Oh God… so many mistakes! Hellenic is not like English. We don’t have long vowels and double vowels and sounds like ae that in one words sounds like a but in another word sounds more like e… Hellenic is a very flat language when it comes to pronunciation. It’s not sing-songy, we don’t have ups and downs and each letter makes only one sound. Not o, ooh, oohhhh… o is always o. Short and straight. *Αα* = a as in Apple Short and simple a, not aa, or ah, or ae… A is a > above, about, army… *Ββ* = v as in very B is not an English b sound. It’s V You say alphabeta but the original Hellenic word is αλφαβήτα > alfavíta The Hellenic β is v like Vote, very, veteran… *Γγ* = y as it yes Γγ is not the English G (get, good..etc) The Hellenic γ It’s like Yes, yeah, you, yuppie, yyy not G. *Δδ* = th as in There Δδ is not the English D (do, deer, door…) It’s th as is This, that, there, those *Εε* = e as is yes *Ζζ* = z as in zoo Z is not like the J sound like jazz, jungle… etc For some letters we have some diphthongs. I will explain at the end. Z is z like Zoo, zoom, zapping Never J! *Ηη* = i as in think Ηη IS DEFINITELY NOT an ei sound!!! In Hellenic we have many letters that they all make an i sound. Ηη makes only one sound, *i* as in think, this. *Θθ* = th as in Thanks Don’t confuse Δδ with Θθ. Both are th in English but the Hellenic pronunciation is very distinct! Θθ is th as in Therapy, Thermal, thanks, thought *Ιι* = i as in think. I DOES NOT two sounds! Ee, or ei, or ehh, ai…or… I don’t know what! Don’t confuse the English double vowels with Hellenic. Ιι is i like Ηη is i. Think, this, Iliad, Italy… *Κκ* = k as is King Very fancy style of writing… we never write down k like that in the picture… It’s quite simple Κ and κ, that looked like arabic calligraphy… *Λλ* = l as in lake, lamp, look… *Μμ* = m as in many, make, more… *Νν* = n as in nice, Nike, night… *Ξξ* = ks as in socks This is a letter that doesn’t exist in English. Ξένος / ksénos: foreign Ξανά / ksaná: again *Οο* = o as in otter Again, no long vowels or double vowels like o, oo, ohh, ou… O is o *Ππ* = p as in pain, people, peace… *Ρρ* = r as in rule, role, right. There is one way to pronounce R in Hellenic. I don’t understand the Rh sound… Also, the R in Hellenic is rhotic. It’s not like the English R or the American Rrr sound. More like the Italian R. You can feel the vibration in your mouth. *Σσς* = s as in some, sorry, so… *Σ* at the beginning of words *σ* in the middle of words *ς* at the end of words There’s no way to see a word like this Μικρόσ … it’s wrong. At the end σ becomes ς *Ττ* = t as it toe, take, talk… *Υυ* = i as in think Υυ IS NOT u like Yule… In Hellenic Υυ also makes an *i* sound Think, this, is… etc *Φφ* = F as is fire, fake, foot *Χχ* = ch as in Loch Also the Germanic ich bin… It’s definitely not a K sound. The Hellenic Χχ is not the harsh as the Hebrew sound. *Ψψ* = ps as in tops Another sounds that do not exist in English. Ψάρι / psári : fish Ψέμα / pséma : lie *Ωω* = o like otter Again, Ωω makes the same same sound like the Οο. We don’t have o and oo and ohhh sounds in Hellenic! Ωω is like Οο as in Otter, or… etc Now, in Hellenic we don’t have letters like the English b, d, g To make those sounds we have diphthongs. The term diphthongs is Hellenic: δίφθογγος / dífthogos which means two letters. Two letters combined are giving us sounds like: *Μπ* is the English Bb like balloon We say μπαλόνι / mpalòni : balloon *Ντ* is the English Dd like Door We say εντάξει / entàksi > endáksi which means ok, alright *Γγ* or *Γκ* is the English Gg sound like good, great, game… etc Φεγγάρι / feggári : moon Γκρι / gkrí : grey (colour) Γγ / Γκ is the same sound but the either use Γγ or Γκ because of the orthography, the correct spelling rules of our language. *Τσ* = ch as in Chew Church, chew, check *Τζ* = J as in jazz, jump, joke So, the Hellenic sauce Τζατζίκι is pronounced as Ja-jí-ki and not tsazíki as most of the tourists are calling it! *Ου* = u as is Yule In Hellenic we don’t have a letter for U O is o like otter and Y is i like think O and υ combined are U Ουρανός / ouranòs : sky You say Uranus because U is not pronounced as i in English. Now