Greece (Hellas) Three - Text
The subject, a female, born 1988 and and raised in Leukoda, was bi-lingual in Greek and English from early childhood. Her English pronunciation is almost perfect. Paul Meier recorded her February 22, 2006 in his office at the University of Kansas, where she was studying at the time.
She speaks of her childhood in Greece, and finishes by speaking the following short poem in Greek:
Arnaki aspro kai paxi [sheep white and fat]
tis manas tou kamari [ his mother's pride]
evgike is tin exoxi [got out in the country]
kai sto xlwro xortari. [and in the soft grass]
Running time 00:04:50
Transcriptions of Unscripted Speech
I was born in Greece, Eion to be exact, on February 1, 1988. While I can't remember that far about myself, but I was raised in Greece by Greek parents. I grew up bi-lingual, and I got here in August 2005. So, I can study *laughs*. So currently I'm a freshman in KU, and...I was raised bi-lingual uh, my father uh, studied in the US and taught in the US, he was a political science and history professor. So his English was pretty much perfect. And I recall that he would speak to me in English, I wasn't allowed to speak back to him in Greek. And I would speak to my mom and the rest of my family in Greek. So...well I was a very active child *laughs* still am, very honest. Might be considered blunt sometimes. Mmm...I'm up to any kind of challenge, I love adventure and...I really like doing my own thing, that's stubborn, but I like being master of my own choices. My father was from the island of Levkas, which is at the Ionienne Sea, at the north-west of Greece, so I remember we would always go there and uh, speak in English of course uh, go to the beach, spend time, and read stories, or walk around town and talk about the monuments the houses, the people generally. The first thing that came to mind is uh, silly poem that we used to learn in grade school, it's talking about a sheep being outside in a yard *laughs* so, the poem is this:
Arnaki aspro kai paxi
tis manas tou kamari
evgike is tin exoxi
kai sto xlwro xortari
sheep white and fat
his mother's pride
got out in the country
and in the soft grass