“But we can say, “The brother reads the words of an apostle,” which is worth something. Maybe more useful than saying, “Please give me three red pens and four blue pencils,” in Japanese.”
In Greek school about 100 years ago, the Papas taught us the Our Father in Greek (actually our mothers did but we let the priest think he did. He also taught us “Give me one piece of chocolate cake, please.” I was a miserable sinner even at 8 and preferred the latter to the former
The only sentences I remember from Japanese class are, “Where is the bathroom?” and “Shut up and die!” My father, the Captain, recommends, “Please give me two beers!” as the most useful sentence in any language :-).
I’m past the part about your namesake in the History of Modern Greek, but haven’t reached the part about Crete after World War I. Anoreth was stuned to find that “modern” Greece started in the 4th Century!