Santos

[Faliro]

i think it is more to do with TV actually. Greeks to not dub their TV, whether it is FRIENDS, CSI or the Simpsons. Everything is in its original language with greek subtitles underneath. That includes movies also. Greeks are infatuated with America also.

many Greeks can also understand quite a bit of Italian and French. Many germans just start speaking to greeks in german and i am always amazed how many greeks can speak basic german.

Another factor is obviously tourism and the fact no one speaks Greek.. except for Greece and Cyprus.

[Jotenko]

i think it is more to do with TV actually. Greeks to not dub their TV, whether it is FRIENDS, CSI or the Simpsons. Everything is in its original language with greek subtitles underneath. That includes movies also. Greeks are infatuated with America also.

many Greeks can also understand quite a bit of Italian and French. Many germans just start speaking to greeks in german and i am always amazed how many greeks can speak basic german.

Another factor is obviously tourism and the fact no one speaks Greek.. except for Cyprus.

Everything you say here applies to the portuguese situation.

[Faliro]

Except portuguese is far more valuable than Greek.. Brasil!!!!!!

and some places in africa...

[Festivus]

We don't dub most stuff either. Hell, when I was a little kid, we didn't even dub kid cartoons. I grew up watching Tiny Toons and the original Ninja Turtles cartoon in English with Portuguese subs. And we used to get the UK version of Cartoon Network for years. I grew up watching that network in English with no subtitles at all.

German, really? Germans here just try to speak English since not many Portuguese people study or speak German. I speak some, though. Here, we learn English and French at school. If your HS offers German or Spanish, you can replace French with it.

Needless to say, several Portuguese people understand decent amounts of spoken Italian and Spanish without much trouble.

Btw, Greek sounds a bit like Spanish to me phonetically-wise. And foreigners tend to think that European Portuguese sounds a bit like Russian, or just Slavic in general, phonetically-wise.

Also, how different is Modern Greek from Ancient Greek? How many Greeks study Ancient Greek at school/university? Very few Portuguese people study Latin. I had Latin at HS, but dropped it after 2 weeks. Felt like a useless language to me. I remember it being surprisingly hard as well.

[Festivus]

Except portuguese is far more valuable than Greek.. Brasil!!!!!!

and some places in africa...

Sure, but still, not many people learn Portuguese. At least not here in Europe. And I wouldn't want to live in a world where pretty much everyone speaks Portuguese, anyway. Recently, I saw a Mario game for the DS translated into Portuguese and I found it strange. Back in my day only Champions Manager/Football Manager was in Portuguese. The rest was all in English. I fondly remember asking my brother and my mother to translate dialogue in Pokémon, Star Fox 64 and Zelda: Ocarina of Time when I was a little kid. 

[Jotenko]

Except portuguese is far more valuable than Greek.. Brasil!!!!!!

and some places in africa...

I know some words in greek.

Athens
Greece
Faliro
Eleftheropoulos
Nokia (Greek people call it Nokia also)

It's pretty much it.

[Faliro]

Some words are similar to portuguese

gata (cat) etc

[Festivus]

Some words are similar to portuguese

gata (cat) etc

Well that's interesting. Although "gata" is female cat. "Gato" is male. Then again, Greek has given a lot of words to Indo-European languages. Every word seems to either originate from Latin or from Ancient Greek.

[Faliro]

γάτα  gata = female cat
γάτος gatos = male cat


μπλούζα blouza = Blouse you say 'blusa'

[Jotenko]

gata = female cat
gatos = male

Stop talking about my cat.

[Jotenko]

You're jealous about my cat aren't you?

[Jotenko]

What do you want from me?

[Jotenko]

I'M A FREAK

[Faliro]

Your cat is ok. Not sooooo prety, but ok. She probably has an interesting personality.

[Jotenko]

Your cat is ok. Not sooooo prety, but ok. She probably has an interesting personality.

Wha... What? WHAT YOU SAYIN