Greek Cinema: The great ambassador of Greek culture and language

Cinema.

Something a lot of us have definitely missed this last year of our lives.

Choosing a film you can't wait to see, the smell of popcorn wafting from every corner of the theatre...the surreal feeling of immersing yourself into a completely different virtual world for a couple of hours..the animated debriefs as the feature ends and movie-goers straggle out...

Who doesn’t love movies?

Movies are invaluable and while we may consider them primarily as an escapist form of entertainment that makes us feel good for some hours, there is so much more to them.

Movies play an important role in promoting culture and in communicating the intricacies, particularities, characteristics, and view points of a nation and its people to the rest of the world. 

Greek City Times spoke to global Greek language school Greek Lessons Online about the important role that Greek cinema plays as a great ambassador of Greek culture and language and here's what they had to say.

Greek cinema is a cultural element that can make a great difference in Greek language learning

Had you ever considered Greek cinema as this great vehicle of culture? Greek movies help promote Hellenic culture and the Greek language to people everywhere.

If you had never considered this, maybe you should because according to many language experts and educators, watching movies in Greek can be this great addition to your Greek lessons that you were looking for. The very factor that can make a difference. 

Watching Greek movies can help with a learner’s motivation and enthusiasm levels at the early stages of learning Greek.

Movies help create to excitement about the new language which motivates students to want to hear and read more of it.

And as you all know hearing and reading more of any language is what will eventually help to lead you to speak it. 

Greek cinema is a language tool and as a warm reminder of our roots

Like most languages, modern Greek comes with its particularities.

So watching movies in Greek will help familiarize a learner with the special rhythm of the language, with native Greek intonation and sounds and it undoubtedly helps expand a learner’s vocabulary.

Whether a movie from the golden film era of the 50s and 60s, with all the great actors that your Greek parents or grandparents grew to adore, or a more modern film, Greek cinema can be great and is usually very fun.

Just as with cinema produced by every country, there are movies that are a waste of time.

But there are also amazing ones that you will absolutely love and watch again and again not only as a way to revise your vocabulary, but as warm reminders of the culture that may lie on the other side of the world but is still a big part of who you are. 

Greek Film Festivals help keep Hellenic art and culture alive, modern and relevant

Just as cinema promotes culture, Greek cinema promotes Greek culture, the Greek heritage, Hellenism.

It communicates the position of Greece in the 50s and 60s, it illustrates the anxieties of poor people who were struggling in a country experiencing a transitional era and how they always found the will, courage, humour and temper to not only survive, but to also  fall in love, to have fun, to live.

Today’s Greek cinema manages to communicate the position of a changing Greece in more modern times, a people with new anxieties rooted to old wounds.

It showcases interesting new directors and actors who can show you a side of Greece that you had never seen before.

Luckily we have Greek Film Festivals to thank for the promotion of such movies. There are a lot Greek film festivals both in Greece and around the world that display this side of Greek art and culture to their audiences and that of course do their part in the effort to make Hellenism, the Greek language and their values accessible to anyone interested. 

Watching Greek films will definitely give your Greek language learning the boost it needs.

Try it and who knows, maybe it will make a big difference and also bring you in touch with a type of cinema that you never knew you could grow to love so much.  

The big Greek Language Survey

The connection between Hellenic culture and the Greek language is a huge topic of great interest to the Greek language teachers and educators of The Greek Online School.

You might want to help in a relevant research project by completing the big Greek language survey that intends to help you see your connection to Greece in a new light.

You may do the 5-minute survey here. 

Greek Lessons Online is an online family with one common goal; to learn to love Greek and keep our language alive and growing.

If you are interested in experiencing a Greek LOL online class, book your free trial today greek-lol.com

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