Get Started in Greek

368 Pages·2010·5.98 MB·English

by  Aristarhos Matsukas

Get Started in Greek
Aristarhos Matsukas
The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external
websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to
press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can give
no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain
appropriate.
For UK order enquiries: please contact
Bookpoint Ltd, 130 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX144SB.
Telephone: [phone].Fax: [phone].
Lines are open 9.00–18.00, Monday to Saturday, with a 24-hour message
answering service. Details about our titles and how to order are available at
www.teachyourself.co.uk
For USA order enquiries: please contact
McGraw-Hill Customer Services,
PO Box 545, Blacklick, OH 43004-0545, USA.
Telephone:[phone].Fax:[phone].
For Canada order enquiries: please contact
McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd,
300 Water St, Whitby, Ontario L1N9B6, Canada.
Telephone:[phone].Fax:[phone].
Long renowned as the authoritative source for self-guided learning – with more
than30 million copies sold worldwide – the Teach Yourself series includes over
300 titles in the fi elds of languages, crafts, hobbies, business, computing and
education.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue entry for this title is
available from The British Library.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: on fi le.
First published in UK as Teach Yourself Beginner’s Greek 2001 by
Hodder Headline, 338 Euston Road, London, NW13BH.
First published in US 2001 by Contemporary Books, a division of the
McGraw-Hill Companies, 1 Prudential Plaza,
130 East Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60601 USA.
This edition published 2003.
The‘Teach Yourself’ name is a registered trade mark of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.
Copyright © 2001,2003,2010 Aristarhos Matsukas.
In UK: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher or under licence from the Copyright
Licensing Agency Limited. Further details of such licences (for reprographic
reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited,
90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T4LP.
In US: All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright
Act of 1976, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form or
by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written
permission of Contemporary Books.
Typeset by Macmillan Publishing Solutions, India.
Printed in Great Britain for Hodder & Stoughton Educational, a division of
Hodder Headline, 338 Euston Road, London NW13BH, by Cox & Wyman Ltd,
Reading, Berkshire.
Hodder Headline’s policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and
recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests.
The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the
environmental regulations of the country of origin.
Impression number 10987654321
Year 2010200920082007200620052004
Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Meet the author vii
Only got a minute? viii
Only got ten minutes? x
Introduction xv
Study guide xxii
Pronunciation guide xxiv
1 (cid:542)(cid:578)(cid:583)(cid:573) (cid:592)(cid:589)(cid:595)! (cid:558)(cid:584)(cid:601)(cid:587)(cid:578)(cid:583)(cid:593); [yiásoo] [ti kánis]? Hi! How are you? 1
Saying ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’, exchanging greetings,
asking and saying how people are, introducing yourself
and your family, addressing people when you
meet them
2 (cid:551)(cid:583)(cid:585)(cid:601)(cid:594)(cid:578) (cid:544)(cid:585)(cid:585)(cid:580)(cid:587)(cid:583)(cid:584)(cid:601); [miláte eliniká]? Do you speak Greek? 17
Asking about what languages people speak, saying what
languages you speak, asking and saying where people
come from, some cities and countries
3 (cid:558)(cid:583)(cid:577)(cid:589)(cid:595)(cid:585)(cid:578)(cid:583)(cid:601)(cid:584)(cid:601)(cid:587)(cid:578)(cid:583)(cid:593); [ti THooliá kánis]? What’s your job? 33
Asking about different jobs and professions, answering a
question about your job, describing the place where
you live, different professions
4 (cid:551)(cid:602)(cid:587)(cid:600)(cid:592)(cid:578)(cid:577)(cid:583)(cid:573)(cid:586)(cid:602)(cid:591)(cid:583)(cid:592)(cid:586)(cid:573) [méno se THiamérizma] I live in 47
an apartment
Talking about your home, counting from 1 to 10,
singular and plural nouns
5 (cid:551)(cid:604)(cid:573)(cid:586)(cid:578)(cid:576)(cid:601)(cid:585)(cid:580)(cid:589)(cid:583)(cid:584)(cid:589)(cid:576)(cid:602)(cid:587)(cid:578)(cid:583)(cid:573) [mía megáli ikoyénia] 62
A big family
Asking questions about family and children, describing
your family, asking questions about people’s age,
counting from 11 to 20
6 (cid:549)(cid:573)(cid:585)(cid:611)(cid:593)(cid:589)(cid:591)(cid:604)(cid:592)(cid:573)(cid:594)(cid:578)! [kalós orísate]! Welcome! 79
Welcoming people, replying to welcoming remarks, asking
for or offering refreshments, counting from 21 to 100
iii
Contents
7 (cid:558)(cid:583)(cid:600)(cid:591)(cid:573)(cid:604)(cid:573)(cid:590)(cid:589)(cid:585)(cid:595)(cid:581)(cid:591)(cid:607)(cid:587)(cid:573)! [ti oréa polithróna]! 94
What a nice armchair!
