A Personal Parable

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Subtitle: A Beautiful Greek Language Learning Journey

Where it all began

In secondary school in Haiti, I became very interested in learning the Greek language because it was influenced by Latin and many languages worldwide. Years went by. When I started to work on board Celebrity Cruises my love for the Greek language began to flourish more.

The period that I started working with people from Greece

I worked at Celebrity Cruises from October 2014 to November 2017; during my contract as a crew member, I worked with Greek Captains, officers, colleagues and managers.

During my first contract on board celebrity cruises, I became interested in learning Greek because I listened to the Captains, officers, colleagues, and managers speak Greek. This motivated me to like the language more. I became more interested in learning Greek.

Memorable experiences in Greece

I went to Corfu Island, Piraeus, Santorini, and Mykonosmy visit to those places left an impression on my heart. In those days I wish I had been more fluent speaking Greek. Too bad I didn’t know enough about the language and the culture, nevertheless the locals were very hospitable, and the places I visited such as restaurants, landscape, souvenir shops and shopping malls were lovely.

An unexpected meet and greet with the Greek prime minister and the Greek Ambassador to Canada

In February 2022, while walking to the lobby of Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel where I am currently working, I heard some people speaking a foreign language; at the end of the conversation, I heard the word Ευχαριστώ, which means ‘’thank you’’. So, I asked what language they were speaking, and they said they spoke Greek. Fortunately I still remember some of the words I knew from when I was working at Cruise ship. It took me by surprise to know that one person from the group was the Greek ambassador. I didn’t know this at the time.

Though I had been speaking with the Ambassador in broken Greek she honoured….when she introduced me to the Prime Minister who she had been standing with she said something in Greek. I asked what he had said and she jokingly said that I spoke fluent Greek.

I was honoured by the ambassador. She introduced me to prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. I spoke in English with him because my Greek was not good enough to maintain a conversation; I told him that I am from Haiti, I worked with many crews from the Hellenic Republic and I love the language a lot and also said to him that I had been studying the basics with a Greek colleague while working on the cruise many years ago.

However I had forgotten almost everything I had learned, so the prime minister encouraged me to study Greek. That motivated me to enrol in an online Greek lesson 5 months later- now I am still studying Greek and able to speak in Greek with Greek guests at Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel where I work.

Reasons why I decided to enrol in global learning platform called – Preply.

After having an encouraging conversation with the Greek delegation that I met in the hotel where I am working, I started to realize “if only I had the capability to speak Greek, I could make a better impression. I would be able to maintain more extended conversation with them in Greek. With that in mind I got more motivated to learn Greek.

I did some research about Greek lessons in Canada, sadly I could not find colleges, Universities or language schools that teach Greek in private one-on -one classes. Thanks to technology I was able to find an excellent native Greek teacher Styliani C.

Preply, is a global language learning marketplace, connecting 50,000+ tutors with millions of learners from all over the world. I chose the online classes because after comparing them to other online language classes, it suits me better. Since taking classes in Preply I found that the educational materials give me a better understanding of Greek than other online learning platforms – this is my opinion.

Now I am an A2-level Greek student. I started studying on Preply in July 2022, and as a result, I can write, understand and speak Greek very well.

Conclusion

From this experience I hope we all can learn together and inspire each other. When we have goals in life, there will be obstacles that prevent us from accomplishing our dream, but one thing for sure, we should stick to the goals we want to achieve.

I have partnered with Booking.com. I use Booking.com for all of my bookings, and I have always been happy with the service. They have a wide variety of accommodations to choose from, and their prices are very competitive.

I hope you will consider using my affiliate link to book your next stay. It’s a great way to support my blog.

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