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How to Learn Greek

Greek is spoken mainly in Greece, Crete, Rhodes, part of Cyprus and by a small minority of Greeks in Turkey. (Crete and Rhodes are part of Greece)
Greek is an inflected language: nouns and verbs change their endings according to their use in a sentence. Learning Modern Greek can be a challenge. You have to choose your books and audio courses carefully. (We've done that for you).
We suggest you start with the spoken language: try the Pimsleur Instant Conversation Greek audio course first to see how you like it. Then, if all is well, graduate to the Pimsleur Greek I: Comprehensive full sized audio course.
After getting a handle on the spoken language, tackle the written language with the Greek alphabet: Buy the Vocabulary of Modern Spoken Greek By Donald C. Swanson and Essential Modern Greek Grammar By Douglas Q. Adams and study them.
Greek phrase books and "instant Greek" courses will get you sympathy from Greeks, but not much understanding.
So "kalimera" and get cracking!

There are generally considered to be at least three "kinds" of Greek:
Classical Greek: E.G. Homer, the Iliad.
New Testament Greek: E.G. the Gospel of St Mark, Matthew, Luke and John.
Modern Greek: As spoken today in Athens.
All three are recognizable as Greek, have a lot in common, but are not totally mutually intelligible. A native speaker of Modern Greek will find New Testament Greek more difficult than a native English speaker finds Shakespeare.

If you want to learn New Testament Greek, start with the books shown on this page. A competent teacher will help immensely.

We offer books and learning materials for Modern Greek and New Testament Greek.

Books for learning Greek (on this page)
Software for learning Greek
Greek On-Line Dictionaries (on this page)
Greek Translating (on this page)
Greek Radio and TV (on this page)
Greek Newspapers and Magazines (on this page)
Greek Websites, Portals and Interesting Links (on this page)
Websites for learning Greek (on this page)
This page was last updated June 20 2011.



Greek Books

Top of Page Greek language book

[Modern Greek ]
Greek Today: A Course in the Modern Language and Culture

By Peter Bien

Modern Greek. A course that takes you from beginner to intermediate. It uses a communicative approach, with real-life dialogues, songs, poems, and images. It includes a CD with recordings of the Greek text.
One criticism of the CD is in order: some of the voices on the CD which represent non-Greeks have a non-Greek accent. This violates the principle that the language learner should receive good, accurate, correct input, and confuses the learner. This should be changed, in the next edition.
Inspect/Order Greek Today: A Course in the Modern Language and Culture from Amazon.com

[Modern Greek ]
Greek Today Workbook

By Peter Bien

Modern Greek. To be used together with the book Greek Today
Inspect/Order Greek Today Workbook from Amazon.com

[Pimsleur Greek cassette]
Pimsleur Instant Conversation Greek

By Pimsleur

Modern Greek, short course. Amazon lists this as "unabridged". Wrong. It is abridged. My information is from the Sybervision/Pimsleur catalog. "Instant conversation" is rather an exaggeration. This course will get you started. You'll hear Greek and get to practice. If you like the Pimsleur method you can go on to Pimsleur Greek Comprehensive.
Inspect/Order Pimsleur Instant Conversation Greek from Amazon.com

[Pimsleur Greek cassette]
Pimsleur Greek I: Comprehensive

By Pimsleur

Modern Greek, full course. Recommended for beginners. Amazon lists this as "abridged". Wrong. It is unabridged, in other words the full sized comprehensive course. My information is from the Sybervision/Pimsleur catalog. This is the best way to get started learning Greek without a teacher. I recommend this to get started.
Inspect/Order Pimsleur Greek I: Comprehensive from Amazon.com

[Pimsleur Greek II: Comprehensive]
Pimsleur Greek II: Comprehensive

By Pimsleur

Modern Greek, full course. Recommended for beginners. It is the full sized comprehensive course. It should be used after Pimsleur Greek I: Comprehensive. Published November, 2008.
Inspect/Order Pimsleur Greek II: Comprehensive from Amazon.com