Agreeing or disagreeing with someone, saying if you like
or dislike something, more singular and plural nouns,
starting to use adjectives, colours
8 (cid:555)(cid:611)(cid:593)(cid:590)(cid:578)(cid:591)(cid:587)(cid:601)(cid:593)(cid:594)(cid:580)(cid:587)(cid:580)(cid:586)(cid:602)(cid:591)(cid:573); [pos pernás tin iméra]? 112
How do you spend the day?
Talking about daily routines, telling the time, counting
from 101 to 1,000, adverbs
9 (cid:436)(cid:544)(cid:598)(cid:578)(cid:583)(cid:593)(cid:598)(cid:607)(cid:586)(cid:590)(cid:595); [éhis hóbi]? Do you have a hobby? 129
Talking about your free time, asking others if they have
hobbies, different kinds of Greek music and films
10 (cid:557)(cid:594)(cid:580)(cid:585)(cid:573)(cid:605)(cid:584)(cid:603)(cid:573)(cid:576)(cid:589)(cid:591)(cid:601) [sti laikí agorá] At the fruit and 145
vegetable market
Shopping in a fruit and vegetable market, asking other
people to join you, describing different moods, counting
from 1,000 to 10,000
11 (cid:555)(cid:589)(cid:608)(cid:578)(cid:604)(cid:587)(cid:573)(cid:583)(cid:580)(cid:594)(cid:591)(cid:601)(cid:590)(cid:578)(cid:579)(cid:573); [poo íne i trápeza]? 161
Where is the bank?
Understanding and asking for directions, talking
about distances, describing the location of a landmark,
recognizing the names of places, making a bank
transaction
12 (cid:555)(cid:601)(cid:586)(cid:578)(cid:576)(cid:583)(cid:573)(cid:599)(cid:611)(cid:587)(cid:583)(cid:573)! [páme yia psónia]! Let’s go shopping! 181
Describing in more detail what you want to buy, asking
about prices and sizes, saying more colours, reading common
signs and public notices, more about
word order
13 (cid:558)(cid:591)(cid:602)(cid:587)(cid:589)(cid:603)(cid:590)(cid:589)(cid:608)(cid:585)(cid:586)(cid:573)(cid:587); [tréno i poólman]? Train or coach? 200
Making travel enquiries, finding out about public
transport, making travel arrangements, the days of
the week, types of transport, saying the twelve months
and four seasons
14 (cid:549)(cid:591)(cid:601)(cid:594)(cid:580)(cid:592)(cid:580)(cid:588)(cid:578)(cid:587)(cid:589)(cid:577)(cid:589)(cid:598)(cid:578)(cid:604)(cid:589)(cid:595) [krátisi ksenoTHohíoo] 222
Hotel reservation
Enquiring about rooms, making hotel reservations,
talking about hotel facilities, hotel signs and notices
iv
15 (cid:558)(cid:589)(cid:587)(cid:584)(cid:573)(cid:594)(cid:601)(cid:585)(cid:589)(cid:576)(cid:589),(cid:590)(cid:573)(cid:591)(cid:573)(cid:584)(cid:573)(cid:585)(cid:611)! [ton katálogo parakaló]! 240
The menu, please!
