Speak Cretan in 15 minutes! (2)
West Crete Journal, July 2006

Nearly a year after the Cretan dialect was officially accepted by the European parliament as one of the official European minority languages (in the esteemed company of Welsh, Gaelic, and Basque), we thought it may be useful for clients to impress the local people by learning a few words and phrases of this ancient language. To start this learning course, you will need to have a rapier wit, be fluent in modern Greek, and probably suffer from an obscure personality disorder.

Here is this issue's Cretan vocabulary, from which we will form a Very Useful phrase below:

Cretan

Greeklish

English

Αποχαιρετίξω

apo-hair-et-IX-o

I say goodbye

Νταγιαντίξω

da-gee-an-DΙΧ-oh

I stand it, I bear it

Γκάψω

g-AP-soh

I leave

Δικολογιά

thee-ko-log-EE-a

relatives

Θωρώ

thor-OH

I see

Πρίχου

pr-EE-hoo

before

Ταϊτέρου

tie-TEH-roo

tomorrow


Today’s Very Useful Cretan Phrase:

Ταϊτέρου πρίχου να γκάψω, θέλω να αποχαιρετίζω την δικολογιά μου. Μα δεν νταγιαντίζω να τσοι θωρώ να κλαίνε.
 

Tomorrow before I leave, I want to say goodbye to my relatives.  But I cannot bear to see them crying.

Say this to your Cretan friends and watch their reactions!  We're sure they will be so pleased, that they will pester you daily about when your next Cretan lesson is due. Or they may just start avoiding you in the street ...