What is Greek?
Greek is the official and native language spoken primarily by people from Greece, a Mediterranean country famous for its beauty, history, cuisine and culture. Greek holds official status in Greece and Cyprus, but these are not the only Greek-speaking countries. Other countries that speak as a minor language include Albania and Turkey, and perhaps surprisingly Germany and Australia which both have approximately 300,000 speakers.
While Greek is one of the less widely spoken languages in the world, it actually finds a very widespread relevance as one of the essential building blocks of the English language.
You might already know that a lot of words in English are derived from Latin, or perhaps that English shares a lot of similarities and words with German and French; in a very similar way, lots of our terminology, especially in the sciences and academic fields use Greek (and confusingly Latin), as a formalised system of naming concepts and ideas.
A notorious example of the confusion is the word “bicycle”, which has roots in both languages. “bi” meaning two in Latin and “cycle”, although latinized, coming from the Greek “kyclos” meaning circle. There are thousands more examples of English words that can trace their origin back to Ancient Greece’s aptitude for science, philosophy and mathematics.
Even in modern times, we are constantly finding out surprising knowledge from this civilization and others like it, that was lost to the West during the “Dark Ages”.
Learning Greek… What’s in it for me?
There are plenty of good reasons to learn a language. Most of which of course apply to Greek as well. For example, the most universal reason, besides sheer curiosity, is travel or emigration. Greece is a lovely place to visit and having been there myself, I can safely say that if you have any affinity for luscious landscapes, warm weather and wonderful cuisine, Greece would make a fine destination for adventures abroad.
With this in mind, learning at least a little bit of the Greek language is likely to facilitate a better experience in Greece, while also allowing you to broaden your horizons and expand the number of people in the world who you can communicate with. If nothing else, it's a really cool skill to show off to your friends and family, as language learning is and always will be one of the most respected and sought-after skills; communication is fundamental to everything we say and do, after all.
The more unique benefit of learning Greek ties into what we mentioned before. Learning Greek language basics will help any English speaker develop a more full and comprehensive understanding of their own language. When you know a little Greek, maybe we can use the word Kronos as an example, you start to notice patterns in the English language based on the root word structure of Greek.
“Kronos” means “time”, and if we apply this root to other words, we can understand the structure of more complex words like chronograph, or chronological. The endings of these words are also Greek suffixes, which combine with the root to mean different things.
Graph, from the ancient Greek “graphō” meaning to draw by scratching or scraping a surface like we do with pens combines with chrono to mean something like “time diagram” and wouldn’t you know… a chronograph is a type of watch. Knowing this, why not try it yourself?
If I tell you that the suffix of chronological comes from the Greek word “logos” see if you can come up with a definition for logos and check it with an internet search to see if you were right.
Learning to speak Greek… What resources do we have?
Whether our goal is to learn Greek online, learn Greek for free, or to take a more traditional approach, it’s good to know and understand all the resources available to us, so that we can learn as efficiently as possible. It will also help us understand why there’s no good answer to the question “Is Greek hard to learn?”.
Right off the bat, it’s probably misleading to say, assuming you’re really serious about learning Greek as quickly as possible, that a full-fledged course is not the most efficient way to pick up the language. Having an entire timetabled curriculum made from the most up-to-date and official information is just about the best method we have devised as a society for transferring skills and knowledge, however, this isn’t free, nor is it passive, and therefore it’s not for everybody, so let's take a look at the other options as well.
In this day and age, lots of people are learning languages in their free time or as a hobby, and this is even more likely to be the case if you’re not learning as part of an extra course or component of your school curriculum. This fact plays a part in the rise of mobile apps as one of the most popular ways to learn a new language. Some examples of these apps that I myself have used habitually include Duolingo, Rosetta Stone and my personal favourite, Language Transfer. Let’s look at a brief overview of each one.
Duolingo:
This app is your bread and butter in terms of diversity and simplicity, it's free and uses advertisements and an energy system circumvented by a pretty cheap subscription fee to make its money. Even if you don’t decide to pay and choose instead to put up with the ads, it really is as simple as opening the app, picking a language course and getting right into a series of quick 5-minute lessons that tackle specific topics in a structured course.
This app, if used religiously, will make you a grammatical expert and load you with basic Greek vocabulary, however, it lacks the natural conversational setting from which learners obtain their fluency and natural intonations.
If you choose to learn Greek with Duolingo, I would make sure to supplement it with some real-world practice or use another method from this article.
Rosetta Stone:
Rosetta Stone is a little bit more complicated and accessible via an app and on your desktop browser. This is a pricier yet more comprehensive solution than Duolingo, and it has been around for much longer, allowing it to market itself as a trusted, tried and tested method.
One could also fairly say that Rosetta Stone takes itself more seriously, so if the quips and cartoons in Duolingo are too much for you, Rosetta Stone is worth considering. If you have funds to spare, of course.
Language Transfer:
What if you don’t want to spend anything, but don’t want to compromise on quality either? Nothing comes for free, I would say, but in this case that would make me a liar, since Language transfer is not only completely free, but it also provides high-quality recordings of one-to-one lessons, between a teacher and volunteer student which you can follow along.
Each course, including the Greek one, is set up like a podcast, where each lesson constitutes an episode, with a slight topic introduced with continuity from the last one. These episodes don’t just teach you vocabulary or sentences, but instead try to get you to understand the root structure of the language, so that you can start learning it like it was your first language.
If apps aren’t your speed, and you’d prefer something more traditional, there are of course books which you can go through with a tutor, or by yourself. Like everything else, there’s paying, and a budget-friendly way to use this resource too.
As the son of a French tutor, I can say from experience that dedicated tuition is extremely effective, I’ve always spoken the language, but I took some lessons to properly grasp the grammar and conjugation rules, so I can say from experience that for targeted and personalised learning, there’s nothing quite like tuition from a real human being.
If budget is a problem, it might be worth checking out your local library, which will almost certainly have language learning guidebooks. As long as you don’t mind the formality of taking out a new lease on the book from time to time, you can read all there is to know about the Greek language for free!
There are also a wealth of free language learning videos on YouTube, so if you ever get stuck on a particular concept, or just want to try your luck with a full course online, make sure to check out the ever-popular video sharing platform.
Some basic Greek to get started
I think it’s safe to assume that if you’re still reading, you’re probably pretty invested in the idea of learning Greek, so before we finish, I’ll give you a few simple phrases in Greek to get you started. (It’s also important to note that spoken Greek has an informal and formal form, so be careful when you learn a new phrase and check that it’s polite to use in the given context!).
What’s your name? / Pós sé lene?
My name is [name] pleased to meet you! / Me léne [name]. Charika.
How are you? / Pós eísai? (careful this one is informal)
/ Pós eíste? (formal)
I’m very well / Eímai polý kalá
Not well / kathólou kalá
Goodbye / Antío sas
Bye Bye / Antío
These are just a few very basic phrases, but the idea is to give you a feel for what the language looks like phonetically. I hope you’ve enjoyed this short guide on how and where to get into learning Greek. Nevertheless, feel free to check out the rest of our educational articles here on superprof including more articles about Greece, or plenty on a great variety of different topics. Hope we see you soon, thanks for reading!
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