Have you ever been to Greece, listening to locals speak with each other, and feeling scared? Or do you have a Greek relative, like an uncle or yiayia, that speaks Greek sometimes – and the allure and mystery of this language hits you, but you also feel puzzled? Or, maybe the most frustrating at all – if you have come across words written in Greek in Greece (street signs, menus, information in historical landscapes), or online, and you felt a bit like this:

I have heard all that from people interested in learning Greek or beginners. This seems to be the verdict, that “Greek is very difficult”. 

Greek has indeed difficulties, some let’s say “innate” (complexities of the language, irregularities), and some that are tied to the mother tongue and educational experiences of the learner. But, as a whole, Greek is not significantly more difficult than any other language.

In this article, I am attempting the myth of Greek being “so difficult”. I will explain the main factors that show, in my opinion and from my experience, that Greek is approachable as a language.

The greek alphabet

Usually in the 1st or at most the 2nd lesson with a new student, I teach and dedicate time to practice the Greek alphabet. Why so soon? The reason is mainly psychological. It is something that learners perceive as a “huge difficulty”, and something that overwhelms them – well, before they actually do it, and realise that it can be learned in 1 hour, and solidified in 2 hours. Learning how to read Greek has two big bonuses, that not all languages have: 

• You read exactly what you see. No exceptions. Once you learn the sounds connected to letters and combinations of letters, you have learned how to read any and all material in Greek. 
• The stress of the word is always visible – a small sign above the vowels. 

You already know many, many words

Think of democracy, idea, photograph, cinema, and the list goes on. There are many Greek words that are known from English, with minimal changes, with the exact same meaning, and many others that are known as sound or as far as the root is concerned, which have a different meaning. In any case, both are easy to memorise – in the first group, you don’t have to think, in the second group, the contrast is easy to stay in your mind.

Verbs are simple

Greek verbs are easy to learn and the majority of tenses, forms and moods of the verb are learned in A1-A2 levels. The structure is logical and you don’t have to memorise many different forms of each verb. This means that, theoretically, you can express most of what you want to say, verb-wise, within the first 2 years of you learning Greek. Your fluency will be gained at this point through memorising and repetition, and not through a strange Greek logic that will bring you on your knees every time you want to formulate a sentence. In other, most complex aspects of grammar, there are mostly patterns that you can lean on, and a few irregularities that you will learn about.

Greeks are positive and encouraging

Last, I would like to mention something that all learners have experienced upon coming to Greece and making their first attempts at speaking to locals. One would think that with a language that spans 2000 years and a varied and interesting history, significant for the western civilisation, Greeks would be protective of the language and looking down on foreign accents and mistakes. However, nothing can be further from the truth. Greeks respond very well to people who speak the language. Even a καλημέρα, καλησπέρα, ευχαριστώ, καλή συνέχεια, are perceived as signs of respect from Greeks. If you come to Greece as a tourist, the only factor that can make a Greek unresponsive to you speaking the language, is external factors (for example, if they have a huge line in front of them, something like that – at that moment, they will likely switch to English for easiness).

What are your fears around the difficulty of the Greek language? Have you had learning or social experiences that show otherwise? If you are an intermediate learner, how did your perception of Greek language change over time? I would love to hear your stories!