[Greek language]
Vocabulary of Modern Spoken Greek

By Donald C. Swanson

Modern Greek. Essential for anyone seriously wanting to learn Modern Greek. All levels. I first bought this book in 1962. It was reprinted in 1982. This book thoroughly and clearly explains the meaning of common Greek words in actual use. It shows actual usage. This is like no other dictionary - it respects the reader; it knows that many English words have different meanings and tells you what they are in Modern Greek. It is not a grammar book but it has some grammar. I highly recommend it, even used.
It uses the old "3 tone" system of showing word accents. It is very easy to convert to the modern "1 tone" system.
Inspect/Order Vocabulary of Modern Spoken Greek from Amazon.com

[Greek idioms book]
Modern Greek Idiom and Phrase Book

By Constantine N. Tsirpanlis

Modern Greek. Good to have after you pass the "beginner" level. Modern Greek speech is full of colorful expressions that can't be easily translated. This book is indispensable for those who want to understand Greeks speaking and to be understood by them. The book is out of print, but there are several available used at a very low price. It has a small amount of grammar which we recommend that you skip, because it contains many obsolete elements, is confusing due to its slavish adherence to traditional terms
It uses the old "3 tone" system of showing word accents. It is very easy to convert to the modern "1 tone" system.
Your web editor owns it.
Inspect/Order Modern Greek Idiom and Phrase Book from Amazon.com

[Grammar Greek book]
Greek: A Comprehensive Grammar of the Modern Language

By David Holton

Modern Greek. Your web editor owns this book. It is for the serious language learner who wants to speak and write correct Greek. It is not for someone who is a beginner in Greek. Contains all the Greek grammar that anyone could conceivably need, and explains it clearly. It presents Modern Greek grammar correctly and accurately in non-traditional terms that reflect the reality of the modern language. Some explanations will be of value only to linguists. The reviews of this Greek grammar are good.
Inspect/Order Greek: A Comprehensive Grammar of the Modern Language from Amazon.com

[Greek Grammar book]
Essential Modern Greek Grammar

By Douglas Q. Adams

Modern Greek. A very small book on Modern Greek grammar. You must already know some Greek to use this book because it doesn't explain things. It will answer most of your questions. Your web editor owns this book.
It has the major points of Modern Greek grammar. Enough for most beginning learners.
Inspect/Order Essential Modern Greek Grammar from Amazon.com

[Greek cassettes]
Just Listen 'N Learn Greek (CD Edition)

By Eleni Marcopoulos-Gambarotta

Modern Greek. An audio course on CD for modern Greek. Very good for listening comprehension. Attunes your ear to the spoken language.
Inspect/Order Just Listen 'N Learn Greek from Amazon.com

[Greek Cassettes]
Mastering Greek/Book and 12 Audio Cassettes

By Foreign Service Institute

Modern Greek. What this course is good for is listening comprehension. The printed material is not the best, but the cassettes will give you needed practice in listening and understanding Modern Greek.
Inspect/Order Mastering Greek/Book and 12 Audio Cassettes from Amazon.com

[Modern Greek book]
Manual of Modern Greek, I: For University Students Elementary to Intermediate

By Anne Farmakides

Modern Greek. The reviews show that it is possible to learn Greek using this book and a teacher. Published by Yale University Press: It is a University level text.
Inspect/Order Manual of Modern Greek, I from Amazon.com

[modern Greek readings]
Greek Anthology Helleniko Anthologio: An Advanced Modern Greek Reader

By Matina Psyhogeos

Modern Greek. Advanced level. Interesting stories and poetry in Modern Greek. This lets you get to know Greece at it is today.
Inspect/Order Greek Anthology from Amazon.com

Greek Magazines and Newspapers at Amazon.com

 

[Greek New Testament grammar]
It's Still Greek to Me: An Easy-To-Understand Guide to Intermediate Greek

By David Alan Black

New Testament Greek. Intermediate level. For those who have had some Classical or New Testament Greek. Helpful for learning the syntax of the Greek New Testament.
Inspect/Order It's Still Greek to Me from Amazon.com

