Where to start learning Greek?

Greek Learning Greek
1

I want to learn Greek online, could someone please give me a good course?
I’ve studied Latin in which I feel pretty fluent (especially Vulgate Latin, but I’ll have to read some more classical authors though).
something not too frustrating please,because I have no idea where to begin.

2

It might be in your interest to invest in a book. There are several textbooks available here on Textkit, (for example, White’s First Greek Book) but you might find them frustrating, as they are all quite dated. However, given your background in Latin, these courses would be less problematic than they could be (they often presuppose a knowledge of Latin). I suppose it depends on your preferred learning techniques. The Athenaze series is popular, as it couples reading sections with grammar. I’ve also used Mastronarde’s Introduction to Attic Greek, which is quite formal in its approach, but very solid.

3

I have been making my own pace with Clyde Pharr’s text on Homeric Greek. I also keep Richard Cunliffe’s Lexicon handy, and review older threads for questions similar to my own. I suppose the stress of exams and deadlines would make me speed things up a bit, but I’m comfortable with my own pace. I want to read Homer, Hesiod and many of the Hellenic philosophers, playwrights, and historians. The general advice I found combing through various sites is that it would be best to start with Homer and then move on to Attic. There appears to be more available online and in schools for Attic and biblical Greek than Homeric, but it looks like study groups have formed out of this forum from time to time. I suggest that you select the dialect, keep looking and stay tuned. Charles

4

Even for dead languages, I believe that having an audio component is exponentially helpful for learning. The only such course I’m aware of for ancient Greek is Assimil. However, it is available only in French and Italian, so you need some reading knowledge of either language. I found it an effortless process, in contrast to the very painful decoding practice that is normally taught in Latin and Greek. At the end of the course, I wasn’t as sure-footed with conjugations and declensions as I might have been, and my vocabulary was fairly small, but it did give me an intuitive sense for the language. That’s very valuable in my opinion.

5

Randall Buth and Christophe Rico also offer simlar audio based texts. Rico is also in French, though an English version is due out next year. Lots of audio stuff is available for free on line, with more available every day.

6

I’d be curious to know where these audio recordings can be found!

Those courses look great, by the way. I’m sure it will be quite a revolution when the English version is released.

7

Hi, look here: http://spiphanies.blogspot.com/2009/03/audio-resources-for-ancient-greek.html

Polis and Assimil are not free, but there should be enough information in the list that you can figure out where to order them if you wish. I’ve included links to audio samples if available.

8

spiphany, it looks like you need an extra l at the end of the link there.

9

Oops, thanks. Fixed.
(Need to learn to be more careful when copying and pasting)

10

Karen Mohs has a series of workbooks for BiblicalGreek (Koine) for children with some audio CD’s at GreeknStuff.com. JACT has audio with its course, www.jact.org.

11

For pronouncing Greek I’m working through the Greek Alphabetarion (https://www.triviumpursuit.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16166&cat=256&page=1).

12

My mother tongue is French. I went on the Assimil web site and did not see Ancient Greek for french speaking. Where did you get it from?

Thanks

13

It’s on the Assimil site but I can’t link directly to it. But you can also see it at amazon.fr.