Greek is the language of native population of the southern Balkan Peninsula. It is one of the languages in the worlds with the longest documented history. The period of it being recorded includes 34 centuries. Ancient Greek was the language, in which classical Greek literature and the New Testament of the Christian Bible ware written. The modern form is the official language of Greece and Cyprus. It is spoken by about 15 million people, whose first language it is and by some more 5 million people who have learned it.
For an English speaker, learning Greek may be a challenge, since the structure, and the grammar of the English and the Greek language differ a lot. However, Greek is quite a logical language, which is worth the  efforts of learning it if the person has a desire or necessity to do it.
Pronunciation
After learning and getting used to the alphabet, which differs from the English one, the student should not experience many difficulties in the pronunciation. The only sounds that may cause some problems are rolled ‘r’ and the ‘ch’ in ‘loch’. Additionally, several consonant combinations may take some time to get accustomed to them.
Grammar
Greek grammar may seem very complicated from the first point of view, but everything is not that bad. The general grammatical peculiarities of this language include:
- 3 cases used in modern language, and a vocative case used seldom
- Structure of the sentences is more unrestricted that in English, which may work both for the learner and against him/her
- Noun declensions have some irregularities
- Great variety of ways to form plurals, which, however, is easy to get used to
- Verbs are hard to learn, mostly because of the numerous irregularities
- Aspect, mood and person are present when conjugating the verb
- Simple past, subjunctive are the trickiest topics
Vocabulary
Some of the Greek vocabulary is very easy, while some, on the contrary, is complicated. The peculiarity of the Greek lexicon is long words and the presence of many synonyms. Due to the fact, that Greek is one of the oldest languages still alive today, most words have several equivalents, so the vocabulary is really vast.
Spelling
The spelling is quite confusing. Spelling the words in a correct way appears to be a very hard task if one is not previously acquainted with the etymology of the word. Same sounds may often be spelled differently in different words, and some consonants are doubled.
One should be prepared to spend at least 6 months of rigorous study to achieve basic skills in Greek. It depends on the person’s efforts and desire, but fluency in this language could be developed in much longer period of time. The best way to boost the Greek language competency is to immerse into the native Greek culture and surrounding.
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