Coping with a Greek menu, ordering starters, main dishes
and desserts, ordering drinks, understanding a waiter’s
basic phrases, words related to Greek food
Revision tests 259
The Greek alphabet 273
Grammar summary 284
Key to the exercises 300
Key to the revision tests 314
Taking it further 317
English–Greek glossary 319
vv
CCoonntteennttss
Acknowledgements
Several people have contributed directly or indirectly to the writing
of this book. Special thanks go to: Sue Hart, Rebecca Green and
Ginny Catmur, my editors at Hodder & Stoughton; my colleagues
Sonia Krantonelli, Daniel Gorney and Christine Easthope at
the British Hellenic College for comments, corrections, and
encouragement; one of my most unique students Karl Kirchner
for questioning and discussing everything with me; my daughter
Arianna for giving me inspiration and my wife Joanna for putting
this inspiration in perspective. (1st edition, 2001)
I would like to thank my students who over the years showed me
what is important for them to learn and not what is important
for me to teach! Through them I also realised that teaching is part
of learning and learning part of teaching. It just needs . . . open
minds! (3rd edition, 2010)
Credits
Front cover: © Constantini Michele/Zen Shui/Photolibrary.com
Back cover and pack: © Jakub Semeniuk/iStockphoto.com,
© Royalty-Free/Corbis, © agencyby/iStockphoto.com,
© Andy Cook/iStockphoto.com, © Christopher Ewing/
iStockphoto.com, © zebicho - Fotolia.com, © Geoffrey Holman/
iStockphoto.com, © Photodisc/Getty Images, © James C. Pruitt/
iStockphoto.com, © Mohamed Saber - Fotolia.com
Pack: © Stockbyte/Getty Images
vi
Meet the author
I have worked as a professional author and language teacher for
over25 years. I have written language books with special focus on
Greek as a foreign language, including a bilingual English–Greek,
Greek–English pocket dictionary. I have lived about half of my
life away from Athens, my birthplace, fi rst in the US for fourteen
years, where I had studied Teaching English as a Foreign Language
(TEFL) and Applied Linguistics, and now in Berlin for the last
nine years.
My accumulated teaching experience of Modern Greek comes
from teaching adults and college students in New York City, then
Athens, and more recently Berlin. My professional experience also
includes among others university teaching in the USA, working
as a head of department in a community college in Athens, as a
language school director in Ioannina (Greece), and as the translator
of three cookery books.
When not at my desk, I can usually be found in the kitchen, in
a bookshop, or at a language book fair. I love travelling (having
visited more than twenty countries), watching TV, and learning
languages.
Aristarhos Matsukas
vii
Meet the author
Only got a minute?
According to Aristides Konstantinides’ book Greek Words
in the English Language there are 45,729 Greek words in
English!
As you work through this course, you will become
increasingly aware of Greek loanwords in English
although sometimes, you have to stretch your
imagination and bend the odd pronunciation rule to
spot them. Here are some first examples of loan words:
problem, music, politics, idea, programme, system. Have
a go at the similar or different exercises in the Practice
section of each unit. There are at least ten words in
these exercises throughout this book that test your
ability to make associations between what you already
know and what you are learning. These associations can
sometimes be difficult to detect: for example the words
(cid:645)(cid:657)(cid:637)(cid:649)(cid:654) (myth),(cid:645)(cid:633)(cid:655)(cid:652)(cid:649)(metre) and (cid:651)(cid:632)(cid:652)(cid:640)(cid:649)(cid:631)(cid:649)(cid:654) (period) are
easily detected once you know the Greek alphabet, but
viii
the word (cid:628)(cid:639)(cid:628)(cid:644)(cid:640)(cid:649) (book) does not carry an immediate
association, although bibliography does.
You might be relieved to know that there are a large
number of English loanwords in Greek too, for example
complex, stress and camping. Many sports are also
identical in both languages, for instance tennis and
volleyball. New technology has also introduced many
terms in Greek: computer, fax, and email are a few
examples. In Greece many signs are in English, including
the street sign for ‘stop’, the sign ‘WC’ for public toilets,
and even ‘P’ for car parks. Sometimes, there is a Greek
word for these words, but the English word is generally
used in everyday language.
ix
Only got a minute?