Language Transfer Complete Greek Review!

Summary

In this video, the speaker shares their two-month journey learning Greek, focusing on completing a 120-episode language transfer course. They discuss the course's effectiveness in teaching grammar without the need for traditional memorization methods. The speaker admits to having a limited vocabulary but feels confident in their grammatical understanding. They plan to build fluency through comprehensive input, such as watching Greek videos multiple times, aiming for an hour daily.

Takeaways

• 😀 The speaker has been learning Greek for nearly two months and has reached a milestone by completing a language transfer course.
• 🎓 The course, consisting of 120 episodes, is approximately 30 hours long and covers all the grammatical concepts in Greek.
• ⏱ The speaker spent an average of 30 minutes to an hour daily on the course, totaling around 30 hours over nearly two months.
• 📈 The course is called 'Complete Greek' and is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of Greek grammar rather than complete fluency.
• 📚 Despite the course's name, the speaker feels they are between a beginner (A1) and upper beginner (A2) level in Greek.
• 🗣 The course focuses on grammar and verb conjugations but does not provide extensive vocabulary, leaving the speaker with a working vocabulary of a few hundred words.
• 👂 The course uses an interactive audio format with pauses for the learner to respond and compare their answers to those of a live student in the recording.
• 📖 The course does not teach reading Greek, which uses a different alphabet from Latin, leaving this skill to be developed separately.
• 🔠 The speaker used Duolingo for a few days to learn the Greek alphabet, which was helpful but not comprehensive.
• 🎯 The next steps for the speaker include building fluency through comprehensive input, such as watching Greek videos and focusing on pronunciation and reading skills.

Q & A

What is the purpose of the video mentioned in the script?

The purpose of the video is to document the speaker's journey in learning Greek, particularly focusing on their progress after nearly two months of study.

What milestone did the speaker achieve in their Greek learning journey?

The speaker achieved the milestone of completing the 'Language Transfer' course on Greek, which is a significant part of their language learning journey.

How long is the Language Transfer course on Greek?

The Language Transfer course on Greek is 120 episodes long, with each episode being about five to ten minutes.

What is the average time the speaker spent on the Language Transfer course daily?

The speaker initially started with 30 minutes to an hour per day, but as they got more excited, they increased it to closer to an hour every day.

How does the speaker describe the teaching style of the Language Transfer course?

The speaker describes the teaching style as focused on grammar, with a Chomsky perspective on language, emphasizing how the language is formed rather than traditional learning methods.

What is the speaker's opinion on the effectiveness of the Language Transfer course?

The speaker finds the Language Transfer course effective, especially for learning grammar and verb conjugations, but notes that it lacks focus on vocabulary building.

What is the speaker's current level in Greek after completing the course?

The speaker estimates their current level to be between A1 and A2, which is an upper beginner level, and they feel they have a good grasp of Greek grammar but a limited vocabulary.

How does the Language Transfer course handle the teaching of vocabulary?

The Language Transfer course does not focus much on vocabulary, leaving the speaker with a working vocabulary of only a couple of hundred words.

What unique feature does the Language Transfer course have that involves a live student?

The course includes a live student in the recording who responds to questions, allowing the listener to compare their own answers and learn from the student's interactions.

What is the speaker's plan for improving their Greek after completing the Language Transfer course?

The speaker plans to build their fluency through comprehensive input, such as watching 'Easy Greek' videos multiple times to increase their vocabulary and familiarity with the language.

What aspect of Greek does the speaker feel the Language Transfer course taught particularly well?

The speaker feels that the course taught accents and pronunciation very well, providing a strong foundation for understanding the language's stress patterns.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Language Learning Journey: Greek Milestone

The speaker shares their experience learning Greek, marking two months of progress. They discuss completing a language transfer course, which is a 120-episode class totaling around 30 hours of content. The course focuses on grammar and verb conjugations, giving the speaker a solid understanding of Greek language structure. Despite the course's name 'Complete Greek,' the speaker clarifies they are not yet fluent but have reached an intermediate beginner level. The course's teaching method, which includes a live student in the recordings, is highlighted as a unique and engaging way to learn.

05:02

🎧 Language Transfer Course Experience

The speaker describes the format of the language transfer course, which involves listening to audio clips and pausing to answer questions. They found this interactive method effective for learning pronunciation and accents. The course is designed to be less stressful, with the instructor advising against traditional methods like note-taking and memorization. The speaker appreciates the course's approach to teaching vocabulary through storytelling and its structured pacing, which prevents information overload.

