Cyprus-Forum.com

[Sotos]

The average Cypriot constantly FAILS to understand that the world hasn’t got the time or the interest to go over some complex story about some ancient “Greek” arrivals thousands of years ago and how you are somehow related to all that so quit SHOOTING yourselves in the foot!

My post didn't touch any Mycenaean history but rather alluded to our Eastern Grecoroman language and culture whilst I was speaking on our language.

There is no such thing as "Eastern Grecoroman language".

[Sotos]

As a Greek Cypriot I was brought up speaking a powerful, poetic, rhythmic language, a direct descendant of Byzantine Koine Greek. Vasilis Michaelides masterfully used this beautiful language to write poems and epics that touch the heart and the mind of every Greek Cypriot in a deep mystical way.

All the same, at school I was told that I was just speaking a 'dialect', a 'village' way of speaking. All Greek Cypriot comedies came together under the idea that everything Cypriots traditionally did was the 'village' way, χωρκάτικον είναι. There was another, more official, more Greek version of what I spoke. A standard modern Greek that was spoken in 'mother' Greece.

During class times, when I raised my hand, I always chose to answer with the dialect. Some teachers didn't even aknowledge my answer and turned to other students who would say it 'properly'. Girls in the back would giggle at my 'horkatika'.

I'm here to tell you that being Greek, and being proud to be Greek and being a descendant of Greek culture has nothing to do with ceding our identity, our language and our island and sovereignity to Greece. As a Greek people we can speak OUR Greek language and have OUR Greek culture. We do not need any other country to hold our hands and mother us.

Perhaps education in Cyprus has changed now, and perhaps I'm out of loop in how educators treat the Greek Cypriot language now. All the same, it's time that we took our language in our own hands. We need to be able to express what we speak in a written way that doesn't involve English or foreign dipthongs. We need to make our own Greek Cypriot National Anthem and stop living our Greekness by proxy of another entity.

At the end of the day, Cypriot Greek and mainland Greek both started as dialects of Byzantine Koine Greek just as Galician and Castillian both started as dialects of Latin. Even though the whole of Spain speaks Castilian, the inhabitants of Galicia also speak Galician which is internationally recognised as a language.

Language is a communication tool. Knowing just a local dialect might have been OK a century ago but today unfortunately it is not particularly useful. Even speaking just Greek is not enough anymore... which is why all of us here also speak English. According to UNESCO half of world's languages will disappear by 2100 (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/unesco-half-wo ... 00-1498154). Greek has many dialects .. it is not like we are the only ones who have a Greek dialect. But we have "standard Greek" which makes communication easier... otherwise every island (or cluster of islands) and region would write things a bit differently, have a bit different spelling etc. That is totally inefficient since nearly no company would publish books, software etc for every little language, and would make communication between the people of the same nation harder. We have standard Greek, like every other nation has a standard form of its language regardless of how many local dialects exists.

[tsukoui]

As a Greek Cypriot I was brought up speaking a powerful, poetic, rhythmic language, a direct descendant of Byzantine Koine Greek. Vasilis Michaelides masterfully used this beautiful language to write poems and epics that touch the heart and the mind of every Greek Cypriot in a deep mystical way.

All the same, at school I was told that I was just speaking a 'dialect', a 'village' way of speaking. All Greek Cypriot comedies came together under the idea that everything Cypriots traditionally did was the 'village' way, χωρκάτικον είναι. There was another, more official, more Greek version of what I spoke. A standard modern Greek that was spoken in 'mother' Greece.

During class times, when I raised my hand, I always chose to answer with the dialect. Some teachers didn't even aknowledge my answer and turned to other students who would say it 'properly'. Girls in the back would giggle at my 'horkatika'.

I'm here to tell you that being Greek, and being proud to be Greek and being a descendant of Greek culture has nothing to do with ceding our identity, our language and our island and sovereignity to Greece. As a Greek people we can speak OUR Greek language and have OUR Greek culture. We do not need any other country to hold our hands and mother us.

Perhaps education in Cyprus has changed now, and perhaps I'm out of loop in how educators treat the Greek Cypriot language now. All the same, it's time that we took our language in our own hands. We need to be able to express what we speak in a written way that doesn't involve English or foreign dipthongs. We need to make our own Greek Cypriot National Anthem and stop living our Greekness by proxy of another entity.

