5 Ideas To Help You Refresh Your Greek Speaking Skills And Build Your Confidence

15 Jun

When Ana moved to Athens, she was excited. She couldn’t wait to meet new people, wander around the city, absorb every second of her new life there.

She was prepared to face the challenges: different language, culture, mentality. New habits, new rhythm and way of life.

Ana spoke some Greek already. She had met a few nice people she chatted with every day: “Καλημέρα, τι κάνετε;”

But within her first year in Greece, Ana realized - better: experienced - that daily speaking wasn’t a recipe; even if you follow all the steps from your course book, you won’t necessarily get it right.

5 ideas to refresh your Greek_alphabetagreek.png

Most of the times, it was difficult to catch up with fast pace, every day communication: at the grocery store, with her Greek friend on the phone or, the hardest of all, in a larger group of Greek speaking people.

She knew the grammar rules; but the rules kept slipping away. She knew the words; but the words kept not making sense if put together at a fast, natural speech speed.

Her friends switched to English. And, eventually, so did she.

Have you ever felt like Ana?

I sure did. When I spoke to my English speaking friends, I often found myself stumbling and mixing up words:

Words that look the same in the 2 languages, but have a completely different meaning
Words that sound alike
Tiny words, such as prepositions, that I couldn’t remember where to add them: before the verb, after the verb, between the two verbs?
Large words I didn’t remember how to pronounce

Some of my English speaking friends even spoke Greek, so switching to my language felt safe, but also disappointing: “Ugh, there goes my chance to practice”, I’d think.

Have you ever felt like that, too?

Here’s what I want you to know, when the words don’t come out easy:

You have every right to make mistakes, mispronounce words, mix up the meaning. Even if you know the grammar. Even if you understand what others say to you. Not just once, but a 100 times.

You have the right to feel overwhelmed, to get annoyed, to exclaim, even, that Greek is the hardest language (even if you don’t believe it).

You have the right to feel tired and make a pause from your learning. If you need it, do it. You’re not a language learning machine, you’re human.

But when your Greek heart calls you back again and you know that speaking Greek is still one of your priorities, then treat your speaking with care.

Here’s how to build your confidence again:

Create the circumstances to avoid another round of overwhelm about your speaking - at least for the next little while (because, well, life!).

And because I’m all for practical advice you can easily implement, here are 5 short and simple ideas:

Send a short voice message instead of typing one, to send a wish or just say hi to a friend or relative - for example on Messenger or Instagram. Prepare a bit if you want to, but aim for something short that doesn’t require lots of thinking or editing.
In case you’re into learning with music (it doesn’t work for everyone) learn the lyrics to your favourite Greek songs and sing along. Singing is not speaking, obviously, (as in expressing yourself freely), however the rhythm and the flowing language through music are both a first step and a confidence booster when you want to hear yourself speaking Greek again. Saying out loud the sounds of the language you love learning, will also bring you joy!
Chat with only one friend in person (online or offline) and ask them to chat in Greek only. The 1-1 interaction with someone you feel comfortable with is a safe space for shy or self-conscious learners who get quite disappointed by their mistakes, especially when they are in larger groups. If using Skype, Zoom, Messenger to chat, keep notes or ask your friend to type a few phrases or expressions they used. Then transfer them to your notebook to study later.
Make today a recording of yourself speaking, not more than 1-5 minutes. It’s simple. Just take out your phone, go to the Voice Memos/ Voice Recorder app, hit “record” and start with this question: “Γιατί σου αρέσουν τα ελληνικά; Why do you like Greek?” If you need a moment to think, feel free to take a couple of notes before recording. Not sure how this activity will help you? Need some more inspiration? Find out how voice recordings are an incredible confidence booster for your speaking, here.
Set aside 10-15 minutes of class time to talk with your teacher about a topic that interests you, in Greek only (or mostly!), outside the usual course book questions and role-play activities.
+1 idea: If you want to practice more speaking & expressing yourself freely, download the free mini-book here. It will help you express yourself with a favourite topic, and re-discover joy in your learning.

Speaking in another language is a lot of work - be proud of yourself!

Especially at the “in between” levels, where you know the basic grammar well enough but you still make mistakes, your self-confidence can be shaken.

When you’re past the basic vocabulary and you are longing for a chat in flawless Greek, it’s easy to become impatient, stressed out, and often disappointed and overwhelmed.

Remember though, that the learning journey has its ups and downs.

Sometimes you’ll celebrate and feel happy, other times you’ll stumble and feel disappointed.

But if you know you’re here to stay, start again, take action and use your recent experience to create resilience and perseverance.

Which idea are you going to try next for your speaking? Let me know in the comments!