Learn how to introduce yourself with correct pronunciation
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| INTRODUCTION | |
Iro: |
I’m Iro. |
Judith: |
Judith here, Absolute Beginner Season, 1 Lesson 1, Your Greek Family is Calling. Hello and welcome to GreekPod101.com where we study modern Greek in a fun education format. |
Iro: |
So brush up on the Greek that you started learning long ago or start learning today. |
Judith: |
Thanks again for being here with us. What are we looking at in this lesson? |
Judith: |
In this lesson, you will learn how to pronounce Greek. |
Iro: |
This conversation takes place on the phone. |
Iro: |
Ellie and her boyfriend have just arrived in Athens and they're just heading to their hotel when Ellie already gets a phone call. |
Judith: |
The conversation is between Ellie and her mom, but we're only hearing Ellie's side of the conversation. |
Iro: |
Ellie is talking to family, so she will be speaking informal Greek. |
Judith: |
Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUES | |
Έλλη: |
Ναι; |
Έλλη: |
Α μαμά, ναι... |
Έλλη: |
Ναι, εδώ είμαι... |
Έλλη: |
Ναι, όλα είναι εντάξει. |
Έλλη: |
Μαμά, όχι τώρα. Δεν είμαι ακόμα στο ξενοδοχείο. |
Έλλη: |
Ευχαριστώ. Γεια! |
English Host: |
Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
Έλλη: |
Ναι; |
Έλλη: |
Α μαμά, ναι... |
Έλλη: |
Ναι, εδώ είμαι... |
Έλλη: |
Ναι, όλα είναι εντάξει. |
Έλλη: |
Μαμά, όχι τώρα. Δεν είμαι ακόμα στο ξενοδοχείο. |
Έλλη: |
Ευχαριστώ. Γεια! |
English Host: |
Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
Έλλη: |
Ναι; |
Judith: |
Hello? |
Έλλη: |
Α μαμά, ναι... |
Judith: |
Ah, mom! Yes... |
Έλλη: |
Ναι, εδώ είμαι... |
Judith: |
Yes, I'm here... |
Έλλη: |
Ναι, όλα είναι εντάξει. |
Judith: |
Yes, everything is alright... |
Έλλη: |
Μαμά, όχι τώρα. Δεν είμαι ακόμα στο ξενοδοχείο. |
Judith: |
Mom, not now. I'm not at the hotel yet... |
Έλλη: |
Ευχαριστώ. Γεια! |
Judith: |
Thank you. Bye! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER | |
Judith: |
Okay. For our cultural point today, how about we talk about family. Iro, can you tell me a bit about family in Greece? |
Iro: |
Well, Judith, family is actually very important for the Greeks as for most of the Europeans. There's a very special bone between family members which sometimes might seem strange to people from other cultures. |
Judith: |
How's it strange or how's it different from how things are in America? |
Iro: |
Well, for example, young children, after they finished the school, they go to the university and after finished their studies, they just go back to live with their parents. |
Judith: |
They live with their parents until they're married? |
Iro: |
Sometimes yes, that is true, but it's mostly because of the state cannot support them to live on their own. So even if they find a job, they just can't have enough money to pay the rent. |
Judith: |
I see. So families financially support their children. |
Iro: |
Yes, I'm afraid they have to do that for some years after they finish their studies. |
Judith: |
Are the families also more involved in their children's lives? |
Iro: |
Well, if a family supports financially their children, then sometimes they become a little bit intrusive which can cause some conflicts in the family. |
Judith: |
What are the conflicts about? |
Iro: |
For example, if they don't approve their children's lifestyle, for example, young people would like to come back at home late at night, some parents just find this inappropriate and they're just trying to change their children's way of life. |
Judith: |
Would you say that grandparents or uncles, aunts are also closer to the family? |
Iro: |
Yes, I would say that in Greece, even distant relatives are very close to the family. I mean, sometimes, they spend Easter and Christmas together although the last year's that is not always the case. |
Judith: |
Okay, anything else you want to share about Greek families? |
Iro: |
I would also like to say that sometimes mothers are overprotective and proud of the sons. |
Judith: |
Can you give me example? |
Iro: |
For example, sometimes, they show favoritism by preparing special meals for them or by boasting about their scores at school. |
| VOCAB LIST | |
Judith: |
Oh, wow. Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we will see is… |
Iro: |
ναι |
Judith: |
Yes. |
Iro: |
ναι |
Judith: |
Next. |
Iro: |
μαμά |
Judith: |
Mom. |
Iro: |
μαμά |
Judith: |
Next. |
Iro: |
εδώ |
Judith: |
Here. |
Iro: |
εδώ |
Judith: |
Next. |
Iro: |
είμαι |
Judith: |
I am. |
Iro: |
είμαι |
Judith: |
Next. |
Iro: |
όλα |
Judith: |
Everything. |
Iro: |
όλα |
Judith: |
Next. |
Iro: |
εντάξει |
Judith: |
Okay. |
Iro: |
εντάξει |
Judith: |
Next. |
Iro: |
όχι |
Judith: |
No. |
Iro: |
όχι |
Judith: |
Next. |
Iro: |
τώρα |
Judith: |
Now. |
Iro: |
τώρα |
Judith: |
Next. |
Iro: |
δεν |
Judith: |
Not, don't. |
Iro: |
δεν |
Judith: |
Next. |
Iro: |
ακόμα |
Judith: |
Still or yet. |
Iro: |
ακόμα |
Judith: |
Next. |
Iro: |
στο |
Judith: |
At or in. |
Iro: |
στο |
Judith: |
This was actually a combination of σ and το / “to the”. Next. |
Iro: |
ξενοδοχείο |
Judith: |
Hotel. |
Iro: |
ξενοδοχείο |
Judith: |
Next. |
Iro: |
ευχαριστώ |
Judith: |
Thank you. |
Iro: |
ευχαριστώ |
Judith: |
Next. |
Iro: |
γεια |
Judith: |
Hi or bye. |
Iro: |
γεια |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES | |
Judith: |