At the end of the day, Cypriot Greek and mainland Greek both started as dialects of Byzantine Koine Greek just as Galician and Castillian both started as dialects of Latin. Even though the whole of Spain speaks Castilian, the inhabitants of Galicia also speak Galician which is internationally recognised as a language.

Language is a communication tool. Knowing just a local dialect might have been OK a century ago but today unfortunately it is not particularly useful. Even speaking just Greek is not enough anymore... which is why all of us here also speak English. According to UNESCO half of world's languages will disappear by 2100 (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/unesco-half-wo ... 00-1498154). Greek has many dialects .. it is not like we are the only ones who have a Greek dialect. But we have "standard Greek" which makes communication easier... otherwise every island (or cluster of islands) and region would write things a bit differently, have a bit different spelling etc. That is totally inefficient since nearly no company would publish books, software etc for every little language, and would make communication between the people of the same nation harder. We have standard Greek, like every other nation has a standard form of its language regardless of how many local dialects exists.

You've read her mind, have you read her heart?

[tsukoui]

Give thanks

[DrCyprus]

The average Cypriot constantly FAILS to understand that the world hasn’t got the time or the interest to go over some complex story about some ancient “Greek” arrivals thousands of years ago and how you are somehow related to all that so quit SHOOTING yourselves in the foot!

My post didn't touch any Mycenaean history but rather alluded to our Eastern Grecoroman language and culture whilst I was speaking on our language.

There is no such thing as "Eastern Grecoroman language".

Byzantine Koine Greek became the official language of the Eastern Roman Empire in 610 A.D. beginning with the reign of Heraclius. Up to that point, Koine Greek was used as the lingua franca in the eastern Roman empire whilst Latin was reserved for administration purposes.

[Sotos]

The average Cypriot constantly FAILS to understand that the world hasn’t got the time or the interest to go over some complex story about some ancient “Greek” arrivals thousands of years ago and how you are somehow related to all that so quit SHOOTING yourselves in the foot!

My post didn't touch any Mycenaean history but rather alluded to our Eastern Grecoroman language and culture whilst I was speaking on our language.

There is no such thing as "Eastern Grecoroman language".

Byzantine Koine Greek became the official language of the Eastern Roman Empire in 610 A.D. beginning with the reign of Heraclius. Up to that point, Koine Greek was used as the lingua franca in the eastern Roman empire whilst Latin was reserved for administration purposes.

So it is two separate languages: Greek and Latin.

[DrCyprus]

As a Greek Cypriot I was brought up speaking a powerful, poetic, rhythmic language, a direct descendant of Byzantine Koine Greek. Vasilis Michaelides masterfully used this beautiful language to write poems and epics that touch the heart and the mind of every Greek Cypriot in a deep mystical way.

All the same, at school I was told that I was just speaking a 'dialect', a 'village' way of speaking. All Greek Cypriot comedies came together under the idea that everything Cypriots traditionally did was the 'village' way, χωρκάτικον είναι. There was another, more official, more Greek version of what I spoke. A standard modern Greek that was spoken in 'mother' Greece.

During class times, when I raised my hand, I always chose to answer with the dialect. Some teachers didn't even aknowledge my answer and turned to other students who would say it 'properly'. Girls in the back would giggle at my 'horkatika'.

I'm here to tell you that being Greek, and being proud to be Greek and being a descendant of Greek culture has nothing to do with ceding our identity, our language and our island and sovereignity to Greece. As a Greek people we can speak OUR Greek language and have OUR Greek culture. We do not need any other country to hold our hands and mother us.

Perhaps education in Cyprus has changed now, and perhaps I'm out of loop in how educators treat the Greek Cypriot language now. All the same, it's time that we took our language in our own hands. We need to be able to express what we speak in a written way that doesn't involve English or foreign dipthongs. We need to make our own Greek Cypriot National Anthem and stop living our Greekness by proxy of another entity.

At the end of the day, Cypriot Greek and mainland Greek both started as dialects of Byzantine Koine Greek just as Galician and Castillian both started as dialects of Latin. Even though the whole of Spain speaks Castilian, the inhabitants of Galicia also speak Galician which is internationally recognised as a language.

