Learn the Greek Alphabet: 1. The Sounds of the Letters

Intended for Biblical Studies, uses Erasmian pronunciation NOT modern. To start out nice and easy, you learn five nonsense words instead of 22 (the nonsense words are the combined sounds of the letters instead of their names). Then you use the sounds to help you learn the names, just like you did learning English or your native language. Each syllable of the five words is the sound of one or two letters, all in alphabetical order. Sound simple? It really is! Bonus: You learn these five words by singing them. The tune makes memorization a snap! This video series accompanies the Greekinator's book, Learn the Greek Alphabet: How to Vault the First Hurdle to Learning Greek, available here: http://bit.ly/EZGreek.

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• sounds of greek letters
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• erasmian prounciation of greek
• biblical greek

[dimax997]

It reminds me of the Russian one. Is Greek Cyrillic?

[stchsingleton]

@dimax997 Nope, it's the other way around. Cyril, the guy who invented a way to write down Russian, used Greek letters, and some Hebrew too it seems, to portray the sounds he was hearing. Other sounds had no equivalent in languages he knew, so it looks like he just invented letters to represent them. When I visited Russia, my ability to pronounce Greek letters came in handy. Many times I could make out the Russian because of how Greek it looked.

[XxSniperRepivxX]

parasatu? u in greek is spelled i not ou lol you are confusing man...

[stchsingleton]

@XxSniperRepivxX The pronunciation system I'm using has worked well for four hundred years. Someone more qualified that you or me can change it if they want to. I have taught Greek using modern pronunciation, and people just got confused because of how many vowels and diphthongs sound the same. Erasmian has the advantage of distinguishing nearly all of the sounds so that if you hear it, you know how to spell it (usually). Erasmian also has the disadvantage of not being modern pronunciation.

[rififi18]

COMPETELY WRONG

[psipsinette]

@stchsingleton I think you waste too much time explaining to every proud and ignorant Greek what your work is about. Greetings from Greece, Euterpe

[stchsingleton]

@digitalbl1ss In the Erasmian pronunciation system, the ευ is pronounced like the English diphthong "eu" in "feud," "euphony," or "heuristics" (without the "h" of course). The οι is another diphthong, which in Erasmian is not "ee" as in modern, but "oi" as in "boil." Hence "you-OI-oh-noss."

[stchsingleton]

@digitalbl1ss I would tell people to pronounce it as four syllables: you-OI-oh-nohss. Not so difficult is it?

[stchsingleton]

@camerontyner Exactly! I am trying to teach people how to read (usually silently) and understanding the Greek of the New Testament, originally writting in Koiné Greek (300 BCE to about 300 CE). Teaching modern Greek is NOT what I'm trying to do. If you want MODERN GREEK, find it somewhere else.

[camerontyner]

to be fair unless your from Greece i doubt most people care how to pronounce modern Greek most if not all people i know learn greek for its purpose in studying ancient manuscripts not to strike up a casual conversation

[AussieLuver100]

@horror8999

there is a video called: 'Greek Alphabet Song' uploaded by: 'nedwergs'

[FLAMINGGASTLY27]

Erasmus? :'( I thought I was learning modern Greek. *sob*