How to Pronounce the Greek Letters Like a Greek (Ββ, Γγ, Δδ, Θθ, Ρρ, Υυ..)

How to Pronounce the Greek Letters Like a Greek (Ββ, Γγ, Δδ, Θθ, Ρρ, Υυ..) | Greek Alphabet

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Helinika - Greek Language, History & Culture

3 жыл бұрын

Today I will help you pronounce the Greek letters the letters of the Greek alphabet like a Greek. Although Alpha (Αα), Epsilon (Εε), and most Greek letters are easy to pronounce, there are a few that absolutely confuse most Greek language students. These Greek letters are Ββ, Γγ, Δδ, Θθ, Ρρ, Υυ. Students who learn Greek outside of Greece often pronounce these letters as if they read Latin scriptures. But why is that and how can someone overcome their pronunciation difficulties?
You can also find the video at helinika.com: helinika.com/2021/06/08/diffi...
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Пікірлер: 102

@helinika Жыл бұрын

(NEW) Find my book "Stories to Learn Greek": helinika.com/shop-4/

@lightwarriorawakened 11 ай бұрын

How would one pronounce ΧΞϚ´ ?

@Seven71987 11 ай бұрын

I think X in Greek is a voiceless gamma. I think that's a acronym not a actual word.

@Seven71987 11 ай бұрын

Beta must be V Gamma must be the voiced version of the CH sound on Loch and Bach Delta must be a voiced TH Theta must be a voiceless TH Rho despite looking like a P is a R And Upsilon must be I and so does H in Greek.

@profphilbell2075 2 күн бұрын

I am a scientist who uses the Greek alphabet a lot. Clearly most of the pronunciations of Greek letters used in western science education has no resemblance to Modern Greek. Thank you very much for the lesson and I’m happy to subscribe and follow your lessons.

@helinika 2 күн бұрын

Thank you for your encouraging comment!

@stephenscribbles 11 ай бұрын

Part of my girlfriend's family is Greek and I really want to learn at least a bit to impress them. This is going to be harder than I thought, but I want to keep learning. Thank you for helping us beginners!

@spikefivefivefive 11 ай бұрын

If English speakers are confused about the differences in the pronunciation between Delta and Theta, consider the difference between the English pronunciations at the beginning of the words "think" and "this". They are totally not interchangeable. However I had always thought Delta in Greek is more like the fricative D in Spanish as in the "nada".

@abdou36965 3 жыл бұрын

Merci beaucoup pour cette intéressante leçon sur la prononciation des lettres grec.vous êtes formidable.

@dominator8245 2 жыл бұрын

Actually only Germans in the middle and south of Germany have difficulties pronouncing r, in Bavaria we actually also roll the r :)

@masse7704 Жыл бұрын

Swedes too

@AndrewAliferis Жыл бұрын

Excellent! I’m Greek-American and have so many pronunciation issues with modern Greek. You do a great job of explaining. If I have just one suggestion, please provide the translation for the examples so that we can learn the vocabulary as well.

@helinika Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the feedback Andrew!

@palakush7650 Ай бұрын

Agreeeeed

@suprecam9880 2 жыл бұрын

A lot of fun to watch and learn with your videos. You convinced me to start learning Greek. Thank you!~ Subscribed.

@helinika 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much ^^

@therobloxian_official 4 ай бұрын

Είμαι Αμερικανίδα 13 χρονών που μιλάει άπταιστα ελληνικά.. Φοβερή δουλειά!

@mulan10003 Жыл бұрын

Very helpful lesson!

@helinika Жыл бұрын

😊

@zapatrzenieuwu5171 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah that was confusing for me, thank u for make it clear ☺️

@maankawas5957 2 жыл бұрын

Very helpful!

@plantemor Жыл бұрын

thank you for this lovely little video :D I'm Danish, but have taken an interest in understanding the sounds of the greek alphabet as part of a little project I'm working on. Your video was very helpful. It is exciting to learn something new and have a door cracked open to an alphabet that used to be, well, total Greek to me, huehueh.

