Once, many years ago, took an education class on teaching ESL. Rather back to front as I had previously taught an ESL class of Hong Kong students and subsequently never did so again, as often seems to be the way of things. A couple of things stuck in my mind. One was an article I read explaining that not all languages divide the colour spectrum in the same way - as in whether you perceive indigo and violet as different colours may be down to the language you speak rather than your visual perceptions. Leading to more reflections on Homer and the wine-dark sea.
Another observation was that people learn languages better when the vocabulary provided gives them the words they most want. Which is no doubt why such a high proportion of my very limited Polish vocabulary consists of food words. And the first few Turkish words I recognise are disproportionately food related. As usual the term for whole wheat nearly the first.
Now a new one - adet. (Predictive text just done its best to rewrite that as adept). Means “piece” and is used in the produce section of a grocery store where the English would say each. Or the Greeks would use mono, as in one. If the word adet is missing then the price is per kilo and goes without saying. For some items - say a cauliflower - the price per kilo may be pretty well the same as the price for one. For an avocado not. So it matters.
Walking home from the supermarket struck as always with the grandeur of the mountains. The slope from the village to the sea is gradual over about a kilometre but the village rises steeply for a few blocks behind us and then gives way to near vertical rock face to the peaks.
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