Languages

I have not formally learnt French since GCSE, although we did always go to France on holiday so I got a fair amount of practice.

I have not formally learnt German for a while - a couple of years prior to GCSEs and some courses in Scientific German at univeristy.

I learnt Italian while writing up my PhD, managed a B in the GCSE which I was quite pleased with.

I can still remember and speak a fair amount of all of those languages despite it being a long, long time since I learnt or practiced them. On the times that we have been on hoiday to France or Italy, I've been surprised by how much I can remember and how much reading and listening that I can understand. I had to ring Germany the other day and again, phrases and words came seemingly out of nowhere.

However, I've been learning Modern Greek at evening classes for the last 3 years, and I'm finding it far more difficult. Admittedly, these days I have not got the time to do as much revision and homework as I would like (i.e., none), but I'm struggling to remember some fo the basics. I guess that practice is difficult, with a dearth of native Greek speakers to talk to in southern Oxfordshire, but having said that, I work with one person from Athens and I never pluck up the courage to talk to him properly. My brain doesn't work quickly enough to be able to communicate, I get tongue tied and end up finishing sentences in English. I have no confidence in my own abilities.

While I'd dearly love to move to Athens or one of the islands (Sam knows the houses she wants to buy on Rhodes - south of Lardos on the east coast) to immerse myself in the culture and language, I can't find anything that would support me properly while out there. I'm not sure there's a vast market for H&S professionals in Greece. There probably should be!