about the vowels. Hellenic has these vowels: Αα Ηη Εε Ιι Οο Υυ Ωω As I’ve said before a is always a Not aa, ah, ae… etc A is a E is e O is o I is i Οο and Ωω, they are both making an o sound Ηη, Ιι, Υυ, they are all i in Hellenic Because of orthography (correct spelling rulers) in Hellenic we have some more vowels. αι ει οι αι = e like every ει = i like think οι = i like think *Summary* Αα = a (apple) Εε = e (yes) Αι = e (yes) Οο = o (for) Ωω = o (for) Ηη Ιι Υυ } they are all i (this) Ει Οι Ου = u (good, fool) Furthermore, in ancient times the Hellenic alphabet had some more letters that they were abandoned later. The letter Ϝ was Hellenic and it was called δίγαμμα / dígamma, which mena two gammas because it is a combination of two Hellenic gammas Γ + Γ = F Ϙ The letter κόπα / kópa was Hellenic. From that letter Latin and later English got the Q letter Kòpa and Kàppa Ϙ had a harder pronunciation K has a softer pronunciation ϡ This letter was called σαμπί /sampí because it looks like a pee π tilted It might had a ts sound.
@@vs1279 και γώ ελπίζω να το διαβάσουν γιατί μερικοί όντως ενδιαφέρονται αλλά βλέποντας τέτοια βίντεο αρχίζουν να λένε το ύψιλον ούψιλον…😒 Αν ξανά ακούσω τουρίστα να λέει ταζίταζάϊκαϊ… μλκ τζατζίκι! Τόσες περίεργες λέξεις ξέρετε, γιατί κολλάτε στο τζατζίκι;;; 😂😂😂😂😂
Was here just trying to get the correct pronunciation for omicron or omikron or 😱??? Now I find myself fascinated with the Greek alphabet and all its complexities as I would expect. I’m sure over the thousands of years much has evolved. The gentleman at the beginning of this vid does say he’s using a (neraspian? Somebody help me with that?) academic E pronunciation system, and with all its strengths and weaknesses he’s passing it on. Your probably more spot on though, and now, being more confused, ha, I can continue my research and education. Thank you 😊
@@johnmccloskey1548 , Thank you for the question. I should have pronounced it more clearly. It's an "Erasmian" pronunciation, which is what I was taught in seminary and is the standard academic pronunciation for Biblical Greek classes in American universities and seminaries, at least in my experience. There is an interesting article by Jody A. Barnard, "The 'Erasmian' Pronunciation of Greek" over at Brill.com, though it's currently behind a paywall. The original journal it was in is called "Erasmus Studies", 2017, vol. 37, issue 1, pages 109-132. This just illustrates that the de/merits of the Erasmian tradition are still under discussion in the academy. For those of use who teach Biblical Greek, we use this pronunciation scheme, acknowledge its limitations, and then usually tell our students that it's "Koine" (common) Greek anyway, so pronunciation would have been regionally influenced. Koine Greek is the Greek that evolved after Alexander the Great forcefully spread the Hellenistic empire across much of the Mediterranean and ancient Near East, all of whom would have had to pick up Greek as a 2nd or 3rd language. Since people learn Biblical Greek to read the New Testament in its original language , the authors of the books of the NT would probably have had their own regional dialects anyway. So Mark probably spoke differently than Luke, who spoke differently than Paul, than Peter, and so forth. The advice commonly given to students is just to be consistent, and for their first year, at least, to go with the pronunciation in their textbooks or by their professor. I also speak Spanish, for example, so my "rho" tends to sound more like a Spanish "r" than an English "r," but I point this out to my students and encourage them to pronounce their "rho" it in a way that makes the most sense them. I like the idea of a diversity of pronunciation as long as we can each understand each other. I even appreciate the strong opinions in the comments here against the Erasmian pronunciation, since I have similarly strong opinions against the reconstructed ancient Latin pronunciations I hear in the academy today. For what it's worth, I'd pronounce #omicron as "AH-mih-kron" since the letter "omicron" is taught as having an "ah" sound whereas the letter "omega" is taught as having the "oh" sound.
