What does Greek sound like to a non speak

 Sure I will write them if this doesnt disturb other members (I dont think they would be disturbed.)

I dont know if "malaka" is in common use, but I know its meaning and usage as "vre malaka" but I heard "pazavank", "kerata", "orospu", "pich", "hassiktir", kerhaneci (karanagi?) are used with small differences in Greek.

Originally posted by Gazi As a Turk living in Anatolia Greek doesnt sound alien to me as Turks and Greeks have intermingled and lived together for hundreds of years.Consequently there are many Greek words in Turkish.(of course they have been altered slightly)And there are probably quite a few Turkish words in Greek as well.

Yeah, you are quite right. There are lots of common words in both languages. Greek has lots of Turkish words and Turkish has lots of Greek words.

For example in Turkish most of the words about sea, sailing, fish and islands in Turkish are from Greek or Italian. And in Greek most of the words about military, musical insturments, lots of food and object names are Turkish originated. Also some heavy insult words are common btw Turkish and Greek.

It is proved that about 13,000 Turkish words are used in Greek, and more than 10,000 Greek words exist in Turkish. Mostly the sound "ch", "gh" and "sh" in Turkish became "is", "si", "tsz" "ki", "g" in Greek.

 

As a Turk living in Anatolia Greek doesnt sound alien to me as Turks and Greeks have intermingled and lived together for hundreds of years.Consequently there are many Greek words in Turkish.(of course they have been altered slightly)And there are probably quite a few Turkish words in Greek as well.

Like Chinese to Greeks......The Hellenic language is really unique.It does not request a spesific accent,it is very complex and WAY too big than Spanish and English.

To me it sounds a little like Dutch in a way, rather plain, no fancy romance pronounciation like Italian, no smoothness like French, more 'down to earth' maybe. If I'd hear it at a very low volume in the background at some place where it wouldn't make sense, I'd mistake it for Dutch

Anyway it doesn't sound like a mixture to me, it sounds more distinct.

Sounds like a mix of spanish and some slavic language. Not altogether ugly

I have been to Greece twice and having a Greek mother I have been around the language a lot but I know only a few words and short sentences.

It does sound unique but it does sound much closer to the Romance languages such as Spanish than English. I have a hard time with pronunciation, but I struggled with Spanish as well, still do.

A good story; we went to Tijuana, Mexico to tour. We stopped at the various shops but I remember the store clerks speaking Spanish but they knew English. I think my mother and cousin were a bit irritated so they started to speak Greek and the store clerks just scratched their heads. Probably thinking "What strange language is that???"

What do you think Greek sounds like??