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Winter in Greece is never boring, and for those who thought that Greece is only a summer country, you couldn’t be more wrong :-).  Due to its varied nature and culture, Greece has to offer something in any season!
The end of 2022 and beginning of 2023 was a sunny and warm period, but we expect any moment the winter to start…
Better be prepared, and get your warm cloths ready…or start planning your winter trip to Greece!

Below you can also listen to the Greek audio by teacher Marina. For the Greek text, click on the button here above.

 

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The Vasilopita is a nice Greek Tradition . Baking the “vasilopita”, a special cake for the New Year, will make sure to start things off right! When cutting the cake into slices on New Year’s Day, Greeks will name each slice as they cut it, after everyone in the family and friends. Usually, also a coin is hidden in the bottom of the cake. Whoever is lucky enough to get the coin in their slice is considered especially blessed in the coming year! So maybe a nice Greek tradition to also try it with your family and friends back home?

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Greek Traditional Christmas Cookies, are very popular and baked at most households in Greece.
During the month of December Greeks are looking forward to buy, bake, eat or treat the typical Christmas sweets.
One of the typical Christmas cookies you can find in every bakery, patisserie or household, are the “melomakarona”.



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Autumn in Greece is full of surprises! Even though summer is probably the most popular season in Greece, for Greeks and non-Greeks, also autumn and winter have much more to offer than you might think! Since the Tourist Industry focuses on Greece as a typical country for summer holidays, not everyone knows that Greece is more than only beaches and sea.  Here an introduction to different aspects of the beautiful Greek autumn.


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Building your Greek vocabulary with a Greek song, while listening to Greek music, is fun.
Below you can read the lyrics and listen to a very nice and popular Greek song by Rena Morfi.  


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Would you like to listen to a Greek Christmas carol, or sing along?
On December 24th, if you are in Greece, do not be surprised when children ring your doorbell early in the morning! Τhe children go from house to house singing about the birth of Jesus Christ, holding their small metal triangles.  Open them the door; it is believed to bring good luck into your home. And do not forget to give them some coins!

Θα θέλατε να ακούσετε τα ελληνικά χριστουγεννιάτικα κάλαντα ή να τα τραγουδήσετε κι εσείς μαζί; Στις 24 Δεκεμβρίου, αν είστε στην Ελλάδα, μην ξαφνιαστείτε όταν νωρίς το πρωί τα παιδιά χτυπήσουν το κουδούνι της πόρτας σας! Τα παιδιά πηγαίνουν από σπίτι σε σπίτι και τραγουδάνε για τη γέννηση του Ιησού Χριστού, κρατώντας τα μικρά μεταλλικά τους τρίγωνα. Ανοίξτε τους την πόρτα. Θεωρείται πως φέρνουν τύχη στο σπίτι. Και μην ξεχάσετε να τους δώσετε μερικά κέρματα! 

However, due to covid 19, we are not sure if many children will sing from door to door,  on Christmas Eve…

Παρόλα αυτά, λόγω του κορονοϊού , δεν είμαστε σίγουροι αν θα επιτραπεί στα παιδιά να τραγουδήσουν την παραμονή των Χριστουγέννων…

Therefore, Omilo teacher Eva, will sing it for you, so you can listen to it as many times as you want 🙂
Before you sing along,  let’s do a small Greek listening exercise first!

Listen to the song on the video, and fill out the missing words in the exercise, which you can find under the video!

Γι’ αυτό, η δασκάλα του Omilo η Εύα, θα τραγουδήσει για εσάς ώστε να μπορέσετε να ακούσετε τα κάλαντα όσες φορές θέλετε!  Μπορείτε να τραγουδήσετε μαζί με την Εύα αλλά ας κάνουμε μία μικρή ακουστική άσκηση πρώτα! 
Ακούστε το τραγούδι στο βίντεο και συμπληρώστε τις λέξεις που λείπουν στην άσκηση που βρίσκεται κάτω από το βίντεο!

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How to say “I do” in Greek and useful expressions

One of the most important verbs that you need to memorize when starting learning Greek is the verb “κάνω” = I do or I make

It is an easy verb that we use in many everyday phrases. Below you will find some important expressions and some useful tips on how to use this verb. Let’s have a look!

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Listen to the Greek text, improve your listening skills, while learning more about Saffron.
Saffron is a delicious spice coming from the Krokos (crocus) flower, is growing in Greece and known since ancient times! Saffron is being used in many different ways: for its flavor in the kitchen, for its color in cosmetics and paint, for its healing properties in the pharmaceutical sector. Cleopatra saw the value of using saffron in cosmetics, in the Old Testament, it was mentioned because of its essence and Aeschylus described it as a way to dye fabric.
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Greek is not the most difficult language to learn, but also not the easiest one! The Greek language has a lot of grammar, long words, an accent on every word with more than 1 syllable, a very rich vocabulary, expressions and difficult spelling.
However, do not worry! Greeks usually understand a lot, even when you make a lot of mistakes in one sentence! So let’s look at it from the positive side, since there are also some easy things you can quickly learn and use on a daily basis.
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Learn how to say “See you” and “We will see” in Greek, and you can say it several times per day, when visiting Greece. When you visit Greece or you are spending time with Greeks, there are some daily expressions you hear all the time. It is useful to learn them by heart.

Since the expressions sound a bit similar, foreigners many times get confused and end up saying those expressions at the wrong time.

So, imagine you meet up with your lovely Greek friend(s), you all have a great time, you kiss them goodbye and you are about to say ‘See you in Greek. So by trying to translate “See you”, many non-Greeks say ‘Θα δούμε!’ … and you instantly ruin the image of the excellent Greek language learner! Do not worry; most Greeks will understand what you actually wanted to say!

However, it is also really easy to learn to say the expressions correctly.
More inf below – Enjoy your lesson! Καλό μάθημα!
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