The best classroom to learn a language is mother’s lap as the connoisseurs say. In that warm , secure place a child will learn anything, and very quickly, too. Next best they say –an improvement , they think after puberty – is the lap of someone we are sexually involved with.
In my case my mother the only language ever taught to me was Greek.The English language came later in my ears through the film movies like James Bond and television series Simon Templar,the Saint. And ofcourse I realised straight away that I knew English. Give me subtitles and I give you basic language comprehension. The next step was a series of lessons with Greek-Greek teachers, American-Greek, Australian-Greek British-British and American-American...etc. So when I moved to England from the sophisticated metropolis- Athens to the English suburbia, I foresaw no problem that I could not understand some of the inhabitants nor they understood me.. I knew this noncommunication was related to underdevelopment. Obviously not mine! So I moved to the next step as the connoisseurs advise. I found Johnny. But again there we are, I thought I found a man with a permanent teeth problem, he was speaking like he had a recent injection in his lips. It was not me again but his Oxford accent the fault!
Speaking- as opposed to understanding-English was almost the same. What came out of my mouth and reached my ear was perfect English. That’s how it sounded to me. What an auditory hallucination!!!