Being a student of mathematics, I was brought up to pronounce pi as pie. Then at the age of 19, I made friends with a Greek named Paul Demtry. Eventually we got around to discussing Archimedes and the formula A = (pi)(r squared). Paul pronounced pi as pee, which surprised me. He was just as surprised when I told him that all my life I had pronounced it as pie. I ended up as a math teacher at a community college for 39 years. Surprisingly, none of my many math colleagues knew the Greek pronunciation of pi!
Hi Michael/by Your last name You're Polish- I presume/ if You were educated in Poland You wouldn't be surprised by "pee " pronunciation of Greek letter "π ". Same with letters " mu and nu.It is pronounced as mee and nee. Never ever let anybody from English origins teach You Greek or Latin, Nobody around the world would understand what you talking about.But same problems with proper pronunciation would have,say , Hungarian trying to explain proper Polish language to somebody from France or Germany.
@@meoswald9131 Yes, I agree that the UK and USA mispronounce a lot of Greek vowels, and probably so does Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. I don't understand why, since it's not that hard to pronounce the vowels like a Greek would. The same is true for many star and constellation names, which often have Greek, Latin, or Arabic origin. As for myself, my mother was born in Canada and my father was born in the US. I received an American education and got degrees in economics and mathematics from the University of Hawaii. At UH, one of my professors was from India, two were from China (or maybe Taiwan), one was from Japan, and one was from Europe (named Csodas or Czordas). They all spoke with noticable accents. And they all pronounced pi as pie. Perhaps they didn't want to confuse their students!
Hi, Michael, thanks for your response. My suggestion about Your name , which is absolutely and only from Polish origins lead me to think You're Polish too. If I'm mistaken , please, forgive me that.Btw, You had mentioned You are student of mathematics but which branch? I did fail on Cauchy's theorem,from then my math consist only on 2+2=4.Please, excuse my English, it is my fourth language,so I do many mistakes.Proper grammair
@@michaelkaczmarski2938 π is pronounced as pi or pee, definitely not pie. In Hellenic we don’t have those double vowels like English when a letter like e can have multiple pronunciations, like e, ee, ei, ai, ae… In Hellenic e is always e, short and straight. Not like English. π = pi
Thanks for your story, for those who are Greek or who lives in a Greek community, Erasmian's reinventing of the Greek language wheel is difficult to comprehend!
Why is it so hard to find pronunciations for modern Greek. Like I'm trying to figure out how a modern Greek person would pronounce these but instead I get guides on "how the ancient Greek pronunciation worked" or "biblical Greek letters" or "Greek alphabet for maths and science"
I recommend google translate. The translations are mediocre, but the pronunciations for most languages are on point even according to native speakers. You can get most sounds with this pangram "διαφυλάξτε γενικά τη ζωή σας από βαθειά ψυχικά τραύματα". Blends/diphthongs/other exceptions to consider include: αι in αινέας, ντ in ντροπή, μπ in μπορεί, χα (the h sound is breathier) in χαρών, ευ in ευριπίδης, αυ in αυτό, υι in υιός, οι in οικονομικών, ου in ούτε, γγ in όγγα (it's an ng sound), γα in γάμμα (hard g in front of α, ου, and consonants, and y sound for the rest), and γκ in γκολ.
@@lilchoppa1613 there is no difference in pronunciation of ancient Greek and modern Greek. The reason is that there is no way to know how the ancients used to pronounce the letters. There is only evidence of how we pronounce them in modern times.