[New Testament Greek book]
New Testament Greek for Beginners

By J. Gresham Machen

The readers like this book. It is best used with a teacher. For learning the easier aspects of the Greek used in the New Testament.
Inspect/Order New Testament Greek for Beginners from Amazon.com

[grammar New Testament Greek]
New Testament Greek for Beginners

By J. Gresham Machen

New Testament Greek: Recommended for beginners. Machen's New Testament Greek for Beginners is for beginners, and is best used with a teacher. Reader reviews indicate that it is very effective in getting you to the point where you can read New Testament Greek.
Inspect/Order New Testament Greek for Beginners from Amazon.com

[Greek New Testament Grammar]
Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar

By William D. Mounce

New Testament Greek. Described as "Beginner level". Your web editor thinks that that should be changed to "Experienced language learners who know some Biblical Greek." Readers of this book say that it has greatly helped them with the intricacies of New Testament Greek grammar. Published in 2003. Quite a reasonable price.
Inspect/Order Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar from Amazon.com

[New Testament Greek Dictionary ]
Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament

By Barclay M. Newman

Words used in the New Testament in Greek are listed alphabetically, along with their meanings.
Inspect/Order Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament from Amazon.com

[Interlinear New Testament Greek and English]
The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament

By Robert K. Brown

New Testament Greek: Recommended for serious study at all levels. The Greek New Testament with a strictly literal English translation between the lines. If you know Greek, this will help you with the meaning and syntax of the Greek words. You can use it to check your translations. There is translation in "normal English" as well. Contains a small amount of Greek grammar. Your web editor uses this book when he teaches Greek.
Inspect/Order The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament from Amazon.com

[Greek New Testament Reader]
Graded Reader of Biblical Greek

By William D. Mounce

New Testament Greek. A book you can use to practice reading Biblical Greek. Described as "Beginner level." It is not beginner level. For use with a teacher, or by someone who has studied Greek for several months.
Inspect/Order Graded Reader of Biblical Greek from Amazon.com

[New Testament Greek]
Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament

By Timothy Friberg

New Testament Greek. All levels. A reasonably-priced dictionary of New Testament Greek.
Inspect/Order Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament from Amazon.com

[New Testament Greek]
Complete Vocabulary Guide to the Greek New Testament

By Warren C. Trenchard

New Testament Greek. Recommended for serious study. All levels. All the words of the Greek New Testament. Reader reviews are all good. It has a good section on prefixes, suffixes. Words are arranged by root word, with the different transformations of the word. You need to be able to recognize the different prefixes, suffixes, and grammatical transformations such as the "Epsilon augment" added to the beginning of a verb in the aorist tense.
The book has a frequency list of New Testament Greek words, so you know the most important words to learn. An invaluable addition is the section that lists the principal parts of each verb used in the New Testament! Your web editor uses this book when he teaches Greek.
Inspect/Order Complete Vocabulary Guide to the Greek New Testament from Amazon.com

[New Testament Greek]
Greek New Testament (With Dictionary)

By B. Aland

New Testament Greek. All levels. An authoritative Greek text.
Inspect/Order Greek New Testament (With Dictionary) from Amazon.com

[Greek New Testament ]
Basics of Biblical Greek: Workbook

By William D. Mounce

New Testament Greek. Beginner level. This workbook is designed for use with The Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar by the same author.
Inspect/Order Basics of Biblical Greek: Workbook from Amazon.com

[Ancient Greek]
An Introduction to Greek

By Henry L. Crosby

Ancient Greek. A small, clear book that you can learn from. Not quite the same as New Testament Greek, but it will help you because it is easy to use and clear.
Inspect/Order An Introduction to Greek from Amazon.com

[Ancient Greek grammar]
Learn Ancient Greek

By Peter Jones

Ancient Greek. Your web editor has a different edition of this book published in 2003. This edition was published in April 2004. The author has a (British) sense of humor which may be totally missed by many readers in the former colonies. Nevertheless, this book presents a dry and difficult subject in a way that actually makes it fun! It has all the important grammar that you need for reading the New Testament and much ancient Greek.
Inspect/Order Learn Ancient Greek from Amazon.com