10:03

📚 Reflections on Greek Language Complexity

The speaker reflects on the complexity of Greek, noting that while it has a case system, it is not as daunting as initially perceived. They discuss the course's effective pacing, which gradually introduces more complex grammatical concepts. However, they mention that the last 10% of the course felt rushed and overwhelming, requiring re-listening to grasp all concepts. The speaker also points out the course's lack of focus on reading, which they plan to address using Duolingo and other resources.

15:04

🚀 Next Steps in Greek Language Learning

Looking ahead, the speaker outlines their plan to build fluency through comprehensive input, such as watching Greek videos multiple times. They aim to spend an hour daily on this to improve reading and listening skills. The speaker acknowledges the importance of understanding accents and the role they play in Greek verb tenses. They express satisfaction with the structured approach to learning Greek and the confidence it gives them in analyzing sentences. The speaker is excited about the journey ahead and the prospect of becoming fluent in multiple languages.

Keywords

💡Language Learning

Language learning refers to the process of acquiring new languages, either through formal education or self-study. In the video, the speaker documents their journey of learning Greek, highlighting the methods and resources they used. The theme of language learning is central as the speaker shares their experiences and progress, making it relatable to viewers who might be interested in learning languages.

💡Greek Language

Greek is an Indo-European language spoken primarily in Greece and Cyprus. In the context of the video, Greek is the target language the speaker is learning. The speaker discusses their progress with Greek, including their grammar knowledge and vocabulary acquisition, which are essential components of language proficiency.

💡Language Transfer Course

A language transfer course is a type of language learning program that focuses on teaching the structure and grammar of a language through audio lessons. The speaker mentions completing a language transfer course for Greek, which consisted of 120 episodes, each around 5 to 10 minutes long. This course played a significant role in the speaker's language learning journey, helping them grasp grammatical concepts.

💡Grammar

Grammar is the set of rules governing the structure of a language, including word formation, sentence structure, and parts of speech. The video emphasizes the importance of grammar in language learning, as the speaker shares that they learned 'a ton of grammar' from the language transfer course, which allowed them to understand verb conjugations and noun cases in Greek.

💡Vocabulary

Vocabulary refers to the words and phrases that make up a language. The speaker mentions that their vocabulary in Greek is limited to a couple of hundred words after completing the language transfer course. Vocabulary is crucial for language learners to express themselves and understand the language more fully.

💡Immersion

Immersion is a language learning method where learners are exposed to a language as much as possible, often by surrounding themselves with native speakers, media, and cultural content. The speaker contrasts the language transfer course's focus on grammar with the immersion approach, which emphasizes context and practical use of the language.

💡Input Theory

Input Theory is a language acquisition concept that suggests learning a language occurs through receiving comprehensible input, such as listening to or reading content in the target language. The speaker refers to this theory when discussing alternative language learning methods that focus on exposure to the language through various media.

💡Comprehensible Input

Comprehensible input is a key component of the Input Theory, where learners understand the language they are exposed to, which aids in language acquisition. The speaker mentions the importance of comprehensible input in language learning, suggesting that it is a more effective way to learn than rote memorization.

💡Accents

In language learning, accents refer to the way words are pronounced, including stress and intonation patterns. The speaker notes that the language transfer course helped them understand Greek accents, which is crucial for pronunciation and comprehension. This aspect of language learning is often challenging for learners but is essential for fluency.

💡Reading

Reading in language learning involves the ability to recognize and understand written text in the target language. The speaker points out that the language transfer course did not focus on reading, which left them with a gap in their Greek language skills. Reading is an important skill for language learners to access written content and expand their vocabulary.

💡Fluency

Fluency in language learning refers to the ability to speak and understand a language with relative ease and without hesitation. The speaker's goal is to establish a base level of fluency in Greek, which implies the need for continued practice and exposure to the language to improve speaking and comprehension skills.

Highlights

The speaker has been learning Greek for nearly two months and has reached a milestone by completing a language transfer course.

Language transfer is a resource consisting of 120 episodes, each about 5 to 10 minutes long.

The speaker initially studied for 30 minutes to an hour a day, increasing to nearly an hour as excitement grew.

The course took approximately 30 hours to complete, averaging about 30 minutes a day over nearly two months.

The 'sweet spot' for daily study time is closer to an hour, which could complete the course in about a month.