Thanks a ton for a great audio presentation. I was impressed to find that real pronunciation is easily done by SANASKRIT (SYLLABLE; CONJUNCTS & LETTERS; DIPTHOLONGS) Kappa as क (कप्पा) ; Chi as च (चाइ) ; Neu as न ( नु) ; Zeta as ज़ (ज़ीटा) ; Tao as ट ( टाओ ) ; theta as थ (थिटा) ; Delta as द ( देल्टा) ; Pie as प (पि) ; Phi as फ (फि) ; Lambda as ल(लॅम्बदा) ; Beta as व(विटा) ; Psi as र (रो:) ; Sigma as स ( सिग्मा ) Gamma as य (याॅमाॅ)
Thank you @Kolious_Thrace. I realized when BibTheo said "gamma" that we don't have a hard "G" sound. It's like a slurred "G" or almost like a "GH" like a gargling noise. Sort of like Hebrew. I couldn't listen to the rest, and I totally appreciate that the OP posted your amazing and absolutely perfect explanation. My grandparents spoke Greek to me, and I knew immediately this needed some corrections. :)
There are a lot if letters that look the same as Russian letters like gamma- looks like г and lower case delta-. Looks like б and epsilon. Looks like з and upper case pi - looks like п
I’m learning the language and the alphabet VERY SLOWLY which is better for me. Some of my dad’s best friends nationalities are Greek…I been learning from them…my dad spoke quite a bit of the language…his friends were either born in Greece or their parents were immigrants. But definitely a language that I would like to speak fluently…and definitely a country I would love to visit
Thank you. An a calligrapher and am learning the Greek alphabet plus have a friend in Athens, Greece who is helping me with pronouncing the letters. They are easier to write for me as capital letters but know the lower case are the most used. Wish me luck!😊
As an absolute beginner - this is the best video I've seen so far. Love the teaching style. Calmed me down for some reason. And I like the references to Hebrew! I do have a question though; is there no "v" sound in Greek?
Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad to reduce some of the inevitable anxiety of learning a new language. The Beta is pronounced closer to a "V" and does not have to be pronounced with the plosive "B" sound.
We will always remember her love her and miss her 😢 she was a funny person to watch and always kind 🥺 and such an amazing person we all love you lynja.
Thank you, very helpful. Some of the true Greek pronunciations are very hard for beginners so I really liked your style of teaching. We can all tweak our pronunciation down the line and anyway, everyone has an accent, we're not training to be Greek Spies and pass as Natives! 😂❤
Hi Dr. Espinosa, could you please expound just a bit, on the reconstructed academic E pronunciation system used? Naraspian? Not sure I spelled correctly? Thanks 😊
Thank you for the question. I should have pronounced it more clearly. It's an "Erasmian" pronunciation, which is what I was taught in seminary and is the standard academic pronunciation for Biblical Greek classes in American universities and seminaries, at least in my experience. There is an interesting article by Jody A. Barnard, "The 'Erasmian' Pronunciation of Greek" over at Brill.com, though it's currently behind a paywall. The original journal it was in is called "Erasmus Studies", 2017, vol. 37, issue 1, pages 109-132. This just illustrates that the de/merits of the Erasmian tradition are still under discussion in the academy. For those of use who teach Biblical Greek, we use this pronunciation scheme, acknowledge its limitations, and then usually tell our students that it's "Koine" (common) Greek anyway, so pronunciation would have been regionally influenced. Koine Greek is the Greek that evolved after Alexander the Great forcefully spread the Hellenistic empire across much of the Mediterranean and ancient Near East, all of whom would have had to pick up Greek as a 2nd or 3rd language. Since people learn Biblical Greek to read the New Testament in its original language , the authors of the books of the NT would probably have had their own regional dialects anyway. So Mark probably spoke differently than Luke, who spoke differently than Paul, than Peter, and so forth. The advice commonly given to students is just to be consistent, and for their first year, at least, to go with the pronunciation in their textbooks or by their professor. I also speak Spanish, for example, so my "rho" tends to sound more like a Spanish "r" than an English "r," but I point this out to my students and encourage them to pronounce their "rho" it in a way that makes the most sense them. I like the idea of a diversity of pronunciation as long as we can each understand each other. I even appreciate the strong opinions in the comments here against the Erasmian pronunciation, since I have similarly strong opinions against the reconstructed ancient Latin pronunciations I hear in the academy today. For what it's worth, I'd pronounce #omicron as "AH-mih-kron" since the letter "omicron" is taught as having an "ah" sound whereas the letter "omega" is taught as having the "oh" sound.
