How to Overcome Your Fear of Speaking Greek

Last updated on September 19th, 2024

You’ve learned some Greek and you want to start speaking it but you are afraid to do that. You might feel your Greek is not good enough or that you speak rather slowly and can’t finish a sentence without lots of pauses, so you think that might frustrate your listeners. There are various reasons to be afraid, but guess what… IT’S NORMAL! And actually, most learners are like this. I can’t stress enough how common it is to have this fear of speaking even among students who have been studying Greek for years and are very competent at writing it.

If you feel you are stuck because of that fear, you are not the only one. However, just like with most fears that block us from doing something, they’ll keep blocking you until you decide to do something about it.

A good place to start is to think “What’s the worst thing that can happen?“. And the answer is… Nothing! No one will get angry at you, no one will start screaming at you or attacking you, and the world will keep spinning around. The only one that can help unblock you is YOU!

Below are a few tips that can help overcome your fear of speaking Greek.

Table of contents

1. Speak by Yourself
   • How to Start
2. Use the Shadowing Technique
   • The Benefits of the Shadowing Technique
   • Biggest Shadowing Mistake and How to Do It Effectively
   • Tips
3. Find a Language Exchange Partner (Tandem)
4. Practice Speaking Greek Even Outside of Greece
5. Don’t Be Afraid to Make Mistakes

1. Speak by Yourself

This is the most simple and stress-free way to start unleashing the power of your Greek. I’ve been in that position myself when I was studying German. Back then I was living alone for the first time in my life, so I had all the privacy I needed. At the time, I felt it helped me in the sense that I could have a chance to actually hear myself make all these new sounds and try to adjust my intonation so I could sound close to what a native would sound like. That’s how I managed to learn how to roll the German “R” from my throat. I swear, if anyone could hear me while I was practicing, they’d think I was choking all the time! That sound alone took me about a couple of weeks.

I know for most people this could be hard because we are so conditioned to think that speaking by yourself means you’ve gone mad, but think again, “What’s the worst thing that can happen in the privacy of your own home?“. Nothing!

How to Start

If you want to give it a try, you can start by saying simple words at first like saying the name of an object you pick up or saying the verb of an action you perform. For example, say κουτάλι (“spoon”) when you take a spoon out of the drawer or say πλένω (“to wash”) if you start washing your dishes. It’s a great way to recall the vocabulary you’ve studied and the more often you use it, it will keep you from forgetting it.

After you are comfortable with single words, start making small phrases. For example, you can say things like μικρό κουτάλι (“small spoon”) or πλένω τα πιάτα (“I was the dishes”). Slowly, you can develop phrases into sentences so you get the idea.

2. Use the Shadowing Technique

This is another technique that can be used independently and without stress where the learner listens to someone speaking Greek (on a video or audio) and then repeats what they hear in real time.

The Benefits of the Shadowing Technique

The benefits of doing this are great, primarily because this technique can help you improve your intonation and pronunciation as well as your grammar and the vocabulary that you will be picking up. At the same time, you improve your listening skills and as a result, your feeling for the language improves.

Biggest Shadowing Mistake and How to Do It Effectively

While this technique seems very easy, stress-free, and effective, it can also be very ineffective if you don’t do it right. As with most things, there is a right way to do it and that is by setting an intention as to what it is that you are trying to improve while you repeat. Maybe you want to focus on the rhythm and melody of questions. For example, does the pitch go up or down at the end when asking a question? Maybe you want to focus on the use of pronouns and see when they go before and when they go after the verb. Accentuation, word endings, vowel sounds, nasalization, slang expressions… there could be so many things that you could be focusing on.

If you just repeat stuff like a parrot without intention, you are not shadowing effectively. So think about what it is that you want to improve and when you repeat, focus on that. You don’t have to repeat everything. Instead, it’s better if you are selective.

Tips

1. Don’t just use any audio or video that you find out there. Find a speaker you enjoy listening to, someone with a voice and a rhythm you like. Try listening to a few Greek radio stations till you find one with a radio announcer you enjoy listening to. In the evenings (Greece hours), the speaking rhythm usually slows down and it’s easier to find smoother voices, compared to morning talk shows that are more fast-paced and… bubbly. You can find Greek radio stations on e-radio.gr.
2. For audio or video that you can playback, take advantage of players or services that can offer you a speed selection button so you can slow down the audio if needed. YouTube, for example, has a speed button. A good speed could be 0.75 (75%) or even 0.5 (50%) if the speaker speaks fast.
3. This one requires a bit more work from your side, but you could even try to record yourself shadowing and then listen to the recording, so you can compare the two versions and further repeat and improve.

3. Find a Language Exchange Partner (Tandem)

This is another language learning method I highly recommend that can be very rewarding and fun and will help you develop your speaking skills. The idea is that two people (tandem partners) do a mutual language exchange. That means that each learner is a native speaker of the language the other person wants to learn. For example, if you are a French speaker who wants to start speaking Greek, you would need to find a tandem partner who is a native Greek who wants to practice French in return.

There are many websites and apps to find such language exchange partners, all it takes is a simple search over the internet. Ideally, you should find someone in your area so you can actually meet in person, however, that shouldn’t limit you as long as you are both willing to communicate over video calls should the distance be a problem.

I’ve personally made great friends that have lasted for years by looking for tandems back when I was studying German in Vienna, Austria.

4. Practice Speaking Greek Even Outside of Greece

This is related to the previous point. Very often, the problem of not doing enough speaking practice is because the learner doesn’t live in Greece, and finding native Greeks locally is not always possible. As I already mentioned above, there are many online platforms and apps where you can find language exchange partners, so this could be an option for you if you are willing to have video calls with other learners around the world.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Make Mistakes

When you start speaking Greek, even if you make mistakes, see them as an opportunity to learn from them and improve. Don’t think that people will start laughing at you, and even if you do say something wrong that might seem funny to someone, embrace the funny incident and laugh too. Maybe it will be a funny story to tell someday! And trust me, no one will judge you for it. Greeks realize how hard it is for foreigners to learn the language, so they will only think that you are awesome for even trying.

And those are my tips for overcoming your fear of speaking Greek! Let me know in the comments below if you’ve tried any of my recommendations and how it was for you. I’m curious to know!

Γεια χαρά!