What's your evidence? in Greek

How the whole thing sounds

The situation: examining an argument and checking the data. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.

• ▶
  Λες ότι η μέθοδος δουλεύει. Πού το στηρίζεις;

  les óti i méthodos dulévi. pu to stirízis?

  You say the method works. What is it based on?
• ▶
  Σε τρεις μετρήσεις. Το δείγμα ήταν μικρό, το παραδέχομαι.

  se tris metrísis. to dígma ítan mikró, to paradékhome

  On three measurements. The sample was small, I admit.
• ▶
  Τρεις μετρήσεις δεν αποδεικνύουν νομοτέλεια.

  tris metrísis den apodikníun nomotélia

  Three measurements don't prove a pattern.
• ▶
  Συμφωνώ. Αλλά η παρατήρηση είναι σταθερή κάθε φορά.

  simfonó. alá i paratírisi íne statherí káthe forá

  Agreed. But the observation is the same every time.
• ▶
  Τότε ξαναέλεγξέ το με άλλη προσέγγιση, για σιγουριά.

  tóte ksanaélenksé to me áli proséngisi, ya siguriá

  Then cross-check it with another approach, to be sure.
• ▶
  Θα το κάνω. Αν βγει το ίδιο, το επιχείρημα στέκει.

  tha to káno. an vyi to ídio, to epikhírima stéki

  I will. If it comes out the same, the argument stands.
• ▶
  Ακριβώς. Το να αποδεικνύεις είναι πιο δύσκολο από το να ισχυρίζεσαι.

  akrivós. to na apodikníis íne pio dískolo apó to na iskhirízese

  Exactly. Proving is harder than claiming.

Lines one by one

How to prepare for a conversation like this

Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.

And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.

• Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many times
  Teimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
• That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many times
  Xiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.

Next

• The whole phrasebookAll situations in one list
• How long have you been here?A talk about the years spent in the country
• The river changed colorA talk about the pollution of a river
• The order didn't arriveSorting out a delivery at the warehouse
• Here is what happenedRetelling an incident