Now, let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. First, we shall look at Greek verbs. When learning a Greek verb something like to go, to be, to have or the like, you will always learn the I form instead, I go, I am, I have. This is also the form that you will find in dictionaries. The reason for this is that there is no direct equivalent for the infinitive in Greek. |
Iro: |
In this lesson, we've seen "είμαι". |
Judith: |
I am… |
Iro: |
…is the base form of the irregular verb, to be, which we'll study in the next lesson. For now, all we've seen is "είμαι". |
Judith: |
I am. |
Iro: |
And "είναι". |
Judith: |
He is or she is, it is. Note that Greek verbs do not require a pronoun. That is Ellie can say, "εδώ είμαι" literally, here am and the, I, is understood. The pronouns are only use when we want to emphasize something. This is the same as in Italian or Spanish. |
| GRAMMAR POINT | |
| The focus of this lesson is pronunciation. Greek pronunciation is pretty straightforward and the spelling is almost phonetic. Even the word stress is easy since it is indicated with a little accent mark above the vowel. Still, there are few difficulties in the form of letters that don't sound as you'd expect. | |
Iro: |
βήτα does not sound like B but like V. |
Judith: |
In fact, there is no B sound in Greek except as MB and even then, it's mostly used for foreign words. The MB sound is spelled MP μι πι. |
Iro: |
By the same token, Delta δέλτα does not sound like D, it's sounds like the TH in that. |
Judith: |
The D sound pretty much only appears in the combination ND spelled as NT νι ταυ |
Iro: |
γάμα, the Greek equivalent of G, the Greek equivalent of G has two pronunciations. |
Judith: |
If Gamma is followed by a front vowel like E or I, it sounds approximately like the Y in year. |
Iro: |
You heard this sound in the word "γεια" for, bye. |
Judith: |
If Gamma is followed by an A, O or U sound however, it sounds like a throaty R. |
Iro: |
As in the letter name Ramma. By contrast, the actual Greek R, ρο, is rolled in the front of the mouth. |
Judith: |
Can you say Gamma and Rho for us so we can compare? |
Iro: |
Yes, γα - ρα, first Gamma then Rho. γα - ρα. γα - ρα. |
Judith: |
Next, the letter CH also has two pronunciations. If you studied German, this will be easy for you because the two pronunciations are exactly the same as the German CH sound. |
Iro: |
When combined with the back vowel like A, O or U, CH is throaty as in the name of the composer Bach. When combined with a front vowel like E or I, CH is pronounced as in the German word for I, "ich". |
Judith: |
If you can't pronounced the sound yet, try saying Y as in year and draw it out "yyyyyy" and then keep this mouth position and exhale instead chhhh. Finally, I should warn you about the Greek letter Ypsilon. Most of the time, it is just another way of writing the E sound just like the letter Ita and Iota. However, in the combination with Omicron, is sounds like U and in combination with Alpha or Epsilon, it sounds like F or V… |
Iro: |
As in Ευχαριστώ! The second letter is an Ypsilon, Ευ...Ευχαριστώ! |
Outro |
|
|---|---|
Judith: |
That just about does it for today. Attention perfectionists, you're about to learn how to perfect your pronunciation. |
Iro: |
Lesson review audio tracks. |
Judith: |
Increase fluency and vocabulary fast with these short effective audio tracks. |
Iro: |
Super simple to use, listen to the Greek word or phrase… |
Judith: |
Then repeat it out loud in a loud clear voice. |
Iro: |
You'll speak with confidence knowing that you're speaking Greek like the locals. |
Judith: |
Go to GreekPod101.com and download the review audio tracks right on the lesson's page today. |
Judith: |
We hope you enjoyed this lesson. See you next week! |
Iro: |
Γεια σας! |
Iro: |
Ναι; |
230 Comments
HideHow is your Greek pronunciation after this lesson?
Hi Debbie,
Thank you for reporting this error to us. It has been corrected now.
Kind regards,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Hi, in the part where Judith warns us about the "Epsilon" when read together with other vowels, isn't it supposed to be an "Ypsilon"? Since immediately afterward, they refer to the example of "ευχαριστώ" (instead of "εεχαριστώ)
Hi Reymundo Samano,
To learn the Greek alphabets, please check out our Greek Alphabet Made Easy video series:
https://www.greekpod101.com/lesson-library/greek-alphabet-made-easy-video/
Feel free to ask if you have any other questions, hope to see you here often 😄
Olivia
Team GreekPod101.com
Don't I need to learn the alphabet as the first lesson?
Hi Isaac,
Thank you for your message.
You can adjust the audio lesson speed by clicking on the ‘1x’ button next to the volume control icon (you can choose either 0.75x or 0.5x to slow it down) for a better understanding of the pronunciation.
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Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team GreekPod101.com
Very help full but I find that the lesson audio was comfusing
Hi Ontran Le Phan,
Thank you for your positive feedback!
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Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team GreekPod101.com
very well, Ime kala
?thank you it is so great!!!
Efharisto poli
Hi Ali,
Thank you for contacting us.
Did you try using the speed button? You can slow down the audio up to 0.5x.
I hope this helps!
Regards,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com