It’s all Greek to me

Hello everyone! In this post I’ll be talking a little bit about the language barrier ! 

The College we are attending is an American College. This means that American tax payers help pay for costs at the college. This does not mean that everyone in attendance is American. The student population is about 30 percent study abroad students from around the world. I would estimate that 90 percent of the study abroad students are American. This is a large chunk of the student body! However the larger part of the students are all Greek as well as all of the staff. Classes are all taught in English, and teachers require Greek students to ask and respond in English. This is to include all students in the learning. Understanding accents is still a challenge, but gets easier with time!

The language barrier in Greece for an English speaker is not as hard as we expected it to be. Public transportation is basic, many store signs are in English and many Greeks speak English. If they do not, Greeks (in general) are extremely accommodating of English speakers. We were told that Greeks have a “culture of hospitality” meaning they want outsiders to feel as comfortable as possible. I believe the trickiest thing to get down is grocery shopping. Almost all of the products in stores are labeled in Greek, and some products that are common to me at home cannot be found or are very expensive. But this is fun to try and figure out!