Language is a communication tool. Knowing just a local dialect might have been OK a century ago but today unfortunately it is not particularly useful. Even speaking just Greek is not enough anymore... which is why all of us here also speak English. According to UNESCO half of world's languages will disappear by 2100 (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/unesco-half-wo ... 00-1498154). Greek has many dialects .. it is not like we are the only ones who have a Greek dialect. But we have "standard Greek" which makes communication easier... otherwise every island (or cluster of islands) and region would write things a bit differently, have a bit different spelling etc. That is totally inefficient since nearly no company would publish books, software etc for every little language, and would make communication between the people of the same nation harder. We have standard Greek, like every other nation has a standard form of its language regardless of how many local dialects exists.

Thank you for sharing your opinion. It has nothing to do with the topic as any person can be raised multilingual. Citing numerous case studies on bilingual users of Galician and Castilian Spanish, bilingual users of Catalan and Castilian Spanish, bilingual users of Flemish and Dutch, bilingual users of high German and Swiss German.

Language is a tool of communication where alongside the words you speak you also communicate your identity(origin, social standing and many more variables). Stop diminishing the properties of language to suit your 'goal'.

So it is two separate languages: Greek and Latin.

A null point.

[Sotos]

And you speak both the Cypriot dialect and standard Greek as well. So what is your problem exactly? You want the Cypriot dialect to be taught at schools? In order to do that first we would have to create a new standard, because even within the Cypriot dialects there are variations. For example what would be the correct way to write and pronounce the word "τσάντα"? In Limassol with Cypriot dialect we pronounce that "chanta", in Nicosia they say "tsenta". Which one is it going to be the official standard way? You will again have the case where your language is not exactly the same as the official language and at school you will be expected to write things in the official "correct" way. And even if we would agree to a "standard Cypriot", in what way would this be useful? Tell me ONE thing we would gain. On the contrary we would have a lot to lose because our kids will not know standard Greek as good. That would make it harder for them to get positions at the Greek universities, it would make trade with Greece harder etc.

[erolz66]

If you live in the turkish occupied area and openly support the right to do so under the auspices of the turkish military that keeps 200,000 natives away, then you can call yourself whatever you like (puppet), but you are not a Cypriot for any reason other than political expediency. In other words you're the worst of mankind, aren't you?

I chose to live in Cyprus, the country my father was born in and his parents were born in and their's back for generations. I chose to live in the part where my family lives and next to the village my father grew up in as a child and a young adult. I do this despite the presence of Turkish troops and the division of Cyprus in 74 not in support of it. It is not just me that calls myself Cypriot, it is what I am, in my head and in my heart and also as defined in the law of the Republic of Cyprus. No one, no body or government entity considers me Turkish - not the Turkish state , not the state of the Republic of Cyprus, not before 74 nor after. No one. It is only YOU and those like you who can only define me as 'Turkish' and that is your identity problem - one that you no doubt had before 74 as well as after and it is what has as much as anything destroyed Cyprus.

What's more, to use the Turkish army to force us to abandon our Greek heritage, to destroy it willfully, and then turn round and say we are all 'cypriot' is the height of obnoxious strategy!

I have not used the Turkish Army to do anything. I live with the consequences of what happened in 74 as a Cypriot just like any other Cypriot.

And finally, before I go and do something more worthwhile, how on earth are those TCs who only came to Cyprus because they can now live in the occupied areas any different to the similarly settled/colonising Anatolians?

Who says I only came to Cyprus because I can live in the north ? My RIGHT to live in Cyprus as a citizen should I wish to is my birth right. Would that when I reached a stage in my life where I wished to come to live in Cyprus as a citizen, as is my right, it was too a Cyprus not ravaged and bearing the open wounds of the fanatics who sought to define Cypriots as 'Greeks' and 'Turks' and had sought the non existence of Cyprus as a sovereign nation and been willing to use illegal violence against other innocent Cypriots based on them being 'Greek' or 'Turk' to achieve their objectives. How I wish that I could have returned to a Cyprus that was not the one we have today. What is more I have worked since coming to live in Cyprus to try and change the Cyprus I arrived in for the better as far as I can as an individual. On bi-communal efforts of various sorts that seek to show we can be Cypriots working together for common goals despite our differences as GC and TC. What have YOU done, what do you DO - except label me as 'Turk'. I love Cyprus. I weep for the pain it and its people have suffered. I long for a better Cyprus for all Cypriots. To me you do not love Cyprus any where near as much as you hate Turks and anyone who you chose to label Turk.

[miltiades]

The man, Erolz, has on numerous occasions made it crystal clear that he is a Cypriot and that Cyprus is his motherland, I see no reaso why anyone should question his integrity.

I consider him and others such as him as my true Cypriot compatriots.