Crash course in learning a new language
 

Going to Greece at the end of May so I'm looking to pick up the extreme basics of the language, or about as much as I can learn in the next 2 months. I want to do this because we'll be venturing into some areas where English might not be widely spoken.

Anyone done this before going on a trip? What's the best way? There's Rosetta Stone obviously, but I'm not sure that's the best method for what I have in mind. What about youtube? Anyone ever tried picking up some basics off youtube? Any other good sites?

Pimsleur

Thanks. Looks promising

Try LiveMocha. Many language schools also offer Skype lessons for reasonable cost. I utilized Skype lessons before going to Guatemala for Spanish classes last year.

I did a quick search and first hit was this school that mentions Skype classes on it's front page.

"Please", "thank you" and "good day" go a long way too. I surprised a lot of English speaking Greeks when I said thank you in Greek this past fall.

Crash course in learning a new language
 

I hired a private tutor for two hours per week for Chinese before a trip to Beijing. That way I could tailor the content to the kinds of things I felt I would need. It's a bit more pricey but I was very happy with the results. We worked for 2 months twice a week or an hour each time.

Finding a tutor may be more of s challenge for Greek than was Chinese but depending on where you are, you may be able to find a reasonably qualified teacher.

I live in a rural area, there's just no way that I'd be able to find a Greek tutor where I live. Good idea, just not feasible for my area. I'm going to have to stick with the online learning and try to pick up a few things in the next two months.

Go to the nearest library and check out their selection of language-learning books? They might even be able to bring something extra in for you. That's what I did to learn basic Hungarian before leaving for Budapest (talk about a language where it's hard to find a tutor). Don't remember the name of the book I ended up with -- it wasn't a well-known brand -- but it did wonders for helping me through my first few weeks in Hungary.

I used Pimsleur (the short conversational one, a half-dozen CDs, maybe a dozen or so half-hour lessons) for a business trip to Athens a few years ago. I just wanted the basics for getting around town. Was fine for that purpose.

The biggest thing you can do is to learn the Greek alphabet, as you can then figure out a lot of signage and print due to similarities of roots with English. I found that after a few days my brain was doing this fairly automatically, and things made a lot more sense.

Yes. Plus get the translation app for either iPhone or Android (usually free) that you can speak into it in English and it will translate to whatever language you want. You can pick up hello and good bye quite quickly then let the app say "I'd like extra fries and no pickles, please" :)

Rosetta Stone is useless - pictures of objects without any grammatical or sentence structure with context won't help you...it's basically a dictionary with pictures.

Pimsleur is old school but works for some. If you have two months to invest and can do skype classes 2-3 times a week, find a teacher who is knowledgable with and can effectively teach using TPRS and CI (Teaching Proficiency Through Storytelling and Comprehensible Input).

Here are a couple links to get you started, and this method is head and shoulders better, faster and easier than any other language learning method on the planet - provided the teacher knows what they're doing and you're putting in the time to practice. There are no short-cuts for memorizing vocabulary, so while TPRS will help, keep flash cards for the trickier words that don't sink in right away.

http://sxole.com/video/learn-greek-via-storytelling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4x11rJ54TQ

Shaner - I was in Greece - once! I didn't really have an issue with having people understand me - but many Greeks do speak some Italian - as do I. Sign language helps.

Learning the Greek alphabet might help.

The problem though will be when you say something in Greek and do not understand the reply.

Idiom is an issue.

I also cannot speak dialect. I was taught some Italian by a woman who moved to Toronto from Milan who did not speak dialect. I had no idea what my Italian hairdresser was saying to me when he spoke in his native dialect.

If you can lay your hands on a basic textbook that should help you.

You will see many people who appear to be English or Irish - but they cannot speak a word of English!

We ate where the Italians ate - and just ordered what they did.

I don't know if Greek is an option, but I'm using the free Duolingo app to learn Irish and brush up on my French and Spanish, and I highly recommend Duolingo.

I didn't realize RS sucked. After I've seen so many awards and accolades it touts on its infomercial. Not surprised though.