Erasmian is reconstructed Greek, Greek pronunciations reinvented for a lack of a better word. There is a small isolated Greek community who speaks to this day in Koine Greek, what some would call Biblical Greek. Yet, a speaker from Greece would understand the words being spoken by the members of that small community, but some of the meanings of those words may differ. For example the following word "παραδόσεις" is translated as traditions in the Bible, in Modern Greek it is translated as deliveries. The word is pronounced the same yet the meaning is a bit different. An English example is the word chips for Americans the word chips are thinly slice potatoes that is fried until it becomes crispy. For Brits chips are what Americans calls French Fries. Both groups would understand that the word chip was spoken, but the meanings are different. The same applies when comparing Koine Greek to Modern Greek pronunciations. By the way there are many words that never changed in meaning such as Αἷμα/Αίμα Blood!
@Eagle1349 I can assure you, in every version of Greek ancient or modern, the word "παραδόσεις¨ always means deliveries and also traditions in the meaning of acts delivered from generation to generation, so there is no difference at all
I'll never graduate from Harvard, or Oxford, but it would be so nice in my senior years to master at least some aspects of higher mathematics and physics. I would even be great to learn conversational greek. I'm not sure my tiny little pea sized brain can absorb all of that. I love to watch free lectures from retired Walter Lewin at MIT, and many others presenting top notch free lectures on real physics, math, biology. It is so satisfying to learn the things I was deprived of a as a marginal student desperately trying to survive. With intense concentration, constant repetition it's been wonderful to understand concepts of physics that left me behind 50 years ago. I won't be designing any space rockets, or giant New York skyscrapers, so it's harmless. Science isn't just for professional scientists. It's for everyone. The world desperately needs far far more science learning for every human being if we are to save ourselves from extinction. Thanks for helping with the (basic) pronunciation so we can all at least be on the same page. There's always room for improvement. Thanks for sharing.
Since he told us at least three times that this was the Herasmian Koine Greek pronunciation- which is a scholarly constructed “best guess” pronunciation-, I would like you to explain in what way his pronunciation of the ancient language actually wrong. He isn’t trying to pronounce the letters with a Modern Greek pronunciation. …unless you think that 2400 years ago they spoke the language like Greeks do today.
Not sure if you're still responding to comments on this or not, but I don't hear a difference between the pronunciation of Alpha ("a" in father) and Omicron ("o" in otter). Is there supposed to be a difference in pronunciation?
@@malloryconransmith429 Thanks. I would assume you are correct, but that's not what the video author says. He says "ah" as in "father". Which is no different than the "o" in "otter". In fact, he goes on to say "gamma" and "kappa" and "lambda" with the "ah" sound as well. Why is he pronouncing it as "ah" as in "father"?
Greek is very tough. I speak English, Spanish, and swedish. You could learn all 3 of those languages fluently in the time you could get to a basic level of Greek
Icl I know nothing of Greek but certain phrases that are used in modern day. (Like maths). Idk why I’m here but I found out I am backwards. I can understand the uppercase letters easier than the lower case letter. (I am British) although it will take a while to sink in I really don’t think this will be hard. Hey maybe you’re just an amazing teacher but I’ve just tested myself slightly n yes it’s fresh knowledge but I’ve retained nearly 1/4 already. I say I’ll learn a new language look at it n think. Mehhh nah I’m good but u may have inspired me to learn something new. So 1 I take my hat off to you sir. And 2. I’ll check back at some point and update this comment when I’ve learnt more 😂
I was taught that it's closer to the Spanish "b", which is more of a "b/v" sound. There is less of a plosive sound to it so the lips still touch but they don't put much pressure on each other and there is less of an explosive exhalation when pronouncing the Beta.
