Stories

How to learn Greek part 4: watching TV series

04/07/2018
how to learn greek with tv series

I have only recently discovered how Television can help me to learn Greek. I wish I had known this before!
I did think about cartoons and, as you may know, Candy Candy and Heidi have been my best friends for a while.

But I never thought about TV until I moved to Greece.
When I moved last year I stayed for ten days with my Aunt in Athens.
She is a lovely lady, she lives alone, so television is her great companion.
While living with there I got used to watch with her the news, entertainment programs but, above all, tv series.
I never owned a tv in my several houses, I prefer reading and good movies, so those of you who know me, you will be surprised after reading this post.
But when it comes to necessity you have to be very honest and you know you can’t learn Greek thanks to Lanthimos’ movies. I tried that, no great results though…
In one movie they start saying few words after 40 min.
In another one they play a game with words which is really confusing…
Enough!

So, I started watching TV series with my aunt.
It’s unbelievable how much you can learn and how fast just watching a tv series for some time.
Usually they are short commitments, 40/50 min.
They speak an everyday language.
They repeat hundreds times the same things.
You don’t have the perception that you are learning or studying, but you are actually!

I started with Brusko, a very popular TV series that unfortunately finished last summer. I got the chance to see it all thanks to their website 🙂
Now I am in between two, To Tatouaz, which is the new Brusko and Para Pente which is a TV series from the ’90.

People always smile when I say that I learnt Greek with Brusko, but that’s reality!
Since I am here, so more or less 14 months, my language skills improved very very fast. Obviously thanks to the fact that I live in the local community and I speak Greek all day. But believe me, watching this series can help you so much.

First you learn the everyday language. You learn when to say things that will make you sound very local, ‘’doppia’’, as they say here in Santorini. Especially if your favorite character from Para Pente is Zoumboulia, a very fun lady coming from a village of Northern Greece
You actually get to know also about the culture of the country!

I am not anymore in Athens with my aunt but I have to confess that I still watch episodes when I can.
Usually it’s for dinner time.
Currently Tatouaz keeps me company. I like the fact that it’s located half in Greece and half in London so I can see some frames of my ex city.
But I am biz puzzled about something.
There is a lot of sex. When I say a lot, I mean it. And actually pretty bold. Not a problem, it’s a beautiful and natural thing but I had to ask explanation to my aunt who is 70 something.
One day I called her and said: ‘Aunt, I started Tatouaz as you suggested, I guess I am going to learn a lot about the language and A LOT about something else, eh?’. She started laughing and she tried to spoil some episodes so I stopped the conversation 🙂
Body language vs Greek language 2-1

 

 

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