A few words
about us and our goals
This initiative started in 2015 by individuals and representatives of literary and cultural organisations within the Greek community. The organising Committee’s policy is to encourage the various stakeholders to initiate, develop and implement activities appropriate to their own fields of endeavour, which promote the Greek language. For example, schools which teach Greek may organise during March (but also throughout the year) competitions, celebrations, debates lectures and special projects related to the Greek language. “We believe that learning another language enhances one’s competence in his/her primary language. As language and culture are interrelated, retaining our mother tongue will strengthen our ability to maintain our cultural identity in multicultural Australia. It will also benefit Australia, as multilingualism in our globalised world is acknowledged to have cultural, educational and trade advantages” Mr Mike Zafiropoulos AM, the convener of the SGM Committee said.
What we Do
Our approach to the campaign is to stimulate interest amongst the community, the school system and government to give greater priority to the teaching, learning and speaking of the Greek language. The Committee’s policy is to encourage the various stakeholders to initiate, develop and implement activities, appropriate to their own fields of endeavour. For instance, schools that teach Greek may organise competitions, celebrations, debates, lectures and special projects related to the Greek language. They may also engage during March with parents to seek feedback and ideas with the aim of improving the effectiveness of the school’s approach.
Why we Do it
We believe that learning another language enhances one’s competence in his/her primary language. As language and culture are interrelated, retaining our mother tongue will strengthen our ability to maintain our cultural identity. The retention of our language in the Diaspora needs constant support, or otherwise it will eventually succumb to the pressures of globalisation and the tendency in some cases to assimilate to the dominant culture. There are many reasons for this, including the prevalence of inter-marriage and the preference and ease for one to speak the language of his/her birthplace. Furthermore, our school system that supports Greek as a second language, needs new ideas and modern marketing tools in order to make the learning of Greek attractive to our youth.
Where
While the campaign originated in Melbourne, it quickly spread to other parts of Australia and overseas. The aspiration of the organising Committee is that the campaign is embraced by the Hellenic Diaspora, but also by other minority communities in Australia.
When
The month of March was chosen for the campaign for a number of reasons, including the fact that this month incorporates a plethora of cultural activities in the Greek community, is at the beginning of the school year and includes the celebration of the Greek National Day. Of course, choosing one month only is a marketing technique because the objective of the campaign is to encourage and promote the speaking and learning of Greek throughout the year
Number of Greek words
The above number is an approximation, there are studies that claim that this number is ten times bigger at least .
Greek words used in English
The above number does not .include scientific or technical terms there are studies that claim the number is not correct