@helinika Жыл бұрын

Great to hear that! :)

@hellophoenix 2 жыл бұрын

A great lesson and it helped me a lot

@helinika 2 жыл бұрын

Χαίρομαι! Glad to hear that ^^

@hermonymusofsparta 3 жыл бұрын

Keep up the good work!

@paulorenatodemaria6106 2 ай бұрын

Thank you, very kind of you.

@patriciamillin1977 10 ай бұрын

Thank you. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. I have family living in Cyprus and have noticed similarities between Greek and Spanish pronunciation, for example beta (v) and delta (soft th). I was just never sure how much is Cypriot dialect and if it’s the same as in Greece. I lived in Cyprus myself during the 60s and have noticed that some pronunciations have changed over the years, for example kai, which I always learned was ke, but have often heard my nieces and nephews pronounce it like dshe or je.

@helinika 10 ай бұрын

Happy to hear that! The dje/tse pronunciation for "και" is indeed a dialect (you hear it mostly in Creta and Cyprus)

@patriciamillin1977 10 ай бұрын

@@helinika I thought as much. Thank you for verifying 🤔😊

@josephwaters2792 Жыл бұрын

Looks like Γγ was actually pronounced 4 different ways in the 3 different sample words depending on the next letter or letter combination.

@2002erli Жыл бұрын

Good Explanation

@rocklob069 4 ай бұрын

As I've been learning russian, the hard parts for me are the ones that look like cyrillic like epsilon which sounds like "oo" as in moon

@MAwaisKhan5060 Жыл бұрын

Thanks your words very helpful and your teaching skills are very nice. love From Pakistan

@QuantumLeapAGI 5 ай бұрын

excellent video. thank you very much.

@stadiagamer9689 9 ай бұрын

preparing for my first greek lesson with you right now. thank you

@helinika 9 ай бұрын

Καλή αρχή! :)

@crbgo9854 Жыл бұрын

I have never heard of a distinction between the "ee" sounds how to recognize there place in spelling that is awesome

@helinika 3 жыл бұрын

Claim your Udemy discount for learning Greek: www.udemy.com/course/helinika-basic-greek-language-course/?referralCode=8E7C16674FDA34F71834

@helinika Жыл бұрын

And here is your discount for Helinika's intermediate course: www.udemy.com/course/intermediate-greek-language-course-b1b2-with-helinika/learn/lecture/28379522?referralCode=2C15574AD126B18E2FBC#overview

@peeps169 8 ай бұрын

@@helinika hi

@Kovachhh 2 жыл бұрын

Σ’ ευχαριστώ!

@littlebrookreader949 Жыл бұрын

Blessings to you! 😊😊😊

@jadezwamibardzo493 3 жыл бұрын

Σας ευχαριστώ! Είσαι όμορφος ~ ☺️

@zapatrzenieuwu5171 3 жыл бұрын

Ooo polska widzę 🥴

@jadezwamibardzo493 3 жыл бұрын

@@zapatrzenieuwu5171 owszem xd

@the_bathroom 2 жыл бұрын

*όμορφη

@ParlaAmericanoWithBob 9 ай бұрын

Thank you

@sabtuchannel9590 3 ай бұрын

Thanks

@snailmix 11 ай бұрын

Gamma has definitely been the hardest for me to get the hang of the pronunciation. It’s also hard to tell when it’s a soft g, when it’s pronounced like a y, and when it’s a hard g or even an n or ng sometimes. So many different sounds for one letter. Η/η also gets me because I always want to pronounce it like an H or an n

@joshuabornowski761 11 ай бұрын

I'm still not understanding why they say gamma is sometimes pronounced as a 'wh'. I don't hear that at all

@ada7180 9 ай бұрын

I suspect it's pronounced as y when it's the first letter and is followed by i or e, e.g. the names Γιάννης and Γεώργιος, pronounced Yannis and Yeor(g)ios. In other cases gamma is pronounced like a voiced H, or something between h and g. This can be heard clearly in the video. And to get the proper g sound, they use double gamma (yy) or gamma-kappa (yk).

