Sep 11
10

Just learning the whole greek alphabet, anybody show me how to pronounce the letters name correctly?

2 Comments

Like how to pronounce Theta, psi, chi, etc… But all of them, thanks!
And what do I have to know about this alphabet, just doing it for fun really. I plan to do the same with Cyrillic in the future after I do this.
Modern Greek I prefer, thanks!
Well the way the words are actually correctly pronounced, so maybe in Greek.

There are two aspects of Greek orthography that will make it more difficult to learn than Cyrillic. I am literate in three forms of Cyrillic, but I never learned to fully read and write Greek, because it’s not as relevant to my studies.

Firstly, you need to be certain that you are either learning Ancient Greek pronunciation or Modern Greek, you can’t learn a mix of both, as the sounds of many letters have changed. For example, Δ has become a fricative in Modern Greek. It no longer makes the "d" sound as in "dog," but a "th" as in "that."

Secondly, unlike Cyrillic, Greek has digraphs. A digraph is a situation where two letters, when written next to one another, make one new sound. This is NOT a diphthong. A diphthong is phonetic, not orthographical. When learning to read Greek, you will need to learn the digraphs as well. As with the letters, these digraphs have changed from Ancient Greek to Modern Greek.

My recommendation for learning the names of the letters is to learn the sounds they make first, then find the names written in Greek. Cyrillic will be extremely easy for you to learn in the future.

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Posted in Greek Alphabet by admin 2 Comments

2 Responses to "Just learning the whole greek alphabet, anybody show me how to pronounce the letters name correctly?"

  • Alaric says:
    September 11, 2011 at 5:22 am

    the pronunciation depends on the place and period of time, and to some extent so do the names themselves. the names of some of the vowels that we use are not classical. so do u mean modern or ancient and if ancient exactly which time period and place? or do u mean the way academics who teach ancient greek pronounce them, or the way we pronounce the names of the greek letters in english (and if so which variety of english). all of these are different.
    References :

  • Mikhail says:
    September 11, 2011 at 5:57 am

    There are two aspects of Greek orthography that will make it more difficult to learn than Cyrillic. I am literate in three forms of Cyrillic, but I never learned to fully read and write Greek, because it’s not as relevant to my studies.

    Firstly, you need to be certain that you are either learning Ancient Greek pronunciation or Modern Greek, you can’t learn a mix of both, as the sounds of many letters have changed. For example, Δ has become a fricative in Modern Greek. It no longer makes the "d" sound as in "dog," but a "th" as in "that."

    Secondly, unlike Cyrillic, Greek has digraphs. A digraph is a situation where two letters, when written next to one another, make one new sound. This is NOT a diphthong. A diphthong is phonetic, not orthographical. When learning to read Greek, you will need to learn the digraphs as well. As with the letters, these digraphs have changed from Ancient Greek to Modern Greek.

    My recommendation for learning the names of the letters is to learn the sounds they make first, then find the names written in Greek. Cyrillic will be extremely easy for you to learn in the future.
    References :

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