[Greek Classical grammar]
Oxford Grammar of Classical Greek

By James Morwood

Classical Greek. Readers' reviews are favorable. The book seems to be a valuable tool for those studying ancient Greek.
Inspect/Order Oxford Grammar of Classical Greek from Amazon.com

[Greek language]
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Ancient Greek Edition)

By J. K. Rowling

Now you can read the first book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, in Ancient Greek.
Inspect/Order Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone from Amazon.com

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Greek On-Line Dictionaries

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Online Dictionaries for Greek and other languages From Language Automation

Greek / English dictionary and translator From LingvoSoft

Greek-English Dictionary From Babylon.com

Modern Greek-English Dictionary From Pathfinder.com Type in Greek or English

Good Greek dictionary at lower right From in.gr in Greek. You can type in a word in English or Greek.

Dictionary. Type in an English word, it gives meaning, synonyms in English, plus Greek and several other languages. From Answers.com

Modern Greek, Ancient Greek Dictionary, Verb Conjugator By Logos.it Definitions, translations, antonyms, words in context. A lot of interesting things on the site. Stay around and browse.

English-Greek Dictionary From Sensagent.com To and from many other languages, translation dictionary.

Ancient and New Testament Online Greek Dictionaries From Translatum.gr.

Ancient and New Testament Greek Dictionary By Tufts Type in the transliteration of the word in Latin characters, see definitions, analysis of the form.

English to Ancient Greek Dictionary from University of Chicago Library. Ancient Greek Dictionary. Scanned and readable. Here's a suggested way of using it. Type ^ followed by the first letter or letters of the English word you want, in the "Keyword" box. Press SEARCH. Takes you to an image of a page in a real dictionary.



Greek Translating

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Greek translation by Translatum other languages as well.

Greek-English translator and text to speech From SitePal cool site that translates to Greek and reads the text for you

Greek-English translator From Babelfish



Greek Radio and TV

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Internet broadcasts change their addresses frequently. These were accurate as of Dec 2010.

Greek radio broadcasts From VOA

Greek Radio and TV From Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation

Greek radio From London Greek Radio

Greek TV From Maya TV

Greek radio From GreekRadio.net

Greek radio From Die Deutsche Welle - Greek and other languages

Greek radio From GreekRadios.gr links to several stations that you can listen to online

Greek Radio from ituner.com. Listen online list of stations

Greek radio and TV broadcasts. From Hellenic Resources Network list of stations

Watch live Greek TV on the Internet from World Wide Internet TV list of stations

Greek radio broadcasts From Web-Radio 2000 list of stations

Greek Radio and TV From Radiofono.gr list of stations

Greek Radio, list of stations from hellasnews Listen online list of stations

Greek Radio, list of stations from greekradios.gr Listen online list of stations



Greek Newspapers and Magazines

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Newspapers and Magazines from Greece From AllYouCanRead.com. Magazines from many countries

Newspapers from Greece From OnLineNewsPapers.com. Newspapers from many countries

On Line Greek Newspaper I Kathimerini - The Daily Paper

On Line Greek Newspaper To Vima website Read online. In Greek only.

Subscription to Ta Nea Newspaper From Amazon.com

On Line Greek Newspaper O Chronos website Read online. In Greek only.

On Line Greek Newspaper Imerisia website Read online. In Greek only.

On Line Greek Newspaper I Simerini of Cyprus website Read online. In Greek only.

On Line Greek Newspaper O Phileleftheros of Cyprus website Read online. In Greek only.

National Geographic Magazine online website In Greek only.

On Line Greek Newspaper Ethnikos Kiryx Εθνικος Κη&rhoυξ website Read online. In Greek and English. Registration required.

On Line Greek Newspaper Eleftheria website Read online. In Greek only.

On Line Greek Newspaper Taxydromos website Read online. In Greek only.