The course is called 'Complete Greek' and covers all grammatical concepts found in the language.

The speaker feels they are between a beginner (A1) and upper beginner (A2) level in Greek after completing the course.

The course focuses on grammar, teaching verb conjugations, noun cases, and verb classes.

The course does not teach a lot of vocabulary, leaving the speaker with a working vocabulary of a couple of hundred words.

The course uses a pause-and-play method, where the student listens to an audio clip, answers questions, and then hears a live student's response.

The course is designed to be engaging and less dry by setting expectations that memorization and note-taking are not required.

The course teaches words through storytelling and natural spaced repetition, reducing the stress of learning.

The course spaces out teaching concepts to prevent overwhelming the student and keeps the content fresh.

The speaker feels that Greek is not as complicated as they initially thought, especially regarding the case system.

The course does not teach reading in Greek, which uses a different alphabet from Latin.

The speaker used Duolingo for a few days to learn the Greek alphabet, which helped with the language transfer course.

The course's focus on grammar provides a strong foundation, but the speaker acknowledges the need to improve reading and listening skills.

The speaker plans to build fluency through comprehensive input, such as watching Greek videos multiple times.

The speaker reflects on the journey so far and looks forward to future language learning progress.

Transcripts

hey guys so

uh I just wanted to make a video to sort

of document my journey in learning

languages

and this is about the close to the

two-month Mark of me starting to learn

Greek

and it's been a cool journey and I

decided to make the video today because

I hit a for me a milestone which is that

I finished the language transfer course

on Greek and language transfer if you've

never heard of it is I think a really

cool resource it's a class that's 120

episodes long and it's um

each episode each lesson is about five

to ten minutes it's I started doing

maybe a couple lessons a day

so I trying to do initially 30 minutes

to an hour and then uh near the end was

Gene closer to an hour every day I got

more excited as I was closer to the

finish line and um and um in total the

course took me about 30 hours so on

average I guess it was about I started

at the end of February now it's almost

at the end of April so it was close to

about 30 minutes average a day

um I would say ideally close your

close I would say maybe the sweet spot's

closer to an hour a day so feasibly if

you had a lot of free time you could do

this course in uh one month an hour a

day the course is called complete Greek

uh I don't know if that's the best name

for it you might walk away thinking that

like hey you're getting no Greek after

this I don't really think that

um is super Fair

um

I wouldn't say that I know Greek now

after taking the class I wouldn't even

say that I'm past like a beginner level

which is A1 like uh maybe maybe I'm

between A1 and A2

um

which is like upper Beginner right but

and uh you know even though the class is

called complete Greek uh I really don't

think the um Creator mihilis is like

trying to promise anything like that

it's more like complete in the sense

that it covers all of the grammatical

Concepts that are found in Greek so I

learned a ton of grammar

um and like I know at the end of the

course I know how to make almost any

verb conjugation

I think every verb conjugation I know

what all of the cases for the nouns are

I know uh what the three major like the

major

um classes of verbs are and if I if I

saw a verb I could probably figure out

what was going on with it in any

conjugation

and yeah it's pretty interesting it kind

of mostly just teaches grammar which is

weird to say because I think grammar is

kind of like

becoming more of a dirty word in

language learning and by all means

um

he he definitely doesn't

uh recommend a very like traditional

learning style but you'll see what if

you're into language learning I like I

am you'll know that you know nowadays

there's a huge trend of sort of

immersion and uh input Theory which is

just like at the end of the day just

watch TV shows just watch YouTube videos

just read books just listen to podcasts

etc etc uh this is a really a class

that's really like still focused on a

very

um like a very like Chomsky perspective

on language which is like Chomsky broke

down language you know it's all about

grammar how the language is formed and

this class really teaches you how Greek

is formed

um but it what it doesn't teach you is

it doesn't teach you a lot of vocabulary

so I probably left the class with a

working vocabulary of like a couple

hundred words it's really not very much

if you you've ever learned a language

100 words 200 words it's it's not enough

for like basically anything a lot of

people put a thousand words as like a

benchmark for getting to a point where

you can really start to learn stuff from

Context so for example a different uh a

different sort of language learning

product or methodology is

um called Reflow and that's a very input

based method but they start by

recommending that you learn memorize the

Thousand most common words coming out of

this class it's a couple hundred words

um which to be honest I I wouldn't have

expected more the class is only 30 hours

long it's you know 120 episodes 10

minutes per episode it's you know maybe

20 hours of content and then and uh it's

about

120 hours of just audio and the way that

