Complete Greek: Learn to read, write, speak and understand Greek (Teach Yourself)

Great book

Really good. Suitable for absolute beginner. I'm using this as the sensible working side of the language, actual conversations and grammar as my Bible. It's written how a tutor would teach, conversational style in English. I supplement this with Duolingo, and ilearngreek website, greek radio and TV website as background. Personally I could not get on with full immersion method eg Rosetta stone..there is no translation aspect. I understand that might be quicker in theory. I prefer to take twice a long, have it explained in English so I "get it", as in this book, have Greek v English anomalies explained and then examples. There is audio accompaniment on the teach yourself library app which is free. This book encourages the discovery method and offers advice from the author an actual real life tutor. That means do things on a way that you can personally remember. So, for example to remember the alphabet I remember it in English:ABY DEZ ETHI KLM NXO PRS TU FHS O.Abbey, Dez, ETHI (names) KLM NAXOS PAROS (easy) TU (clothing) FHS (like NHS) O.This helps me personally. I remember X is then between n and o and phi, chi, psi are together at the end as a group of three...I remember tricky letters by:Zeta is fat (one curve)XI is sexy (two curves)Phi, Chi, Psi as Fee, Hee and Pussee:Fee as in Shoey McFee in Crossroads - showing my ageHe as in high pitched 'He-Hee' Michael JacksonPussee and in pussy as Psi looks like a camel toe ( I'm female so this makes me chuckle).I then learned by writing out in Greek multiple times. I found by doing this I can use a dictionary quicker. I did this BEFORE moving on.When I started Duolingo it then helped, Rosetta stone I gave up after the intro..just not for me.The point being THIS book actively encourages and helps you..it even has pointers on how to listen to long gargled sentences in the real world and how to focus on one or two words to get the meaning. And how to ask someone to repeat/expand and how to self accept when you don't get things and how to handle/insert/makeup/blag..all from an highly experienced teacher. So, like me, it actively encourages use to use whatever method you need to to help you "get it" as in above. You don't feel dejected because you can't immediately remember the word for say "insert" , it encourages you to think of a way of remembering it so there is no wrong answer, rather than other apps berating you for not being able to look at a photo and immediately KNOW the word.Again this is all personal preference. I should say I have lived in two foreign countries before, personally I found that learning loads of vocabulary times, colours, directions, household items etc first, translated directly was the easiest way of learning and then going on to learn it "properly". This way you can basically have a conversation by gesticulating and using nouns to start with and make yourself understood. This gets your confidence up and gets you by whilst then, in the background, in private you can study the actual language and grammar. Everyone is then delighted how you progress and you feel huge pride. So I fell, from experience, this book helps you do that.If you are a scholar of language and your goal is to master the language with a very quick learning method and have been brought up with apps and want to have multiple languages on your CV, you might be better with a full immersion method eg Rosetta stone. Personally my goal is to be able to fully understand the principles of the language, the anomalies, and systemally work through principles and be able to translate in real world situations when listening to Greeks talking, at speed. So for me, this common sense book, which does go on to quite an advanced level seems perfect for me.I looked at many books before buying this and feel I've made the right choice.

I like this book. I've been using a popular language app, but since I'm dyslexic, I find using different methods to absorb and recall knowledge helpful. That's why I decided to buy this book.I will soon have a Greek niece or nephew, and I visit my extended family in Athens frequently. I want to be able to participate in conversations and respect my hosts' culture and language.This book has been beneficial for having conversations and expressing needs, but I wish it included a chapter on family members, such as sentences introducing mum, dad, son, daughter, etc.The book comes with an easy-to-use app for accessing audio and interactive exercises to test your knowledge.I look forward to reading this book further while relaxing on the beach in Kefalonia.

Worked really well for my holidays

I am not an absolute beginner in Greek, as I was studying Greek for 2 years but it was 20 years ago... I have been many times to Greece over the last 20 years - hence I know the basics and I still remember the basic words and expressions, but I forgot a lot and I needed a textbook to brush it up. Since, I’ve seen various textbooks before and I can compare - I have to say : this is the best one!The book is structured in such a way - that you can learn quickly the most important words and expressions in a sequence that gives you confidence in every day conversation.I’ve seen some negative reviews about the audio. You can ignore them. The audio for this course is available for free in an app for iPhone. Forget about CD-s (we live in 21 century). Download the app “Teach Yourself Library” on your iPhone and you can enjoy listening the genuine Greek pronunciation of the texts from this book (high quality audio).If you are a self-study learner and you are looking for the right materials - this is what you should start with. Amazing book!

This is a fantastic book to help with learning Greek. It is in both Greek and English so it helps to understand what you're learning and you have an app you can have on your phone to support your learning. I found it a fantastic learning tool when I am teaching my daughter Greek. A must for learning Greek. Great book!

Fantastic book to learn Greek, I really recommend all the language books of this series, I have the Swedish one as well and love it! It's a beginner's book up until the intermediate level, full of exercises and useful tips and tricks. It explains grammar and all sorts.

Just starting out to learn some Greek for our holiday this year. Looks a comprehensive course for getting yourself around on holiday, but it is NOT a complete guide to the language. You will need a separate Greek grammar for this. Despite what other reviews say, the audio works extremely well. You need to download the Teach Yourself Library app to your smart phone, search for Complete Greek and select it. You will be asked to sign up (which is free) and you can then access the audio files (which can be downloaded). The audio is very clear. Looking forward to learning at least some basics before we set off.