@PatrickSmits 8 ай бұрын

Hi, the difference between δ and theta is still not clear for me Can you help?

@ada7180 8 ай бұрын

@@PatrickSmits delta sounds like th in this, and theta - like th in path

@PatrickSmits 8 ай бұрын

I I think Delta is pronounced with Vocal chord and theta without Vocal chord( just tongue against upper teeth .) Is that wright?🤔😊

@SomeoneOrthodox 3 ай бұрын

Fun fact: the letter Y comes from the greek letter ypsilon that is why in romanian, french and i think other romanic languages it is called "igrec" which means greek I

@volpixrossi3589 Ай бұрын

In Italian we say either ipsilon or i greca/greco

@Arthur-so2cd 2 жыл бұрын

you are an amazing teacher : )

@theproofessayist8441 11 ай бұрын

As someone invested in mathematics - I now sometimes take a light joke out of how bad the American English pronunciation of variable symbols can be.

@cosmiceggs2385 Жыл бұрын

So δ is the long "th" sound and θ is the shorter one? For the English word comparison, it does sound shorter.

@almusti Ай бұрын

Such a shame the Greek alphabet doesn’t correspond with modern phonetics of modern Latin alphabet. She explained it all beautifully though. Growing up on the west coast of Turkey I used to watch a lot of Greek television as a child in 70s. Politics and history aside we have great fondness to and similarities with our Greek neighbours. Wouldn’t it be great if two countries were allies politically and just got in really well? So upsetting 😢 hopefully one day we will achieve that. Greetings to all our Greek neighbours 🇬🇷 ❤🇹🇷

@helinika Ай бұрын

🤍

@StevDoesBigJumps Жыл бұрын

It's nice to see a distinction between delta and theta, like eth and thorn (ð, đ) in old english. Also it's kind of fascinating that y becomes i in practically every country south of germany. instead of ü.

@PauloRLustosa 2 жыл бұрын

Please, do you have a video pronouncing the anciant greek alphabet? Best regards.

@helinika 2 жыл бұрын

Hi Paulo! I don't have a video on the ancient Greek alphabet. However, in Greece, we pronounce ancient Greek the same way we pronounce modern Greek :)

@AngusTatchell Ай бұрын

When did these modern pronunciations develop? How long have these been the most fashionable ways to speak these letters? I presume the vulgarisation of Greek has been a very long process, and this won't be how it sounded 500 years ago.

@PatrickSmits 8 ай бұрын

I think I've got it now: δ you use vocal chord (φωνητική χορδή te and θ with tongue and teeth.

@sentient1640 7 ай бұрын

I need it for the math.

@YelpBullhorn Жыл бұрын

I’m English and I’m trying to learn some Greek, but I really struggle with gamma and rho. I hear the W, R, G and Y sound, depending on who is saying it, and what word they are saying! And as for rolling my Rs..... well where do I start? It’s just impossible.

@helinika Жыл бұрын

It's not impossible! My English pronunciation is also not like the one of a native speaker. Don't give up :)

@kenzeier2943 11 ай бұрын

I am studying koine (New Testament) Greek. I have been taught other sounds.

@Richard-qs8dn 7 ай бұрын

👌

@beakfordclakington1337 Жыл бұрын

okay; that cleared that up. like socrates once said, 'im back to square -5'. not really i blame those uncontientious romans for interpreting greek letters and ideas superficially

@helinika Жыл бұрын

Don't worry, it's just the oronunciation that needs to be readjusted

@baze3SC Жыл бұрын

Interestingly, the "confusion" between B and V appears also in other languages like Hebrew. I think it's called betacism.

@spikefivefivefive 11 ай бұрын

Spanish too

@mustafacavlak Жыл бұрын

I'm really confused with the letter Δ,δ. Many people say it's the same with letter D in Latin, you pronounce it like "th" in the word there and when I try text to speech in translate, the female voice pronounce it like "v" like the v in the word venomous.

@helinika Жыл бұрын

I can assure you it is pronounced as "th".