Omicron was not pronounced like the o in "otter" as pronounced by Americans. It's more like the standard British English pronunciation or like the Spanish pronunciation. I strongly suggest that you see the excellent polyMATHY series for the history of Greek sounds. The Erasmian pronunciation is a compromise. It ignores the fact that theta, phi and chi were not pronounced as in Modern Greek but as aspirated stops (like the initial letters in "top," "pot" and "car," respectively. Tau, pi and kappa were unaspirated, as in "stop," "spot" and "scar" respectively. As English speakers (and others) might have trouble with the distinction.
Though I am sure for your good intentions doing this video, i have to say that first the title is wrong, because when you say "How to Pronounce the Greek Alphabet" is misleading. The pronunciation you present here is "The proposed (Erasmian) pronunciation of ancient and Koine Greek" which has already proved by scientists to be wrong, not the Greek pronunciation, and i don't see any reason to teach something like that as a "Greek pronunciation" For example the sound of "η" and "ει" was as Plato in Cratylous 418c clearly tell us, exactly the same with the pronunciation of "ι" since the 5th century bc.
I do not know what other videos you saw,but I assure you this video is completely wrong.I am Greek.If you want to learn the correct pronunciation for all the letters of the alphabet read the comment of -Κολιους ΘΡΑΚΗ-it is clear and correct.
Bib Theo has it correct!, I was amazed this video is wrong. The producer is use "American college Greek", which is no where near modern Greek IF you go to Greece. Joe
The Greek letter "H" is easier to remember if you align in six. A H N T Ηη Νν and T is a stopping noise. Make the OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sound, and you have "W." A small o, omicron. The EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Sound makes an H, and the H sound makes an N, the N sound, a type of VVVVVVVVVibration. X marks the spot, good enough. The arrangement from A to Z Arrenagment from I to O to Phi is housed. What are you doing in spacetime? I O I O I O I O OI A On or Off? Corrupted, or uncorrupted? To what degree of definitional value? What defines a virus, other than a definition? John of Patmos and the singularity? Logos? Differentiating a sine wave in this way is like looking at a elephant with a microscope.
Thank you for pointing this out. It should be made very clear to those finding this video that if you are here, looking to learn how to read, write, and speak MODERN Greek for conversing with Greeks in Greece or abroad, you will be corrected on your pronunciation, if using this as a guide. If you are a non-Greek, attempting to speak, most Greeks will applaud your effort, but if you are a Greek American, for example, we will be corrected sternly. 😂 my favorite story is being corrected by a customs agent setting foot in Greece, who lectured me about not speaking Greek fluently as a first generation half Greek American “ Από πιο μέρος είναι ο πατέρας σου γιατί δεν μιλάς ελληνικα καλύτερα;… Welcome to Greece Πέραστε.” «Μ-Μη» as in «Μαλάκα»😂
It was pronounced as "iesous" by Greek speakers since they didn't have the y sound or sh sound from the Aramaic Yeshua or Yeshu. Also they added the s onto the end of everything too. The Latin is what turned the i into a j, but originally a j in latin made a y sound. Over time, Latin vulgar and French transformed the sound of j into how we say j now. Jesus was actually spelled Iesus in English in the original King James version but then the letter j was introduced in the 1600s and the KJV was revised to include it, even though it was already pronounced the same way. I honestly don't know how people turned a y into a j. They don't sound the same at all, but there you go. Language is weird. But I don't think Yeshua/Yeshu/Iesus/Iesous/Jesus doesn't care about how you say it.
He slaughtered it, I am Greek, and this is an "forgive me but americans do slaughter other languages "American speaking it, I am American but my VERY Greek Yaiya taught me it, so I do know how to say it over some non-Greek professor that was taught by another non-Greek professor.
Truth Seeker, I am confused on what you are saying. Could you explain? You stated " cxs in Greek found in the last verse in Chapter 13 of Revelation is pronounced, Che Z S, or JESUS". Could you explain this using the actual Greek text? Rev 13:18 ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν· ὁ ἔχων νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου, ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστίν· καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ.
Lol. To funny. Yes, I would be that person. But now I find myself fascinated with the confusing Greek alphabet. Well, becoming more complex as I read all the reply’s. The gentleman does at first say he’s using a (naraspian? Still trying to research that) academic E pronunciation system with its strengths and weaknesses which he’s passing on.
