# Making Cypriot friends



## lakelander (Mar 31, 2009)

I would be interested to know how many of you who live there have Cypriot friends. Also have any of you managed or tried to learn Greek?

I have lived in Ukraine for 2 1/2 years and although my Russian is far from good I know enough to manage most everyday things. However, although I have a few Ukrainian friends most of my friends are expats and it's something I'm very conscious of if I move again.

It's nice to have friends who are from the same cultural background and speak the same language but I would like to make more of an effort the next time to integrate with the locals. I'd love to know how successful or not some of you have been.

p.s I haven't read everything on the forum so apologies if this topic has been covered before.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

lakelander said:


> I would be interested to know how many of you who live there have Cypriot friends. Also have any of you managed or tried to learn Greek?
> 
> I have lived in Ukraine for 2 1/2 years and although my Russian is far from good I know enough to manage most everyday things. However, although I have a few Ukrainian friends most of my friends are expats and it's something I'm very conscious of if I move again.
> 
> ...


We have been here for 5 years and have made friends of several nationalities,
Romanians, Germans, Bugarians and well as Cypriots.
We have learnt a little Greek but as most Cypriots tend to speak English it is difficult to get very far with it. You have to insist that they speak a little Greek to you, just the basics at first.


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## lakelander (Mar 31, 2009)

Veronica said:


> We have been here for 5 years and have made friends of several nationalities,
> Romanians, Germans, Bugarians and well as Cypriots.
> We have learnt a little Greek but as most Cypriots tend to speak English it is difficult to get very far with it. You have to insist that they speak a little Greek to you, just the basics at first.


Yes Veronica, I understand what you mean about the language. I've had the same problem here.

There aren't nearly as many English speakers here as in Cyprus but most people who speak it or are learning it want to speak English to you so they can practice rather than speak Russian so you can practice.


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## ryucoop (Jan 22, 2009)

iv lived here 6 months and have many cypriot friends. my girlfriend is english cypriot. i am learning greek at the moment and getting pretty well at it


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## lakelander (Mar 31, 2009)

ryucoop said:


> iv lived here 6 months and have many cypriot friends. my girlfriend is english cypriot. i am learning greek at the moment and getting pretty well at it


I'm glad to hear that. I imagine it's a difficult language but I suppose they all are at the start.

My intention would be at least to try and master the basics of it.


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## teandto (Jan 6, 2009)

lakelander said:


> I'm glad to hear that. I imagine it's a difficult language but I suppose they all are at the start.
> 
> My intention would be at least to try and master the basics of it.



We bought one of those cd and book sets to learn Greek but its been difficult sticking with it and its hard to learn enough from it without being surrounded by the language. Also the Cypriot dialect can be quite different from Greek, so whilst you'd still be understood I think learning the local slang and pronounciations when you're in the country would maybe be easier.


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

Hello Lakelander

I made an effort to learn Greek when I first arrived (nightschool classes) and can read it reasonably well, but spoken Greek on the island is almost impenetrable in my experience - most people speak a dialect that mainland Greek speakers find confusing. English is so widely spoken here, that most people revert to it as it has become the _lingua franca _with so many different nationalities here working, most of whom have a basic English but little Greek. I have made many Cypriot friends here (my family is Cypriot which gave me a bit of a head start) although we tend to hang out with mixed couples (many of my wife's Cypriot girl friends have married foreigners). I think the vast majority of Cypriots tend to be welcoming and are a friendly bunch to get along with.


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## BabsM (May 24, 2008)

lakelander said:


> I would be interested to know how many of you who live there have Cypriot friends. Also have any of you managed or tried to learn Greek?
> 
> I have lived in Ukraine for 2 1/2 years and although my Russian is far from good I know enough to manage most everyday things. However, although I have a few Ukrainian friends most of my friends are expats and it's something I'm very conscious of if I move again.
> 
> ...


I am learning Greek at night school from a Cypriot teacher. She emphasises what is Cypriot and draws our attention to the differences. 

I am getting to grips with it slowly. I watch Cypriot TV, particularly the news and cookery programmes as you have a point of reference. When I go shopping I insist in trying when I can and reply in Greek even if the people I am talking to reply in English. Its not easy but I am making progress.... but then I speak a number of other languages and have an applied language degree.