Greek Websites, Portals and Interesting Links

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Greek Parliament (Vouli) From Hellenicparliament.gr

Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou visit site

Athens Survival Guide From Athensguide.com

Greek Portal and Mail From Pathfinder.gr

Greek Portal From Flash.gr

Greek Portal From Otenet.gr

Greek Portal From Apn.gr

Interesting Greek Site From MenoumeEllada.ert.gr News, Pictures of Greece: webcams, search engine

Greek stores From Greek Shops.com

Greek Portal From GreekVillage.com (in Toronto)

Greek Portal Odygos - guide

Greek Search Engine and portal From GreekSpider.com In English

Greek Search Engine and portal From in.gr in Greek. Also has good dictionary, lower right

Aerial photos of Greece From ert.gr

Athens Webcam from Nifada.com

Greek Yellow Pages from Greece.

Greek Portal (Patras) from Patrinorama

Greek Portal from Athensinfoguide.

Greek Cheeses from Cheese.com



Websites for learning Greek

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On Line Modern Modern Greek tutorial By J. David Eisenberg. Quite good, but not complete. For those with experience learning languages

On Line Modern Greek tutorial By Filoglossia. Hear the sounds of Greek. Phrase-oriented, not grammar-oriented

Greek Gestures Short description from ExploreCrete.com

Learn Modern Greek online By the BBC

Learn Modern Greek online from Kypros.org Registration required.

English - Greek Culinary dictionary from Greek-recipe.com Greek cooking and vocabulary.

On Line Encyclopedia in Modern Greek From Wikipedia

Modern Greek verbs a personal website, by Joe Schaffner How to use the site

Modern Greek verbs conjugated a personal website, by Joe Schaffner Many verbs are listed. Click on a verb to see the conjugation of the Greek verb.

Modern Greek verbs a personal website, author unknown This site is similar to the previous one

Imitation of animal sounds in Greek and other languages From University of Adelaide

Modern Greek handwriting From Dartmouth College Writing Greek in cursive

Modern Greek keyboard: Type accented Modern Greek letters by Lexilogos Type Modern Greek letters with their accents. You can copy and paste into a Word document!. Instructions in French.

The Greek New Testament Online By Tony Fisher. I use this when teaching NT Greek. Does not require special fonts, since it has been scanned and converted into graphics files.

The Greek New Testament Online By GreekBible.com. Choose font Athena or Palatino Linotype to read in Greek with accents. Click on any word for grammatical analysis

The Greek New Testament Online With parallel translation into French here Greek has accents, capital letters, spaces, punctuation.

Bible in Greek and other languages By Biblos.com No accents or "breathings".

New Testament in Modern Greek By Jesuslovesyou.gr

Tutorial in Ancient and Ecclesiastical Greek By Monachos.net

Good start for an online course in New Testament Greek By Jonathan Robie

Good online course in New Testament Greek By Corey Keating at ntgreek.org

Online Course in New Testament Greek By Ntgreek.net

Learn Koine (New Testament) Greek online From Wikipedia

Classical Greek online tutorial Edited by Herbert Weir Smyth, PH. D

Learn Classical Greek online From Wikipedia

The sounds of Ancient Greek By John Opsopaus

Learning tools for Ancient Greek From Textkit Many links.

Many texts in Ancient Greek, online by Hs-augsburg.de Archimedes, Empedokles, Flavius Iosephus, Heraclitus, Plato, The Septuagint

Digital library of Classical Greek texts From Perseus.tufts.edu. Herodotus, Homer, Plato

Old and New Testament in Ancient Greek, online by Hs-augsburg.de With breathings, accents, and punctuation.

HTML character Codes for Greek From About.com

HTML character Codes for Greek From Internet.com

Unicode Entity Codes for Greek from Penn State University HTML Character Codes for Greek. Includes vowels with accents like: καλημέρα Note: "&lamda;" doesn't work.

Classical Greek keyboard: Type accented Classical Greek letters by Lexilogos Type Classical Greek letters with their accents. You can copy and paste into a Word document!. Instructions in French.

Greek-English translator and text to speech From SitePal cool site that translates to Greek and reads the text for you

Greek Text to Speech From Acapela group.com








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