it works is that when you're playing the

audio clip he'll ask a question and then

you'll pause and answer a question and

then the uh there's always a live

student in the recording the student

will respond and I thought that was kind

of interesting I found myself comparing

myself to the student a lot it always

felt like the student was doing better

than I was although he's also probably

selecting the better students but those

are an interesting element of like I

would always forget a word and the

student will know it and I would just

feel like

man why am I so stupid why am I

forgetting all these words uh then

sometimes a student would make like a

really dumb mistake and we highlights

would take like 30 seconds to explain to

coach him to not make the mistake and

then I was like I was just too making a

mistake it's such an obvious like

conjugation like why couldn't you

remember that so it was kind of

interesting that there's a recorded

scene of course if he was just talking

to me and there was no student like that

would also feel artificial

so it's an interesting format I like it

though so it's really based on like

he'll ask a question like how do you say

X and Y and then you'll respond and then

you sort of get uh he doesn't correct

you but you you correct yourself by

hearing the correct response and I

thought it was pretty good for learning

pronunciation actually I I felt like uh

especially with accents

um not like accent as in someone how

someone speaks but accidents in which

part of the word is stressed I thought

it was pretty easy to figure that out by

just you know every single time he said

it I would repeat him uh so you're kind

of doing some natural shadowing

um by taking the class and I thought

that was really cool you don't tend to I

I never did that in any of my you know

high school college classes with

languages

yeah but anyway so because there's a

pause and play sort of element to it

even though the class is only 20 hours

of audio uh I found myself probably

spending an extra 50 of the time so yeah

it ended up being about uh 30 hours for

me and 30 hours is really just nothing

when it comes to language learning

um I would say that the quality of ours

is really high like if I was doing

language transfer I basically couldn't

be doing anything else like I could be

walking or driving that's it like not

even like navigating like I would have

to be driving down a highway where

there's no turns you know I would wait

until I got on you know Highway 6

between College Station and Houston and

it's 40 miles of straight nothing

um once I got on that stretch I would do

language transfer I I couldn't even like

trust myself to take exits

I still haven't talked about my favorite

part of the class or why the class works

or why it's good

um language transfer is pretty like what

language transfer does differently what

language transfer does differently than

um

like traditional education I would say

is that it really focuses on

uh it really makes it less dry

by doing a couple of things so first of

all I think that the highest

um

sets expectations really well by he says

like hey don't stress out don't try to

memorize don't take notes I think it's

like memorizing taking notes flash cards

writing down notes those are both super

like

not fun things to do and just setting

the expectation like you don't have to

do those things and in fact I don't

think you should do those things

um that's sort of a first session of

language transfer I found that really

compelling as someone who did

um years and years of traditional

language flash cards whatever blah blah

and I hated it and I was like I have to

do this to learn language I don't want

to learn language and

um yeah you totally don't and um

he sort of just he the way that he

teaches you words is like he'll tell you

like a little story of why the word is

the way it is

um and then he'll just do some natural

space repetition by he'll be like hey

remember that the word for

um to go is piano it's like okay and

then he he never really makes you feel

bad for not knowing a word

um

and so I think that just takes a lot of

the stress away the other thing is that

he he keeps things from getting boring

by switching stuff up and so for example

you don't learn all six verb

conjugations for a word off the bat you

don't learn all whatever verb uh tenses

at the same time like it's all spaced

out over lessons like I don't think that

he even tells you that there's like a

second person plural

um conjugation until like lesson 80 or

something it's like most of the class he

doesn't touch on that at all and when he

does it's like you're so solid in the

other tenses that it's like okay I can

handle it versus you got all six at once

it's pretty easy to feel overwhelmed I

would say that he's he spaces out

teaching Concepts uh so that they never

feel

um they never feel overwhelming and

you're also learning something fresh and

he'll mix between Concepts that are like

complicated conjugations and Concepts

that feel more simple walking away from

the class I don't feel like Greek is a

complicated language like that's

something I was told going into it and

it's like oh dude Greek has a case

system now that I've like

learned it I'm like yeah there's a case

system but it's it's really not a big

deal like it's fine like I don't I would

say that up until like the last 10 15

lessons he does a really good job of

this then in the last like 10 minutes he

kind of

speed runs through these like I don't

even know what they're called because he

doesn't tell you the names of these

things but they're sort of like

reflexive nouns he covers those kinds of

