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Who are " Οi Ξένοι"?
by Guest User - Wednesday, 10 January 2007, 01:41 AM
  I've just bought a Greek language book.It's very good, but the title seems strange: Nέα Ελληνηικά για Μετανάστες, Παλιννοστούντες, Πρόσφυγες και Ξένους.
Aren't immigrants and refugees foreigners too? Why the different categories? It's hard to imagine an English(or French or Spanish or German etc.) language book entitled: English for Immigrants, Repatriates, Refugees AND Foreigners.
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Re: Who are " Οi Ξένοι"?
by Greg Brush - Wednesday, 10 January 2007, 11:51 AM
  Nέα Ελληνηικά για Μετανάστες, Παλιννοστούντες, Πρόσφυγες και Ξένους. = Modern Greek for Immigrants, Repatriates, Refugees, and Foreigners.

Yes, they're all "foreigners" as we think of them, but for Greek purposes they fall into different cultural categories and their language needs differ.

Immigrants -- non-Greek people born abroad, speaking a non-Greek language, who have legally immigrated to Greece and will spend the rest of their lives there, assimilating into Greek life.

Repatriates -- those of ethnic Greek origin, from somewhere in the Greek diaspora around the world, who are returning to the "homeland". They may very well not speak Greek, or at least not well, but they do not fall into the same cultural category as an immigrant or foreigner.

Refugees - people who speak some non-Greek language fleeing some problem abroad. They are in Greece temporarily and will presumably return eventually to their homeland.

Foreigners -- those visiting Greece, usually for business or tourism, and who will soon go home.
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Re: Who are " Οi Ξένοι"?
by Guest User - Friday, 2 November 2007, 02:12 PM
  Can you tell me which level you bought, and if you are still using the book ten months later?
Also - which country did you buy it in?
I saw the series on www.bibliagora.com last year, but it is no longer being promoted on that site's front pages. And without my own PC I cannot get Greek characters and so cannot search that site.

I was by the way horrified to see on another (so-called Greek specialist) site that the second term in the title was translated as 'former students'!!

Regarding your original question, we have the distinction between TESOL - English for speakers of other languages who are planning to settle in an English-speaking country - and TEFL - English for people needing to communicate in English for some other reason. I totally agree about the differences in cultural background for the four different groups in the title. Having used the book now, do you feel that it adequately addresses - or better actually draws on in order to provide relevant materials -these diverse backgrounds?
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Re: Who are " Οi Ξένοι"?
by Guest User - Friday, 2 November 2007, 08:27 PM
  Also, it's important to note something about Greek. To Greeks, you are Greek, no matter where you are born or raised. Thus, a a "ksenos" is someone who is not ethnically Greek, regardless of actual nationality.
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Re: Who are " Οi Ξένοι"?
by Guest User - Sunday, 4 November 2007, 06:17 PM
  Alas, a far cry from either Socrates or Diogenes, I forget now:

"I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world"

or even more eloquently, 'The Oath of Alexander the Great':

"See the whole world as your homeland, with laws common to all, where the best will govern regardless of their race. The origin of citizens or the race into which they were born is of no consequence to me. I have only one criterion with which to distinguish them - virtue. For me any good foreigner is a Greek and any bad Greek is worse than a Barbarian."

PS. Don't shoot the messenger!
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Re: Who are " Οi Ξένοι"?
by Guest User - Monday, 5 November 2007, 02:40 PM
  Michael,

I agree with you in principle. I was just reporting the way Greek people use the word "ksenos." So, as you said, don't shoot the messanger. wink

I wonder if Alexander the Great's statement is prompted by the fact that he wanted so desparately to be Greek, even though he was Macedonian, i.e., a ksenos.