Ε = Επιτυχία

very nice poem project, translated in many languages


I passed the test. It’s not false modesty to say I’m sure it was graded on a curve. I know my abilities. They plateaued years ago. But I’m proud of my successes. I am prouder, in fact, of learning Greek than I am of anything I ever did at university.

Learning the alphabet wasn’t so bad; finding a good teacher was. So many times I wanted to give up. I had no choice but to persist, to do most of the work myself. I plodded through grammar and tears. I wrote countless compositions. I knew what I had to do. My first conversations were painfully slow; I struggled for every single word.

I hate making mistakes. I stayed mute for three years to avoid it; I still do sometimes. I let others do the talking. And then I regret it, because speaking Greek really is a pleasure, and the rewards, the double-takes, the comments, the compliments, are usually worth the risks.