The only thing that grieves me is that getting practice is difficult because most of my acquaintances speak English and think that they are helping by doing so!


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## teandto (Jan 6, 2009)

I ended up with language overload - I was trying to learn from one of those cd and book sets but whenever I needed to think of the greek workd, I could only think of the spanish or the french word! 
the language set is now on ebay! 
Night school for it sounds a good idea though. I'd definitely like to learn more. I can only do the hello, goodbye, how are you and several choice swear words at the moment.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

teandto said:


> I ended up with language overload - I was trying to learn from one of those cd and book sets but whenever I needed to think of the greek workd, I could only think of the spanish or the french word!
> the language set is now on ebay!
> Night school for it sounds a good idea though. I'd definitely like to learn more. I can only do the hello, goodbye, how are you and several choice swear words at the moment.



I know the feeling, too many bits of different languages going round in my head and apart from German which I speak fluently the rest have a tendency to get mixed up.
Spanish especially gets in the way of the Greek.
It is taking me a lot longer than I anticipated seperating the Greek words from the rest
Still I keep trying


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## lakelander (Mar 31, 2009)

Apart from English I only have a little bit of Russian but it would be nice to at least have a basic grasp of Greek.

Even if people reply to you in English at least it shows you are making the effort.


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## Arranexpat (Aug 17, 2008)

The UKCA in Paphos offer free Greek classes but there is a long waiting list so get your name down now if you're interested  I've made a few Cypriot friends and yes, they all speak excellent english. I've found Cypriot tricky although the sounds are similar to Scottish sounds so maybe a little easier for scots to learn? I have to admit I even find arabic easier that Cypriot Greek!


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## lakelander (Mar 31, 2009)

Arranexpat said:


> The UKCA in Paphos offer free Greek classes but there is a long waiting list so get your name down now if you're interested  I've made a few Cypriot friends and yes, they all speak excellent english. I've found Cypriot tricky although the sounds are similar to Scottish sounds so maybe a little easier for scots to learn? I have to admit I even find arabic easier that Cypriot Greek!


Oh that's good to know. I lived in Scotland for 10 years so maybe I have a chance. It took me a while to learn Doric there which is a language all of it's own.


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## BabsM (May 24, 2008)

teandto said:


> I ended up with language overload - I was trying to learn from one of those cd and book sets but whenever I needed to think of the greek workd, I could only think of the spanish or the french word!
> the language set is now on ebay!
> Night school for it sounds a good idea though. I'd definitely like to learn more. I can only do the hello, goodbye, how are you and several choice swear words at the moment.


Actually I gave up with the CD/book route when I discovered that there were significant differences between Cypriot Greek and Mainland Greek. 

Getting mixed up with other languages when learning a new language is a recognised linguistic phenomenon. This 'interference' can come from your own mother tongue or one you already speak. Its because your brain is trying to find somewhere to 'hang' the new words. The secret is to recognise and accept this happens and to use it. Make connections between stange new words and something you already know, perhaps it looks similar, sounds similar or is completely different! This doesn't work for everyone but it might help.


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## BabsM (May 24, 2008)

teandto said:


> I ended up with language overload - I was trying to learn from one of those cd and book sets but whenever I needed to think of the greek workd, I could only think of the spanish or the french word!
> the language set is now on ebay!
> Night school for it sounds a good idea though. I'd definitely like to learn more. I can only do the hello, goodbye, how are you and several choice swear words at the moment.


Actually I gave up with the CD/book route when I discovered that there were significant differences between Cypriot Greek and Mainland Greek. 

Getting mixed up with other languages when learning a new language is a recognised linguistic phenomenon. This 'interference' can come from your own mother tongue or one you already speak. Its because your brain is trying to find somewhere to 'hang' the new words. The secret is to recognise and accept this happens and to use it. Make connections between strange new words and something you already know, perhaps it looks similar, sounds similar or is completely different! This doesn't work for everyone but it might help.

I go to a class in a school just behind the American Academy in Larnaca. It was only €55 for the year!


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## lakelander (Mar 31, 2009)

BabsM said:


> Actually I gave up with the CD/book route when I discovered that there were significant differences between Cypriot Greek and Mainland Greek.
> 
> Getting mixed up with other languages when learning a new language is a recognised linguistic phenomenon. This 'interference' can come from your own mother tongue or one you already speak. Its because your brain is trying to find somewhere to 'hang' the new words. The secret is to recognise and accept this happens and to use it. Make connections between strange new words and something you already know, perhaps it looks similar, sounds similar or is completely different! This doesn't work for everyone but it might help.
> 
> I go to a class in a school just behind the American Academy in Larnaca. It was only €55 for the year!