That sounds like Modern Greek. The tradition for Koine Greek is "moo." Another popular variation from non-Koine Greek is "myu", which is how mathematicians tend to pronounce it.
Μμ is μυ in Hellenic but υ is pronounced like i not like u. Μυ sounds like mee and not like moo. Νυ sounds like nee and not like noo. English speakers have this problem because you either follow Latin or Erasmian pronunciation rules that they are totally wrong in Hellenic!
@@stpat7614 it hasn’t changed so dramatically! Back at the days, there were no counties only nations. The Hellenic nation consisted of many Hellenic tribes. Ionians, Aeolians, Dorics, Thracians… Each Hellenic tribe might had a different way to pronunciation some letters but that wasn’t a general rule for the language. Sun > Ήλιος : ílios in Hellenic That word also existed as Helios in English. Dorics might said Elios, Ionians might said ilios, Aeolians might said alios These were the differences in the pronunciation. The letter Ττ was called táf not tau/ta-ooh… Each letter’s name has a particular way of pronunciation because of a unique features of the Hellenic language. By saying the names of the letters, our alphabet is a prayer to Apollo, the Helios God! If you change the mee into mu and taf into taoh… they make no sense!
What Erasmus did with the Greek alphabet was not one of his best works. It is obvious that he tried to read the Greek letters based on Latin pronunciation. Probably it was more convenient that way because a) during his life the Greek language was considered dead, the fall of Constantinople happened few years before his birth b) we are talking about the 16th century, and that says a lot by itself, eg not many information available, c) he spoke Latin which was and is a very old language, based on the same system as the Greek, the alphabet and d) probably because he had a tight deadline and didn't have the time to learn and compare the grammar of the ancient Greek and the modern Greek, or at least the Greek of his time and then make a field research about the pronunciation with native speakers and connect the dots, whatever. Before continuing, I must say that Erasmus work was and is very important and he should not be judged by one bad day at work. Now, my advice to all of you who really want to read Greek, ancient or modern, as a native speaker is the following: first learn the grammar of modern Greek (I am not sure if you want to mess with that beast but it's your call). This is the only way to understand why for example the Greek language has 5 ways to depict the sound "i", there are grammar rules that dictate why the sound of "i" can take the form of the letters η, ι, υ of the alphabet and ει, οι as two letters that are making one sound. Or where to add o or ω, when you have the sound o (which btw sounds like the o in the word "pocket"). One important thing that you have to keep in mind when studying modern Greek grammar is that the same rules apply also in ancient Greek. That said, they have the same foundations and hence it is not wise to treat them as two different languages. However, keep in mind that the ancient Greeks had some additional rules, for example they had also binary, on top of single and plural nouns, referring to two items. In addition, with regards to the consonants and as example B, β (vita) is not similar to English b. Let me give you an easy example, the famous mountain Olympus is written as Όλυμπος in Greek, here you can also make the comparison of y and υ yourself, but in Greek the word sounds like "olibos", not with a separated m+p but a heavy Latin b. So, why didn't they use the letter Β, β one might ask, and the answer is because Β, β doesn't sound like that, on the other hand the combination of letters Μ, μ and Π, π is what makes the sound of the latin B in Greek, and that is consistent across all the Greek words. Just for the record, Olympus is a combination of two words ΟΛΟΣ + ΛΑΜΠΩ in English that sounds like olos+labo, the meaning is whole (ολος, ολόκληρος) and shine (λαμπω) and it was used as name for high / bold mountains that reflected sun light, the name was used for mountains in Attica, Cyprus, Lesvos island (not Lesbos) and of course Macedonia. Λαμπω has an ω in the end because all verbs in first person, present simple and active voice end with ω, and that is a basic rule of spelling that Greeks learn in their first year at school, the same rule applies in ancient Greek. So, why all this debate, why people believe even today that ancient Greek sound like something different. Simply because it did. Oops, what happened here? There are two major misunderstandings that confuse