What's the best way to learn modern Greek from home?
June 18, 2020 1:33 PM Subscribe
I've wanted for a long time to learn modern Demotic Greek. Especially now that social distancing means there are way more resources online, what's the best out there? I'd love resources that MeFites have personal familiarity with. I do have people to practice with.
Greek is a heritage language in my family and it would mean a lot to me and my family for me to be able to speak it. Right now I can only say really basic tourist phrases, count to ten, and write my name. My mom is a fluent speaker, and I would be able to practice with her and potentially some of my other family members. She actually speaks katharevousa, but doesn't have any trouble with understanding demotiki speakers and vice versa.
If I were forced to choose a top priority between speaking and writing, I would choose speaking.
I want to actually learn grammar rules and get in-depth advice on pronunciation. I don't love the Rosetta Stone style of language learning that's focused on repeating phrases without getting the theory behind them. I majored in linguistics in college and I find it way easier to learn languages if I can apply what I learned in linguistics classes about phonology and syntax.
This would not be my first time learning a new language. I've always done really well in language classes but get super anxious and clam up when speaking outside of a classroom setting.
I'm willing to spend money on this and don't know what my budget should be, so I'll take suggestions at any price point for now.
Greek is a heritage language in my family and it would mean a lot to me and my family for me to be able to speak it. Right now I can only say really basic tourist phrases, count to ten, and write my name. My mom is a fluent speaker, and I would be able to practice with her and potentially some of my other family members. She actually speaks katharevousa, but doesn't have any trouble with understanding demotiki speakers and vice versa.
If I were forced to choose a top priority between speaking and writing, I would choose speaking.
I want to actually learn grammar rules and get in-depth advice on pronunciation. I don't love the Rosetta Stone style of language learning that's focused on repeating phrases without getting the theory behind them. I majored in linguistics in college and I find it way easier to learn languages if I can apply what I learned in linguistics classes about phonology and syntax.
This would not be my first time learning a new language. I've always done really well in language classes but get super anxious and clam up when speaking outside of a classroom setting.
I'm willing to spend money on this and don't know what my budget should be, so I'll take suggestions at any price point for now.
The Foreign Service Institute's audio-lingual Demotic Greek course is freely available. It comes as pdf + mp3 files. I haven't personally used the Greek course, but I did use FSI's very similar French courses, which I just loved. FSI courses are sometimes faulted for being now out-of-date in terms of vocabulary and culture; however -- in compensation -- they provide lots of material to work on pronunciation and aural grammatical patterns. It's definitely a speak before you write approach, yet includes robust discussions of grammar. So, their Greek course may recommend itself to you as an audio-centric supplement to other more culturally contemporary materials. (And you can ask your mom to warn you if anything too old-fashioned is finding its way into your speech!)
(I took a look and this course was published in '67; the introduction says it's 'kathomilumeni' that's being taught, which is apparently an intersection of katharevousa and demotic. Perhaps that makes it closer to your mom's Greek than that taught by more modern methods.
Best of luck!)
posted by bertran at 1:10 AM on June 19, 2020
(I took a look and this course was published in '67; the introduction says it's 'kathomilumeni' that's being taught, which is apparently an intersection of katharevousa and demotic. Perhaps that makes it closer to your mom's Greek than that taught by more modern methods.
Best of luck!)
posted by bertran at 1:10 AM on June 19, 2020
The answer to this largely depends on your personality and learning style, which is a little different than mine, but here’s my experience:
-Duolingo may not help you much with explanation of grammar rules BUT it does incentivise you to practice a little bit of Greek every day, which I found much more effective at the beginner level than books or CDs or even language classes. Maybe combine these approaches?
-I didn’t know FSI offered free coursework and find that so interesting, but I would not take a modern Greek course from 1967. Aside from linguistic changes, you may end up being asked some awkward political questions if you speak this way with modern Greeks. Up to you though.
- I am not a linguist so this may not apply to you, but at the very beginning I would get really frustrated because no one would explain me the reasoning behind the grammar rules they were making me memorise. I like knowing the reason why! Eventually I learned that the grammar rules are so Byzantine and weird that at the very beginning they make no sense to most people. I learned faster once I accepted this. I hope I will understand grammar reasoning more thoroughly in future, but right now I can use the grammar rules to speak and that is enough.
-If you are a lyrics person, teaching yourself the words to songs and then singing along with them helps a lot! It encodes the information in your head in a different way, and the phrases I pick up always pop up in conversations.
Good luck! Καλή τύχη!
posted by Concordia at 5:47 AM on June 19, 2020
-Duolingo may not help you much with explanation of grammar rules BUT it does incentivise you to practice a little bit of Greek every day, which I found much more effective at the beginner level than books or CDs or even language classes. Maybe combine these approaches?
-I didn’t know FSI offered free coursework and find that so interesting, but I would not take a modern Greek course from 1967. Aside from linguistic changes, you may end up being asked some awkward political questions if you speak this way with modern Greeks. Up to you though.
- I am not a linguist so this may not apply to you, but at the very beginning I would get really frustrated because no one would explain me the reasoning behind the grammar rules they were making me memorise. I like knowing the reason why! Eventually I learned that the grammar rules are so Byzantine and weird that at the very beginning they make no sense to most people. I learned faster once I accepted this. I hope I will understand grammar reasoning more thoroughly in future, but right now I can use the grammar rules to speak and that is enough.
-If you are a lyrics person, teaching yourself the words to songs and then singing along with them helps a lot! It encodes the information in your head in a different way, and the phrases I pick up always pop up in conversations.
Good luck! Καλή τύχη!
posted by Concordia at 5:47 AM on June 19, 2020
From Open Culture
Greek
Foreign Service Institute Greek Basic
Representative of the Kathomilumeni variety that is the "standard" speech of educated Greeks. Three textbooks (PDF) and 75 audio lessons (MP3).
[Already mentioned above]
Learning Greek
From the Hellenic American Union, these lessons will teach students Modern Greek. For those who already have some foundation in the language.
[Note: link on Open Culture is dead. This appears to be the replacement]
posted by blob at 2:53 PM on June 19, 2020
Greek
Foreign Service Institute Greek Basic
Representative of the Kathomilumeni variety that is the "standard" speech of educated Greeks. Three textbooks (PDF) and 75 audio lessons (MP3).
[Already mentioned above]
Learning Greek
From the Hellenic American Union, these lessons will teach students Modern Greek. For those who already have some foundation in the language.
[Note: link on Open Culture is dead. This appears to be the replacement]
posted by blob at 2:53 PM on June 19, 2020
Best answer: Decided to go with Duolingo for now. We'll see if something like private lessons becomes an appealing idea later down the road!
posted by capricorn at 6:31 AM on December 8, 2020
posted by capricorn at 6:31 AM on December 8, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
There are 62 Greek teachers on iTalki who indicate they're native speakers. Watch some of their videos to find someone you like, and look for teachers with a larger number of lessons given. Note that there are both professional teachers and 'community tutors' - native speakers who will help you practice.
I had been taking language classes at a local college pre-Covid, but I've found I'm progressing much more quickly with one-on-one online lessons.
posted by umber vowel at 3:51 PM on June 18, 2020 [1 favorite]