if the person doesn't understand Greek or why in the world I would be asking them if they're American, but I did have to learn to say "thank you," or "efcharisto." Again, the deep-voiced man said, in perfect English, "Now, say 'thank you.'" Without hesitation and with great enthusiasm, I said, "Thank you" in perfect English