Yesterday I used my first real Greek sentence in the wild.

The sentence was simple:

“I don’t eat meat.”

I didn’t learn that sentence by accident. I learned it intentionally, using a language-learning framework that has guided me for more than thirty years.

Learning About GLUE

In 1995, more than thirty years ago, we were preparing to move overseas to Central Asia with our young family — my husband, our two small children, and me.

Before we left, we had the opportunity to attend a conference on how to thrive as expatriates living abroad. As part of that conference, there were several sessions on language learning.

I don’t remember much of the detail from those sessions now, but one thing has stayed with me all these years: the acronym GLUE.

  • Get what you need.
  • Learn what you get.
  • Use what you learn.
  • Evaluate what you use.

It’s a simple framework, but a powerful one, and it has shaped the way I think about language learning ever since.

Applying It to Greek

Fast forward to the present.

In Duolingo, I’ve been learning the verbs eat and drink. Because I’m a vegetarian, it felt immediately relevant to learn how to say:

“I don’t eat meat.”

That sentence wasn’t included in the Duolingo lessons, so I used Google Translate to find it and then spent some time learning it.

I ended up needing it sooner than I expected.

My First Real Sentence

Yesterday we visited a Greek church, and after the service a meal was served.

I took a plate and watched as the servers offered pasta, meat sauce, and salad.

It took me about ten awkward seconds to retrieve my sentence, but when I did, I used my very first Greek sentence in the real world:

“I don’t eat meat.”

They smiled, nodded, and served me pasta and salad.

Success.

GLUE in Action

I used what I had learned — and in my evaluation, I was understood.

This small moment was a simple reminder of GLUE in action: identifying what I needed, learning it, using it, and evaluating the result in real life.

Read more about GLUE here:
GLUE: Making Language Stick