many people. First of all, different dialects or modes, like ionian, Dorian, aeolian, Lydia, phrygian and so on (musicians should consider themselves lucky that they have only seven, the language has many more) were a real thing and you could find some weird stuff when comparing them. However, the most common (κοινή) was Ionian and the phonetics are used strictly from that branch. Please note that the ionian dialect is spoken over millenia in the Ionian Islands, like that of Corfu and I'm guessing that Erasmus never visited that, or any other, part of Greece for advice. The second thing that confuses a lot of people is the idea of prosody (προσωδια in Greek, again compare the second o in the word and let me know how ω sounds). Prosody was the color and the melody (μελωδία, oops that ω again sounds like a simple o, I think we have a pattern here) of the language. However, color and melody have nothing to do with pronunciation but with sound pitch. It's easy for someone to understand that it is different to say the vowel i at 1000Mhz vs 500Mhz. Yes, ancient Greek had that characteristic (Ionian: χαρακτηριστικό sounds haraktiristiko, dorian: χαρακτηριστικο sounds harakteristiko, isn't that amaizing) but it was lost and long gone from the common language. Still if you are looking for elements of prosody you may find them in local dialects in places like in Cyprus, Ionian islands (both Ionian) or if you speak with a pontic Greek (Dorian leftovers). All in all, I feel proud that people debate and are interested in understanding my language. I feel that you and I, are trying to get closer to the spirit that gave birth to positive and social science and forms of art like theatre, so some of the good stuff we enjoy today. And honestly I really don't care how you pronounce the Greek letters as long as you can read and understand what some ancient Greeks wrote back in the days. However, don't you ever expect to socialize with modern day Greek speakers using this pronunciation, and I am giving you very few chances to do that with ancient Greeks as well, assuming that you invent a time machine which is not the simplest thing to do but if you do it, kudos to you.
For those of us who study languages this is the cringest video Veeta - not Bayta Thelta - not Delta Zeeta - not Zayta Eeta - not Ayta Theeta - not Thayta Lamtha - not Lambda Mee - not Mu Nee - not Nu Omikron - not Ahmikron Taf - not Tau Eepsilon - not Upsilon
@@connie0613 Because you insist on the wrong Erasmian pronunciations, thinking that they are correct and dismissing any advice from native Greeks that tell you IT IS A WRONG PRONOUNCIATION.
@@connie0613 you pronounce Hellenic with Latin or Erasmian pronunciation rules that is totally wrong… Hellenic, as every other language in the world, has some pronunciation rules. If you learn them form the beginning is the easiest language to read it! The don’t have have long vowels or double vowels like English. Each letter makes one sound and the pronunciation is super flat, Hellenic is not a sing-songy language. If you learn 10-15 pronunciation rules you can 100% read anything in Hellenic. Ηη Ιι Υυ All these are i in Hellenic. They are all making the same i sound as in the word think. So, Μυ and Nu are pronounced mee and nee in Hellenic, not mu and nu! I left a comment about the correct Hellenic pronunciation of each letter above. You can check it out if you want.
I'm trying to learn how to pronounce greek properly so I can learn to read the new testament but I honestly don't know where to go on this. I'm so confused because I'm seeing different pronunciations and what I'm afraid is that I end up speaking greek the wrong way. I just want to learn and speak it correctly which I'm willing to do but I don't know where to go on this.
Παρά τα όσα πολλοί μπορεί να πιστεύουν ότι υπάρχουν μερικές μικρές κοινότητες που μιλούν Ελληνιστική Κοινή . Προφέρουν τις λέξεις και τα γράμματα τα ίδια με τους νεοελληνικούς ομιλητές, με αποτέλεσμα να πιστεύω ότι ο κ. Ερασμιανός προσπαθούσε να επανεφεύρει τον τροχό!
There is no erasmian tradition, you try hard to make one but it is not accepted by the greek. You can not make something up without the owners of the language. Erasmus was a clown.
I understand. I have strong feelings about the reconstructed Latin that trends in the Academy, too. I tend to pronounce Latin with more of a Spanish accent, and maybe because of that I try to remind my Greek students that Koine Greek would have been pronounced with whatever native accent the speaker grew up with. And for modern Greek speakers, I totally understand pronouncing it with modern Greek pronunciation.