verbs all in like the last 10 percent of

the class and and that and I had to

re-listen to a lot of those lessons and

um it did start to feel kind of

overwhelming uh I also I don't know if I

was just tired too or something but like

that was when I was like okay I'm I'm

forgetting a lot of what he's telling

but up until that point it's like you're

not even stressed about forgetting

something it's like it's not important

what's important is that you've been

exposed to the concept in that you can

sort of like remember like oh this is

part of Greek when you hear it and then

just learn naturally and not and just

like

um

yeah so uh you know

uh it doesn't really teach you how to

read and Greek doesn't use the Latin

alphabet obviously so

um

I would say that's a huge huge gap in my

memory I actually learned how to read

Greek I wouldn't count me in these two

months because it was really pretty

sparse but I used um Duolingo for about

four days to learn the Greek alphabet

and then uh so I kind of I kind of can

recognize all the characters but taking

the class language transfer you're

really not learning how to read at all

like like he kind of gives you some tips

of It kind of helped me because I had

some knowledge but you know there's so

many things I forgot because I was just

like I you know it did it's the the

spelling component felt a little bit

Half Baked to me it really would have

worked better as a like a video series

where they show you of they're showing

you all the prompts and the answers in

order for learning they kind of

mentioned that they're working on a book

reader to help you learn how to read but

um I just I really didn't uh get you

know I still doing the whole language

transfer course first was a little bit

of a um

experiment and

yeah I think what it really did was it

taught me uh it gave me some tools to

just sort of like dive more into it to

just like trying to do comprehensive

input now and uh I have like a very

minimal vocabulary base I have a lot of

grammatical knowledge which is

surprising considering the emphasis of

grammar that you know is is strong is uh

very hot in the language learning

community now like everyone hates

grammar

um but I think that grammatical

framework gives me a lot of confidence

to tackle the language and it's like any

sentence I come across I can really just

start to analyze it and figure out

what's going on and make some guesses

about what's going on and that is really

helpful for starting to learn but

um The Next Step would be to just

establish a base level of fluency that

um I just need to be able to read stuff

and not have reading be like this super

laborous exercise like that's new to me

learning Italian I could read right away

and my reading speed is almost the same

as English like obviously I can't I was

making a lot of pronunciation mistakes

but like just having the word be a thing

that made sense to my brain like I I

have to be like wait I know what these

letters are it's like I have to parse

each letter individually versus just see

the word as a singular unit and that's a

process

so I just have to learn to read I have

to get really familiar with hearing the

language and then and then mapping that

onto words that I know

um yeah I don't I don't know how to read

off a page I'm like pronunciation still

challenge uh I will say that one thing

that the class taught really well is it

really they really focus a lot on

accents and that would be something that

if I didn't know before getting into

Greek I might have been really thrown

off by is like okay you know why is this

accent shifting back why is it shifting

forward now it's like okay when the

action's shifting back like that that's

an indicator that the 10 the tense is

changing so and it's really important

and it's like wire random things being

added on here it's like it's so to

support the the accent shift obviously

um I really liked having a single thing

to do for Greek like every day I would

just try to do language transfer for an

hour and it took a lot of focus really

had to be intentional with doing it but

uh I was able to find the time it was

nice to know what to do

versus of Italian it's like I could read

this book I could read that book I could

watch YouTube videos I could watch TV

shows I couldn't do whatever I can try

to journal I can try to do output it's

like I can try to call a friend like

there's like 50 options for Fairy taling

and sometimes like it's hard to just

pick something to do and force myself to

do it versus with Greek it's like oh I

just need to do the next language

transfer uh class so I kind of want to

keep that up a little bit and I'm

thinking like okay the next step I think

I want to just spend a lot of time

building up that fluency that through

input hours and so what I'm going to try

to do is uh watch all the easy Greek

classes and watch them like each class

like not class videos watch all the easy

Greek videos and each video like watch

like two three four times

uh just so I can sort of build that up

and the goal would be to do that for

about an hour every day and maybe after

another week a month or two we'll see

where I am but yeah this is my you know

this is the first milestone

first mile marker for my Greek Journey

uh two months in

so yeah I just wanted to record progress

and hopefully someday I'll be fluent in

you know so many languages and I'll be

able to look back on

these days when I was just a noob just

starting out

um just 30 40 hours into my Greek

Journey anyway

I'm gonna have a fun time editing this

I've been talking for like half an hour

so all right

I'll catch you some other time