Cyprus-Forum.com

[dms007]

i like this thread guys.

Efharisto poli ray kai greek.god.

[RichardB]

yes but thats how they talk in the villages ;p if you go to lemesos some of the higher class like ot talk how they do in greece better

nampou ginete.. pothen kofkeis.... some people hate the village talk its better not to talk village

Nothing wrong with village speak

Always makes me feel I'm home

[dms007]

hey can i same some more of the cursing words please?

[BC Numismatics]

Here's an article about the Cypriot Greek language; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypriot_Greek .

Aidan.

[Jerry]

hey can i same some more of the cursing words please?

Its probably a bit old fashioned but its one my dirty cousins taught me:-

Rehbunni ston gollos sou

[sarahUK]

Im trying to learn greek but Im finding it very difficult if there is a seperate alphabet why can you write in greek in normal letters on here ???
Any tips on learning greek ??


ps yes i know i probably sound very stupid

[Nikitas]

Greek God should spend some time tackling the bureaucracy of other EU nations, like Italy, then I would love to hear his comments on the experience.

Sarah people always like to see you make an effor to speak their language. But unlike Spain, Italy and above all France where addressing people in English is akin to committing a capital crime, in Cyprus it is expected and regarded as absolutely normal. So if English comes to you first, use it. No one will mind. You will not get that icy "comment" as you get in France. I love to hear that so much that even though I speak passable French I always start with "hi do you speak English" when in France!

[sarahUK]

thnakyou for the advice i might just learn it as a hobby instead of aiming to be fluent by next october !

[oranos64]

Any time I visit a foreign country, I always try to learn the very basics of the local language, otherwise I feel a bit ignorant. I suppose being a Languages student has something to do with it

Before I leave for Cyprus tomorrow morning, I'd like to find out if the local people would react positively to it or not. My knowledge of Greek extends only to yassas, adio and efharisto as I only plan on speaking to shop assistants and taxi drivers, etc. I ask this question because I've done the same thing in the past, in Spain, when ordering food, which seemed to cause annoyance to the waitress more than anything (although I was 14 years old at the time and had been learning Spanish for just under a year).

There's also the worry of making a fool of myself, as I know a lot of immigrants from other parts of Europe work in Coral Bay/Paphos. I don't know whether they'd even understand me, and I guess they'd speak English more strongly than Greek anyway.

Wow, I need to learn when to stop typing . If anyone has any advice on the matter, or any other basic words/phrases I should know, then please share.

just be nice ,smile and bow your head to the waiters ....the word thank you is the most important in the world

body language is the most inportant language in the world ...so bowing and smiling .....plus nearly every single greek cyp can speak or understand some english language ... it is just that they are uncomfortable speaking it ....

but i hope your trip is good for you ...it is warm but windy at the moment

[BC Numismatics]

Does anyone know the Cypriot Greek for 'The Pope of Rome's a wanker!"?

Aidan.