A question to expats in Greece?
Posted by Historical-View647@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 6 comments
How many of you get by with just English? I've heard one doesn't need to learn Greek to live there and considering how hard the language is I wonder if maybe I can get one of these EN language jobs based in Athens or Thessaloniki and work from home somewhere in Peloponnese.
I've learned how to say Hello/Bye at a grocery store and be able to know what my bill is for (I know "to nero" means water) but that's it really. I can't pick up anything much. I tried Duolingo but nothing sticks, unlike with Spanish or even German! I find even Turkish easier to pick up than Greek. But as the Med country closest to my home city I feel like moving to live somewhere in Greece would make sense.
I've heard it's a good place to live if you want to enjoy sun, beaches and food but can't pick up the local language. With so many expats and foreign tourists maybe even the social life will be good. In my experience most foreigners have fellow foreigners for friends anyway. Maybe Greece is one of those few places in Europe where one can live off the grid and mainstream society?
Baejax_the_Great@reddit
I live in Greece. My first language is English. My Greek is not yet conversational though my reading is fairly good.
For the most part, you can get by with just English. I don't recommend it because I think it's rude to put so little effort into learning the local language, but yeah, almost everywhere you can get by in English. I can't speak for social life because I live in the middle of nowhere, but there are many expats, though most groups I've found cater to British pensioners.
Learning to read at least would make your life easier just for signs and knowing what stores are and whatnot. Also, I don't know what the immigration process is like for a European, but the Greek government immigration process is all done in Greek, no English. Weirdly, it's like the one part of their government website that doesn't have an English section.
I'm not sure about getting a job without knowing Greek. Maybe in tourism? But then you can't WFH.
I do agree with you, though. I had an easier time with Mandarin Chinese than I'm having with Greek, but I still think the effort is worth it.
Historical-View647@reddit (OP)
Honestly, it's not about rudeness or entitlement. Some of us really struggle with languages. I envy those who learn languages easily. I even struggled with Czech and Slovak and they're obviously closer to my native language.
I guess Bulgarians don't do well with foreign languages. We've been under 300 years of Byzantine and 500 years of Ottoman rule and we barely have a few words from Greek and Turkish left. I think many never learned either properly and probably as a nation who was often subjugated we've developed a subtle resistance to learning foreign languages.
As for jobs many Multinational companies have offices in Athens and Thessaloniki in English or even English and another European language, including Bulgarian. Mostly call centers or service centers working for clients like Facebook and Google.
Baejax_the_Great@reddit
"I can't learn a language because I'm Bulgarian" is a new one for me.
Historical-View647@reddit (OP)
I mean the Greek language almost seems like it's just not related to other European languages much. We took many scientific terms from them but the most common words, grammar structures, etc. do not match the major language families of Europe like Romance, German and Slavic.
ImmediateCap1868@reddit
Could you do the same in Bulgaria?
Historical-View647@reddit (OP)
Yes, there are many Westerners married to Bulgarian women who have lived here for a long time who can barely say "Hello" in Bulgarian at most.