translate from spanish to english: It's all Greek to Me!

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Roughly a year and ahalf ago, Dagy decided to take a few Greek lessons, with no goal in mind exceptwanting to be able to order her Greek coffee in Greek when in Greece (a country she adores and likes to visit). Also, an EUinterpreter friend had recommended looking into a new language before takingthe accreditation test for freelance conference interpreters, as this might impress the jury (it sure did!). Read on to learn about Dagy's Greek learning adventure.

Î‘Î»ÎµÎ¾Î¬Î½Î´Ï�Î± and Î�Ï„Î¬Î³ÎºÎ¹ inclass.

Initially, I had no intention of going beyond the very basics. I struggledto learn the alphabet and threw a fit or two until I finally got those lowercase, upper case and handwritten letters straight. At some point, my ambitionkicked in and on New Year’s Eve, I decided on a very ambitious long-termproject: reaching a level of Greek that would allow me to interpret from Greekinto German at the European Union by early 2017. That’s four years down theroad. It might sound like a daunting task, but it’s certainly doable. “Adding”new languages is the new normal for interpreters, both freelance and staff, atthe institutions of the European Union, where I am a freelance conference interpreter. After all, relay interpreting can be frustrating. It's a process that's frequently used in conference interpreting sessions for languages of lesser diffusion, say, if there's no Greek->German interpreter available, speeches are interpreted into English and then into German, resulting in a delay for all parties. And since all of ushave learned languages in the past, why not add another? I know a lot ofinterpreters who have added languages and it takes them about fouryears on average. This project will certainly require a high level of self-discipline anddedication, both of which I have in abundance (probably because I was a serious athlete in my previous life). Even though I have a lotof other things on my plate (running our business, translating, interpreting, serving as theSecretary General of my professional association UNIVERSITAS Austria, workingout, reading books etc.), I think I can do it.
Now, how am I doingit? For the time being, I am still a slightly advanced beginner. I've taken twosummer courses and one full semester course, all of them at beginner level, since noothers were offered. While it’s a small group, not everybody is learning at the same pace and I felt I needed to take it to the next level if I was to getpast Î Î¿Ï� Î¼ÎÎ½ÎµÎ¹Ï‚; (where do you live?)and Î¤Î¹ ÎºÎ¬Î½ÎµÎ¹Ï‚; (how are you?) soon.So I asked the excellent teacher, Athens-born Alexandra (Î‘Î»ÎµÎ¾Î¬Î½Î´Ï�Î± in Greek), to give me private lessons. Together, we will focus on whatinterpreters need most: understanding complex speeches. That will involve a lotof listening comprehension exercises, numbers and tons of vocabulary, after weget past the grammar basics, that is. In addition, I listen to Greek talk radioevery day as well as to EU plenary sessions and committee meetings to hearhigh-level Greek. Unlike just six months ago, I do understand a few words hereand there. The great part about starting out with a new language is thefantastic progress you see at the beginning. I’m also looking into taking anintensive course at a language school in Athens that comes highly recommendedby a fellow EU interpreter who learned her Greek there. I also purchased a few comic booksin Athens last September and hope to be able to read them soon. I sometimesventure to Greek news sites to practice my reading skills (albeit withoutunderstanding).
Wish me luck! Mysignificant other, Tommy, said that he’s we willing to buy a small summer houseon a Greek island if I pass the EU accreditation exam for Greek in 2017. We are so on!

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