Some people find the Greek language useless, waste of time and impractical to learn but think of the advantages and how significant Greek language brought to our daily lives. Greek plays a great part in education, medicine, science and so forth. Understanding Ancient Greek is a difficult but rewarding experience.
Are you thinking about getting the course but doubting? Well, take time to read this post certainly you will get the motivation and inspires you on how to bridge the gap.
Is Greek an easy language to learn? The degree of difficulty relies on the learner’s first language, the quality of the learning program, resources, availability of the materials and the commitment of the learner how he or she responds to the challenge. If the learner doesn’t have the determination, focus and sufficient time on the lesson the progression may not work.
Note, we don’t learn to speak Greek but, we learn to understand. Greek may not be the hardest in the world to learn, but among the most difficult to master for an English-speaking person. It’s hard but, nowhere close to impossible.
Try to recall how the expression goes when the English speakers can’t comprehend a sentence or a statement – they commonly say, “It’s all Greek to me.” See? Greek language is known for its complexity, profoundness especially to English people.
Particularly, Greek is hard, especially to English-speaking person and to all Latin speakers as well. The confusing aspect of the Greek language has varied letters, difficult grammatical cases such as nominative, accusative and genitive, and diverse intonations.
Portuguese-speakers can spot some similarities between their language and the Greek language. For them the alphabet itself, the pronunciations, verbal conjugations and grammatical cases are difficult to learn.
Also, speakers of Indo-European languages find hard to learn verb morphology whilst the Greek vocabulary for them is fairly familiar and understandable than German language.
People speaking Indo-European languages natively will describe Greek easy to understand as they are both in the same language family, compared learning Chinese, Japanese, South Indian, African and so on.
People who speak romance languages, like Spanish, French, and Romanian discover Greek a bit easier. Europe and India have the same family origin and the vocabulary or them practically familiar.
Every learner has a different learning process – some students have slow comprehension, others can grasp quickly. So, if the lesson is quite hard this may affect the development of the learner.
For example, a Chinese speaker finds learning the Japanese language a little easier compared to learning French. Japanese and Chinese have commonality in characters and vocabulary words in which they are both Asian languages. Meaning, the stance of the learner can affect the result and how close the first language of the learner to the new language itself.
Another factor that makes a language difficult to understand is the writing system some languages have three writing systems like the Japanese language. Most importantly, the motivation is very crucial, even if it’s hard, once you are motivated it will make you more confident and focus.
To know more about Greek, watch:
Tips that Makes it Easy to Learn Modern Greek
The Greek language is one of the oldest, richest and most depth languages in the world. If you think that learning Modern Greek benefits you, be positive that this experience well worth. Listed here are some tips to guide you;
Be Tactical
For an English-speaking person getting the tones, pronunciation of the Modern Greek language and focusing on the English corresponding to the letters of the Greek alphabet are very effective strategy to make it easier.
The common thing that confused most is the Greek writing system, but don’t bother about it. Though they look complicated, they’re fully easy in the long run and you will be able to read it aloud.
Learn few tenses
Another strategy is to learn very few tenses only similar to the Present, Past Continuous, Future and Past Perfect tenses – simply focus in one form and concentrate on learning the imperative of some verb forms; two forms, one singular and one plural.
Responsible to find means
Be responsible to look for ways on how to manage your Greek lesson. Find great methods that are applicable to you like finding books, materials and resources online. Learn to experiment and accept corrections.
Practice
Practice the new language as possible, make conversations to the native speakers or do the chatting to widen your knowledge about the language.
Plan
Set your plan and organize your lessons to become proactive in every way. When you make plans ahead of time, it helps you to be effective and organized. For Greek lesson you will probably invest more time and patience to be effective in this field.
Be Resourceful
Read books written in Greek script. Explore, and used the materials available in the market. Do research and read more.
Have the courage
Having the courage to learn difficult languages such as Modern Greek, Latin and others you will overcome fear and you will be able to be successful in your endeavor.
Don’t forget your local language
Remembering your native language helps a lot in learning your second language. It’s a linguistic knowledge strategy that many learners do.
