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| Since I am only a beginner, I would like the Greek words, sentences etc. to be written out the way you would pronounce them using the english alphabet, that way you can learn the sounding much easier and get to grips with the Greek alphabet when making references from English to Greek. |
| Re: English pronunciations |
| I agree, I'm having much difficulty with just the Greek letters since I don't know them so well and having them written in the phynetic English helps to refrence the letter to the Greek ones. Other wise makes it much more difficult to learn. |
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Hi there, What worked for me pretty well was just to learn the alphabet separately, how all the letters sounded, and then just to sort of read along with various materials (I think I used a Talk Now! CD from EuroTalk, computer program) until I could more-or-less read Greek. Then, just reading it more and more helped me to get it. I was to Greece in 2005, so that probably helped too I'm probably a purist, but I don't like romanization of other alphabets because it puts another layer between me and the alphabet...similar to how translating in my head makes me a slow, stuttering speaker a lot of the time. Good luck with the Greek alphabet! Kevin |
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I agree with Kevin. If you try to write the Greek words in the Latin alphabet, trying to find the nearest English sounds, you would get "Greeklish", i.e. Greek with an English accent, as not all Greek sounds have an English equivalent. Spend a couple of hours working on the Greek alphabet instead, it's well worth it. This site is very good and gives you some entertaining practice: http://www.theodorou.freeserve.co.uk/greekcyp/contents.htm After finishing the lessons, don't forget to click the "Activity Centre" icon to the right. Regards, Karin |
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Perhaps it's just because I'm a native Texan, but I'm having a lot of trouble understanding the narrator's English, particularly when he says the English equivalent of a Greek word just introduced. The result is, of course, that I don't always know what I've "learned!" Is it possible to read the English text while listening to the audio lesson? If so, how do I do so? Thanks. |
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At the top of the Notes page for every lesson, you can see the words "Lesson X Audio". Click there and you should hear the lesson. It doesn't work on my computer, though, so I always open two browser windows, one where I start the Audio and let it play, and another with the Notes so that I can read while I'm listening. Regards, Karin |
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Linda, before learning Greek, it's important to know (or to try not to debase) the English language. Since the word "phynetic" does not exist, and "phenetic" means: "pertaining to or based on the observable similarities and differences between organisms without regard to assumed genealogy", I presume the word you seek is "phonetic". |
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LGO is not going to use "English" pronunciation equivalents for Greek-spelled words. First of all, unless one uses the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), there is no universally agreed-on manner of transcribing the sounds represented by certain letters of the Greek alphabet. Use of the IPA symbols would require a font capability that is too esoteric and problematic for the vast majority of users. Secondly, although the LGO course is presented in English, thanks to the Internet LGO now has a worldwide audience, many of whom do not speak English as their native language. For a lot of these people an English-style transcription would be potentially problematic or misleading. Finally, native Greek material does not normally use an English-based transcription for Greek writing. For the reasons above, I believe that it's better in the long run (although perhaps not easier in the beginning) to simply learn the Greek alphabet along with the Greek sound that each letter stands for. Regards, Greg Brush |
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Hi Sascha I am also a beginner and I would also like to see some sort of phonetic wording beside the greek writing just to give an indication of pronounciation(it does not have to be so precise, just an indication). At present i am more interested in conversing as a holiday traveller rather than a translater and at present do not need to go indepth into the greek alphabet. I am sure that along the way i will pick up some of the alphabet up, but by looking at the word sheets it does not help any just to see the Greek alphabet. It relies mainly on memory of which mine is not that good! Karen Little |
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Spend a little time learning the Greek alphabet. It will pay dividends in the end and will also enable you to read signs when in Greece. If you listen to the sound files at the same time as following the written text you will hear how the various words are said. With pause and re wind you can go over and over them until you are confident that you are saying them correctly. Good luck |
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I agree 100 %!!!!! As a beginner I have no idea how to read in Greek... Latin letters would help a lot! |
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No it would NOT, as there aren't Latin letters to cover all the different Greek sounds. There is no way to write Greek with Latin letters and make the words sound Greek when reading them out loud. As said above, it's easy enough to learn the Greek letters if you just spend a couple of hours working on it. You can't learn Greek if you can't read the leters. Once again: Here are links to some very good sites for learning exactly what you need. http://www.theodorou.freeserve.co.uk/greekcyp/contents.htm http://www.xanthi.ilsp.gr/filog/ Give them a couple of hours of your time and you're good to go! Regards, Karin |
