How To Learn Greek - 10 Tips to Help You Begin Learning Modern Greek
Learning Greek is a difficult task for many. Some people learn Ancient Greek in school. If you didn't, then (almost) everything about the language is new to you.
The alphabet, the pronunciation, you don't recognize anything.
Some students learn Spanish or German or French. If you did, then you will find Greek a totally different language.
Your knowledge of German is a big advantage if you want to learn Greek because you will at least recognize the cases used in Greek grammar.
Grammar is probably a subject you remember from elementary school or high school. Who liked that them and what do you remember about it now? What is a direct object again, what is a future tense, and even worse, the adverbs, the cases, the conjunctions: what does it all mean?
If you want to learn another language, you should know a bit about those grammatical terms
It's like being back in elementary school. If you want to make whole sentences and you want to understand the answer, knowing some grammar is important.
And you might need a teacher for that. One consolation, after the difficult beginning you do have a very good basis to continue learning on your own. In the beginning, it doesn't seem to work out.
You think you'll never learn, but you will!
I assure you. For me, it is a challenge to help others learn to speak, understand and write the Greek language. With a lot of dedication, patience, and humor, I succeed.
Dare to speak, dare to make mistakes, dare not to understand, dare to discover your way of learning. That's what these 11 tips are about. Pick out what you like and learn Greek your own way.
10 Tips To Get You Started Learning Greek
Tip 1- Invest in a Greek frequency dictionary
This book gives you the most used words in Greek, so you can progress quickly and efficiently.
Carry this dictionary with you at all times. Anywhere you have to wait you can look up a word and write it down in your little book. You can also check and repeat your own written words anywhere. Read out loud and write them down again. Repetition is very powerful if you want to remember Greek vocabulary.
Tip 2- Watch Greek television
Even if you don't understand what they are saying, listen to the sounds. You will become familiar with the language and the pace. At some point, you will start to recognize words and sentences. You'll feel like you're progressing fast!
Tip 3- Listen to Greek radio & podcasts
You can do this on your smartphone or on your PC too. as much as possible. Talk-shows are best. Even if you don't understand what they are saying, listen to the sounds. You will become familiar with the language and the tempo. At some point, you will start to recognize words, sentences, and dialogues.
Tip 4- Stick stickers with Greek words all over your house
So that you see, read, and speak these terms daily. That's how you learn those Greek words. "Mirror, toilet, table, door, lamp, etc.".
Tip 5- Listen to Greek songs
Look up the lyrics too. Read them on your phone or print them out. Read along
the song out loud. Translate them, or read the translation of the lyrics. This will give you a larger Greek vocabulary and will improve your feeling for the language.
Tip 6- Look up the most important Greek grammar rules
Be sure to look up the most common grammar and verb conjugations at the beginning. Otherwise, you will never learn to make whole sentences and really understand the Greeks.
Tip 7- Immerse yourself when in Greece
Read the signs along the road, of stores. This way you will practice yourself in reading. If you have the opportunity, write down the words and later look up the translation in your dictionary. Our paperback frequency dictionaries provide ample space to make notes, and we encourage you to do so!
Tip 8- Learn from your mistakes
You are likely to not make that one mistake again later if you learned from your error. So in other words, make lots of mistakes.
Tip 9- Start by learning words that you need and words that are easy to remember
If you're new, start working your way down our frequency list. If you have already established a base vocabulary of around 1000-1500 words, it is now time to learn vocabulary that is relevant to your situation.
Tip 10 - Surf to Greek internet pages and read the text.
Even if you don't know all the words. You are practicing your reading skills. For example, the Greek Wikipedia is a great source of Greek texts, and you learn about something interesting at the same time.
Have fun learning Greek. If you have any other tips, please let us know in your comment.
If you want to start learning Greek as a beginner, or if you are advanced in Greek and want to learn to speak better, check out our frequency dictionaries. They teach you the most common Greek words, so you can quickly build your Greek vocabulary.