Many words will be familiar if you know any Romance language and English too.
Think Positive
Try not to think about the negative side, maybe you are thinking about the difficulty level of the language. Be optimistic – don’t think too much and don’t assume, unless you try it.
Greek language may be hard but be brave to take the challenge. These tips will enlighten you and guide you, no matter how difficult the language.
So, even if you spend many years of thorough studying, it’s very rewarding when you surpass the entire struggle you’ve experienced during the process. Strive to bridge the gap rest assured you will succeed.
To enhance your skills: Speak Greek beyond the Basics
Why you should Learn Greek?
While modern languages are good to learn, Greek is a classic language that hold significance in education.
Early Greece was spectacular with many discoveries; a lot of these have been extended and adapted by generations. The studies in the field of astronomy, geography, and mathematics have gone far in many fields.
Here are the reasons whyGreek languageis very important to learn and understand;
- Myths, scientific names, medical terms, psychology and many more were rooted from Greek which is very valuable today.
- When visiting Greece in the near time you are comfortable to enjoy the place without the fear not to be understood by Greek people.
- The Greek Phoenician Script was valuable as the fundamental of many writing systems of Latin, Gothic, Cyrillic, Coptic, etc.
- Studying Greek benefit students to learn English at the same time. Research proved that almost 80% of the English words have Greek roots.
- Greece was the motherland of the noble inventor, scientist, mathematicians, poet and wise men. You will discover these useful facts when learning Greek.
- Discover the extensive culture and Architectural Structures in Greece that are still relevant today.
- Greek Mythology is widespread in Western Culture involving art and literature. Also, common English expressions originated from Greek myths and beliefs which are still used and very relevant in the modern world.
- Greek words that start with ‘ph’ were stems from Greek, such as physiology, philosophy, physics, photography, philanthropy and many more.
- Very Important in School. Greek is very valuable for students who learn Biology, Literature, Linguistics, History, Medicine and Law as well.
- Greek, studied philosophy as a way of understanding the world’s environment, without connecting to religion, myth, or magic.
The Greeks immensely simplified the new field of study in Philosophy into the combination of research with regards to the function of knowledge, the ability of the human mind, and how human lives in this world.
From Socrates to Plato, Aristotle, Greek purified the study of Philosophy into a brilliant version which is still used today.
- The Greek alphabet is imperative for technical representation and labels in varied domains of science, mathematics, and other fields.
- Greek Geometry is one of the most ancient branches of mathematics, older than arithmetic itself which is valued today. It is the use of different geometric procedures before it was listed in the history.
Greek manipulated the format of Geometry from the Babylonians, Egyptians and Indus. They insisted that geometric facts must be built by deductive reasoning, in which it was implemented today.
The father of geometry Thales of Miletus, executed, the number of axioms and rules that was the foundation of reasoning. The Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes geometrical axioms law followed and are still used and very relevant today.
- Greek is great for job and business opportunities. Greek is economically top rated in maritime and shipping industry, involves tourism and sailing.
As you can see, learning Modern Greek is benefiting you into our modern world today. The progression of Greece was developed over hundreds of years, and is a vast significance and considered to be the foundation of modern Western culture.
Whether it will be Biology, Engineering, Medicine, Arts, Music or Architecture and much more- the Greek invented a variety of standards valuable in many aspects in which the community gains it all.
If you opt to study in the near future like taxonomy, biology, medicine, etc. certainly you make the right choice.
Related Questions:
How long does it take to learn Greek?
Learning Greek depends on several factors and circumstances;
- Conversational and scientific reading – if your goal to learn Greek is for colloquial and for scientific reading based on research the estimated time will be months to years.
- Method – what is the method of your learning? Live lesson, self-learning, or language traditional schooling? Whatever method you use the span of time will vary greatly on that factor.
- Ability – Your ability to correspond to the learning process definitely count. If your ability is somewhat unfocused, you gave insufficient time to the lesson, not persistent and motivated – unexpectedly you will take years.
- Know your goal “Why I want to learn Greek?”
