About

I’m learning Greek. Pezmu exists because I couldn’t find anything that helped me past the beginning.

The early part is well covered. Apps will teach you words and drill grammar, and they do that well. But a language is nothing until you communicate in it, with someone. That was the part I was missing — not the words. The person to use them with.

Three things had to be true of whatever filled that gap.

What comes at me has to be real language, just past my level. Greek I mostly follow, with a bit in it I don’t. Too easy and nothing changes. Too hard and I switch off. And it has to be the way people actually speak, not textbook sentences, because that is where new words and new turns of phrase come from.

I have to say things myself. Understanding a sentence and building one are different skills, and reading only practises the first. So I answer in the language, and I get told what I got wrong — at my level, honestly, while I can still remember saying it.

It has to be worth reading. The same prompts for everyone get boring fast. This conversation is about my week, the trip I’m planning, the thing I’m annoyed about, with someone who remembers it and has opinions of their own. If it’s boring I stop, and then nothing sticks.

I’m building this myself, and it’s early. Greek came first, then six more languages. Parts of it are still rough, and I would rather hear about that than not.

The name. Πες μου — pes mou — is Greek for “tell me.” It is what I hear when a Greek speaker is ready to listen and wants to help: go on, tell me. Pezmu is that, spelled the way it sounds. It is also the whole job of the tutor.