€55 for the whole year!!!!

Who said Cyprus was getting expensive? I was paying more than that in a month here to learn Russian.


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## BabsM (May 24, 2008)

lakelander said:


> €55 for the whole year!!!!
> 
> .


Yes, seriously! I thought I might have heard wrong but that's all any of us paid. Someone said the course is subsidised by the Government but I don't know if that is true. My class has Brits, Iraqis, Iranians, Jordainians and Bulgarians....


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## lcraggs2004 (Mar 29, 2009)

I am still trying after 5 years to learn Greek. I can understand a lot more than I can speak, but apparently my 'greek' accent is terrible. May just stick to understanding it!!


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

lcraggs2004 said:


> I am still trying after 5 years to learn Greek. I can understand a lot more than I can speak, but apparently my 'greek' accent is terrible. May just stick to understanding it!!


I agree, much easier just to stick to understanding it and speaking the odd basic words.


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## happyone (Apr 11, 2009)

Veronica said:


> I know the feeling, too many bits of different languages going round in my head and apart from German which I speak fluently the rest have a tendency to get mixed up.
> Spanish especially gets in the way of the Greek.
> It is taking me a lot longer than I anticipated seperating the Greek words from the rest
> Still I keep trying


I have found this thread very useful. I am moving to Cyprus but only for 12 months and was wondering if it was worthwhile learning greek. It seems that majority of locals speak english? Should I take lessons before I make the move?


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

happyone said:


> I have found this thread very useful. I am moving to Cyprus but only for 12 months and was wondering if it was worthwhile learning greek. It seems that majority of locals speak english? Should I take lessons before I make the move?


If you are only coming for 12 months I would say it isnt worth it. It's a very difficult language and the sort of greek you would learn anywhere else is quite different from how they speak it in Cyprus.
Cypriot Greek is much more like the old Greek whereas in Greece they speak a more modern version. So if you learn Greek before you come here you'll only end up confused.

Veronica


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## happyone (Apr 11, 2009)

Veronica said:


> If you are only coming for 12 months I would say it isnt worth it. It's a very difficult language and the sort of greek you would learn anywhere else is quite different from how they speak it in Cyprus.
> Cypriot Greek is much more like the old Greek whereas in Greece they speak a more modern version. So if you learn Greek before you come here you'll only end up confused.
> 
> Veronica


Thanks for your advice Veronica. I might look at doing a few classes after I arrive. I believe I should know the basics just so it would be easier to make local friends. Thanks again!


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## Aase (Jul 8, 2007)

I took Greek for nearly a year before moving out and now speak less than I did then! I also joined a course run by the government for €55 for 20 weeks but I am finding it a waste of time. Maybe I have just been unlucky with the teacher and the other students, but I am now looking to do private lessons. 

It's very dishartening when I try to speak a little and they speak back in English. I previously lived in a Spanish speaking country and could communicate very well in three months and was fluent after 12 months so it's not that 'I am no good at languages', it's just that Greek is sooooo difficult + there are not many places to practise. It doesn't help that I am 20 years older, either...


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## gloucester_geezer (May 5, 2008)

Hi There... or should I say 'Yiassou'

I was in the RAF for a long time and at one stage I knew that in 3 years I would be posted out to Cyprus, so I bought some books and started to learn Greek, or try to! Anyway to cut a long story short, when I got out there and started to order meals for example, I would say it all in Greek and the waiters would confirm my order in English, much as people have said on here! It almost stopped me bothering but then I looked at it another way... if they can repeat what I ordered in English then they must have understood my Greek, so at I just viewed it that I was practicing Greek and they were practicing English.... both happy! So don't let that put you off learning is my advice.

In relation to difference between Cypriot and Greek, yes that is valid but if you are only learning the basics then you will be fully understood; having a full understanding of any depth of reply would take time, but I know that when you try it is appreciated, so can only help when you are meeting someone for the first time etc. interviews etc. If you can meet and greet them, tell them your name then you have made a good first impression, and we all know how important that can be.

Regards,

Paul


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