Greek I Comprehensive

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About The Greek Language

The Greek language forms its own branch of the Indo-European language family and has been one of the most influential languages of Western Civilization for more than 2500 years. The language has changed substantially over the centuries, and even the official language of the modern Greek nation has undergone several transformations in the last thirty years. Still, it is possible to find at least as many university- level Programs in the Ancient Greek of Homer and Plato as in the modern Greek language spoken in Athens and in the Aegean.

Greek uses its own alphabet, although the characters will be familiar to a great many English speakers, especially to anyone who has seen the letters of the Greek alphabet used in mathematical or scientific notation. These letters are the same as were used by the Byzantine scholars of the empire based in Constantinople, although the sounds they represent have changed somewhat; the letters η, ι, and υ, as well as the diphthongs ει and οι, all represent the same sound in modern spoken Greek.

In the Twentieth Century the normal spoken form of Greek has been known as Demotic Greek, while the Greek government until 1976 employed an archaized form of Greek known as Katharevusa for official purposes. The year 1976 saw the Greek government dispense with Katharevusa and replace it with Demotic Greek as the official language of Greece, although the two forms of the language had by then converged into a single commonly-spoken tongue which is now known as Standard Modern Greek. It is this Standard Modern Greek that you will be learning on the Pimsleur Greek Program.

Why The Pimsleur System Works

The late Dr. Paul Pimsleur was much more than a language teacher. He did research on how both children and multi-lingual adults learn languages and discovered key principles that unlocked the mystery of how we learn languages.

The Pimsleur programs provide a method of self-practice with an expert teacher and native speakers in lessons specially designed to work with the way the mind naturally acquires language information. The various components of language -- vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar -- are all learned together without rote memorization and drills. Using a unique method of memory recall developed by renowned linguist, Dr. Paul Pimsleur, the programs teach listeners to combine words and phrases to express themselves the way native speakers do. By listening and responding to thirty minute recorded lessons, students easily and effectively achieve spoken proficiency. » The Pimsleur Method «