If someone keeps on asking “how long does it take,” he or she might be looking on the negative side and merely he will not pursue to start learning. Instead, ask another question “Why I want to learn Greek?” and invest time half to an hour each day. By knowing your goal and investing time on it, surely you will succeed and nailed it.
How Ancient Greek Differ from Modern Greek?
Ancient Greek is not similar to the Modern Greek. The syntax, grammar and emotion have changed entirely in the last 2000 years. When reading the ancient Greek the Modern Greek pronunciation is applied, which able you to distinguish the ancient words have survived and are still similar. Some words were missing in the Modern Greek or have been substituted by others.
Overall, understanding ancient Greek is personal, since it is very distinct for everyone depending on the educational attainment, training, knowledge, degree of exposure to ancient alphabet and the motivation to learn.
Studying ancient Greek deepens your knowledge of the Modern Greek. Modern Greek still contains ancient structures in irregular verb forms, expressions and many forms. Ancient Greek is absolutely hard to understand particularly when the author of the text was in the old form. One oldest author is Homer the text was written in the oldest form – the classics can be quite hard mostly the profoundness philosophical or rhetorical texts.
The ancient Greek used capital letters or bold letters whilst Modern Greek used both capital and small letters.
Modern Greek used white spaces and many punctuation marks, unlike the ancient Greek did not have.
The ancient Greek had no number representing zero while in Modern Greek used the Arabic numerals and the Indian originated zero.
Some of the ancient Greek words have different meanings compared to Modern Greek. According to Kennedy a professional translator, (Brazilian student spent a few years in Greece, learning Greek) Ancient Greek has different words meaning than the modern Greek 2,000 years ago. Modern Greek has still a noun, and adjective inflection comparable to ancient Greek. The inflection changes in Vocative, Genitive, Accusative, and Nominative cases.
- Modern Greek has no dative case except for the few expressions that were preserved from the ancient times.
- The ancient Greek dative was divided between Modern Greek’s Genitive and Accusative.
- In modern Greek the accent was modified from a pitch to a stress accent
- Modern Greek has no circumflex, which in ancient Greek was engrossed with a tilde; and no breathings.
These modifications can be noticed across the general language variety.
Modern Greek has a vast simplified system than the ancient Greek and there’s a massive phonetics distinction “vocalic nuclei” was simplified, and in Modern Greek it bears the same sound.
Modern Greek updated all this that becomes simpler gradually. The older the Greek is harder to understand.
On the other hand, Kennedy added that the numerals in ancient Greek have changed. From Jesus time it has changed a little into modern Aramaic.
How Greek Influenced Romance Languages?
To clear things out Greek is not a Romance language; rather it is a branch of Indo-European languages. However, Greek has strongly impacted all European languages because modern European development originated from ancient Greek civilization.
In truth, Greek was the official language of the elite people of the Roman Empire and in the Bible. Thus, its widely influenced the romance languages and Greek sounds alike to a Romance language.
But, Greek is not closely similar to Latin or to any neither “Romance offshoots” nor fit into other linguistic groups in the Indo-European family.
Conclusion:
There are several advancements and civilization only done by Greeks, to the world’s first foot into language, politics, education and the sciences.
Aside from all the importance of Greek influential factors of Western civilization, ancient wise men and architects designed the theoretical basis in a variety of fields in education which are very relevant today.
In the modern age, Greeks influential aspects in many sectors entirely reach not only western counties, but to almost all states in the world.
All the Greek contributions are very useful nowadays, these are the main reasons why many people wanted to learn and understand Greek.
Greek is among the hardest languages to learn, writing system justify it, speaking verbally as well. Basic grammar rules and spelling took others a year to learn.
Based on the report, speaking Greek verbally is quite hard, it requires years to speak fluently with a little accent and around four years to be closely identical from a native speaker.
But, if you are interested to understand Greek, have someone close to you or look for a partner to talk probably a Greek speaker, using your new language. Explore and leave out from your comfort zone or plan a trip it really helps.
Additionally, if you know any romance languages, it will be a bit easier.
Although Greek is classified as one of the hardest languages, however, I’m wishing you to stick with Greek as it’s very rewarding the extra shot.