@scarletb79 2 жыл бұрын

Is Molon Labe pronounced labe in ancient Greek?

@the_bathroom 2 жыл бұрын

Idk but in modern greek its lave

@dranilganvir6133 Жыл бұрын

❤

@sapphoenixthefirebird5063 2 жыл бұрын

Castilian Spanish has many of the same sounds! Alpha = A Beta = non-word-initial B or V Gamma = non-word-initial G, consonant Y, LL (yeismo only), N Delta = non-word-initial D Epsilon = E Zeta = (no equivalent, Spanish has no /z/ sound) Eta = I, vowel Y Theta = soft C, Z (distincion and ceceo only) Iota = I, vowel Y Kappa = C, K, QU, word-initial G Lambda = L, LL (lleismo only) Mu = M Nu = N, Ñ Xi = X Omicron = O Pi = P, word-initial B or V Rho = non-word-initial single R (tapped R) Sigma = S, soft C, Z (seseo only) Tau = T, word-initial D Upsilon = I, vowel Y Phi = F Chi = soft G, J Psi = PS Omega = O

@arthurjohnson9982 Жыл бұрын

A more phonetic transcription: Α /a/ Β /v/ Γ [ɣ] / [ʝ] Δ /ð/ Ε /e/ Ζ /z/ Η /i/ Θ /θ/ Ι /i/ Κ /k/ Λ /l/ Μ /m/ Ν /n/ Ξ /ks/ Ο /o/ Π /p/ Ρ /ɾ/ Σ /s/ Τ /t/ Υ /i/ Φ /f/ Χ [x] / [ç] Ψ /ps/ Ω /o/

@Deivid_C 8 ай бұрын

P definitely confuses me with the p sound. I see the P and immediately think it is 'pa'.

@brfisher1123 Ай бұрын

I feel so bad, we non-Greeks like to use your letters and words quite often especially in the field of science and yet we botch the pronunciation. I wonder how you Greeks pronounce the words "photography" and "gymnastics" for example considering that they have their origins from the Greek words φῶς (phōs), and γραφή (graphé) for "photography" and γυμνός (gymnós) for the "gym" part of "gymnastics".

@Sam_Green____4114 Жыл бұрын

The most letter l have a problem with is Psi Ψ ! l find it very difficult !

@vedangpathak Жыл бұрын

Memorising Schrodinger's equation is just a piece of cake for greeks. 🐈

@Der.Kleine.General Жыл бұрын

Schrööööööödinger 😑

@vedangpathak Жыл бұрын

@@Der.Kleine.General 🤣🤣 sorry, Schrödinger

@conde_concini 2 жыл бұрын

I'm Brazilian, but I can't correctly pronounce the letter gamma

@helinika 2 жыл бұрын

Γαία (earth) is pronounced like "yeah" Γυναίκα - γυν -》 pronounced just like yin from yin and yang Hope this helps :)

@conde_concini 2 жыл бұрын

@@helinika thanks a lot!

@psoonipad6generation118 Жыл бұрын

This Greek letter η is pronounced like a i

@axiomist4488 Жыл бұрын

So Pythagoras is Peetagoras, not Paytagoras. Thats what I thought.

@samsadax230 4 ай бұрын

It is Peethaghoras, "th" like in "think" and "gh" is the gamma explained in the video.

@TheBaroness Ай бұрын

I know I have 7.5% Greek DNA...but this is all Greek to me! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤔🤔🤔🙄🙄🙄

@nikolaosbouboulis7883 Жыл бұрын

Sei Efharisto polli

@patrickmcguire2434 Жыл бұрын

Are you sure you don't have 7 Dwarfs?😀

@GrannyIsWatchingYou 4 ай бұрын

Ατμοσφαιρα λικε δε ουορλδ καλλεδ ατμοσφερ κομε φρομ δε γρηέικ ουορλδ καλλεδ ατμόσφαιρα

@panda5996 Жыл бұрын

All I know about Greek was the line “This is Sparta!!!” Yelled by a Scottish actor before kicking a black guy into a pit.