Getting Greek Australian youth to speak Greek is a difficult endeavour and it gets more difficult with every generation. But one family found a way to ensure their 4th generation child achieved this milestone.
Year 8 student Mariah Palaktsoglou speaks fluent Greek but it was due to the discipline her Australian-born parents imposed in her pre-school years and it involved dubbed cartoons and strict restrictions on the English language.
Mariah detailed this in her award winning essay, in the Hellenic Dreaming High School Short Story Competition held by the Greek Museum of Adelaide Inc. in conjunction with Dr Helen Vatsikopoulos with sponsorship from the Hellenic Studies Foundation.
Mariah’s first prize win was announced at the South Australian launch of the book Hellenic Dreaming: Greek Australian Stories recently held at the Cowandilla Community Room. Edited by the Walkley Award winning journalist and academic, Dr Vatsikopoulos, the book includes 37 well known Greek Australians telling their survival stories about growing up in the Greek Australian diaspora.
The competition opened earlier this year inviting third and fourth Greek Australian high school students to submit their own story on the topic: ‘What does it mean to you about being a Greek Australian today and the role Greek language plays in your Greek identity and culture?’
Mariah’s prize includes airline tickets for two to Melbourne to visit the Hellenic Museum plus accommodation, meals, travel and more. Three other prizes were also awarded.
Mariah’s evocative narrative caught the judges’ attention. She told her story of how she only spoke Greek in her early years. On entering kindergarten, she was suddenly exposed to a different world.
She said: “I remember struggling to understand the educators and the children speaking English… My parents felt slightly guilty at this point.”
Mariah is a great example of the issues faced by children and parents when choosing to immerse their children in the Greek language so that they grow up multilingual.
“You see we were only ever looked after by our grandparents up until school, and family and friends only interacted with us in Greek. Anything we watched on TV was in Greek… all the Disney movies… even Peppa Pig… The theme song was quite funny in Greek,” she said.
Her story stood out among many strong entries, reflecting both the richness of the Greek Australian experience and the importance of intergenerational connections. The competition challenged students to reflect on their identity, on the importance of knowing the Greek language and culture as a third or fourth generational Greek Australian.
During the award announcement, Dr Vatsikopoulos and two other South Australian contributors, Emerita Professor of Psychology Martha Augoustinos and filmmaker and director Kay Pavlou, shared their experiences growing up as first and second-generation Greek Australians to an audience of over 117 people including the Consul General of Greece in Adelaide Dr Alexandra Theodoropoulos.
The other winners were:
- Equal second prize: Sophia Skoumbros and Frank Lambetis, both Year 8 students.
- Third prize: Yannis Thanos, Year 9.
- Special first/second generation category support by the Museum: Nikolaos Triantafyllou, a Year 11 student.
As Mariah said: “The ability to speak Greek with others can create a shared community and sense of belonging. When a language is lost, part of that culture is lost and this is why we want to keep our Greek culture alive because when language is preserved, the traditions and customs continue”.
The competition was made possible with a grant from the South Australian Hellenic Studies Foundation which supports Greek language programs including the popular Wiggles’ Learning Greek with Lucia.
