Thanks David! I am a week into learning thanks to these videos and everything so far has felt very well paced and encouraging. I never feel in over my head and the rate of new vocabulary and exercises make me feel like I'm progressing. I may be sad when I get caught up to your latest video but I am happy to know that you are still going and have increased your frequency. I purchased the book "Greek: An intensive course" and immediately felt overwhelmed with how quickly it introduced concepts and makes me even more grateful that your videos exist online. Cheers! 😀
Oh I also had a question - perhaps this was stated early on, but I've heard 2 different pronunciations for "ω" (just omega on its own): "oh" or "aw" and I am unsure whether it sounds like you are saying "aw" because of your accent or if that is intended? And do you know why there exists this discrepancy? Thanks!
@@justusr5998 Thank you very much for your Super Thanks and your incredibly encouraging comment! I am really pleased to hear that you’re enjoying the course, and you are right to say that I have increased the lesson frequency; I now publish a lesson every Saturday, and there should be plenty of studying and practice for you to do in future lessons :) To answer your question, I deliberately pronounce omega as “aw” because that is the standard recommended pronunciation of omega (in the UK, at least, and for Classical Greek). You will find it recommended in books like the Oxford Dictionary of Classical Greek, for example. I presume that this is based upon a consensus amongst contemporary phonologists concerning how omega would have been pronounced. The reason that some people pronounce omega as “oh” instead is because that is how scholars of the last century typically pronounced it, probably on the basis of the fact that the Latin equivalent of omega (ō) would have been pronounced “oh”. I hope that this helps and thanks again :)
Thank you very much for the kind and encouraging comment! I really appreciate it :) I aim to release a new lesson every week. This aim will be much more feasible for me in three weeks, when I shall have much more time than I do now!
Thank you for the kind comment! Yes, I do one-to-one lessons. Are you in the UK? If so, you can find me on Tutorful under “David L”, and if you sign up with this referral link, you will get £25 credit to use on your first paid lesson - tutorful.co.uk/referral-landing?ref=8n8vo652& If you are not in the UK, then please let me know, and I shall see if I can set up an alternative :)
Yes indeed! Well done for making that link. "Eureka" comes from the Greek verb εὑρηκα, which would actually be "heureka" if we transliterated it with the rough breathing (the rough breathing has been lost in "eureka"). Anyway, εὑρηκα is the perfect tense first-person singular form of εὑρισκω, meaning that εὑρηκα means "I have found". In Archimedes' famous utterance, we understand "it" as the direct object, so "eureka" or εὑρηκα is "I have found it!" Thank you for your comment and keep up the good work! :)
This is probably the best series on this language on UA-cam by far, and I can definitely say it's the best free course. The Center for Hellenic Studies' series is super disappointing, ridden with technical errors that make it hard to use effectively, poorly structured, and rigidly follows a textbook that the professor himself is constantly talking poorly about. These videos aren't complete yet but I await every one that comes out as they come out because it is completely irreplicable for actual, verbal explanations of the language. Possibly some time soon after we go through more of the verb behavior specifically and have more vocab, I don't think it would be too out of the question to start analyzing more simple sections of original texts for examples such as Plato's dialogues/The Apology of Socrates. If you are unfamiliar with it, Jackson Crawford has an excellent series of videos on Old Norse and I personally found his style of explanation followed by prompting the viewer to translate original texts to be very encouraging, though Old Norse is a bit easier than Ancient Greek in some respects.
Thank you very much for your incredibly kind and encouraging comment! And yes, after introducing the requisite grammar and vocab, I would definitely like to move on to studying Greek texts. I am even going to try to incorporate more quotes from real Greek texts to illustrate grammar points. Thank you for your comment once again! :)
This is an excellent course. I've been following it since the first episodes which, by good chance, appeared just as I was starting to tackle Ancient Greek. You have done a great job of designing and delivering the course and I thank you for your dedication. Could you give some hints about how you prepare your recent slides that use both the Roman and Greek alphabets, please? Specifically, the font that you use and the method of mapping the keys on your keyboard to the characters in the font set? Thanks again.
Thank you very much for your kind words! I am very happy to hear that you have been following the course since the start :) I know that there are have been significant pauses between some lessons but, in a few weeks, I shall have much more time than I do now, and I intend to create weekly lessons. Thank you for following the course! In response to your question, I use a piece of software called Keyman, which allows you to switch between different downloaded keyboards. I downloaded an Ancient Greek keyboard created by a Cambridge academic, who taught me (and other students) how to get and install the keyboard. I cannot see this exact keyboard on Keyman’s website at the moment, so I am not sure if the exact same keyboard is available there. However, I can see that they have a Classical Greek keyboard on their website, which should work in much the same way. You can find Keyman’s site just by Googling “Keyman”, and you need to download and install Keyman itself first, and then you can find the Classical Greek keyboard by Googling “Keyman Classical Greek keyboard”. - this will help you find the appropriate page on Keyman’s site. On that page, you will be able to find details about how to download and install the keyboard. An Ancient Greek keyboard for Keyman enables you to switch to typing in Greek using a keyboard shortcut or with a few clicks, and the keys are already mapped for you (they are broadly mapped onto the equivalent letters of the Latin alphabet). You will be able to find information about how to type breathings etc. on the details page for that keyboard on Keyman’s website. I was actually planning on making a video on how to get an Ancient Greek keyboard set up on your computer, but I have been very busy recently. I hope that my reply suffices for you to find Keyman and the Greek keyboard, but please let me know if you need anything else. I shall make the tutorial at some point in the future! :)
@@LearnAncientGreek Thanks very much for your reply.That's just what I was looking for. Keyman has never shown up in any of my searches - now to get busy. Thanks again!
@@jameswakefield8901 You’re welcome! I’m glad that I could help :) Please let me know if there are any issues - if there are, I shall see if I can get a copy of the keyboard that I installed whilst undertaking my MPhil. Also, I forgot to mention, I use Times New Roman as the font with the Greek keyboard enabled. All the best!
I wonder if the Greek word "to find" is at the root of our word heuristic, which is a process for learning (or rather, a means of finding out for oneself!). Isn't it also strange that "nai" means yes in Greek? I feel like most European languages begin their negating words with an "n" sound. For example: no, non, nein, nyet, nao, etc... and yet for some reason nai means yes in Greek. very odd.
εὑρισκω is indeed the origin of our word "heuristic" :) And you're right, in light of all of the negative terms in European languages beginning in "n", it is does seem strange that ναι is "yes" in Greek! ναι apparently comes from νη, which is a synonym of μα (meaning "by" when swearing an oath, e.g., "by Zeus!") I suppose the connection is that when you say νη, you are strongly affirming something, and you're also affirming something when saying "yes". Thanks for your comment!
Thanks David! I am a week into learning thanks to these videos and everything so far has felt very well paced and encouraging. I never feel in over my head and the rate of new vocabulary and exercises make me feel like I'm progressing. I may be sad when I get caught up to your latest video but I am happy to know that you are still going and have increased your frequency. I purchased the book "Greek: An intensive course" and immediately felt overwhelmed with how quickly it introduced concepts and makes me even more grateful that your videos exist online. Cheers! 😀
Oh I also had a question - perhaps this was stated early on, but I've heard 2 different pronunciations for "ω" (just omega on its own): "oh" or "aw" and I am unsure whether it sounds like you are saying "aw" because of your accent or if that is intended? And do you know why there exists this discrepancy? Thanks!
@@justusr5998 Thank you very much for your Super Thanks and your incredibly encouraging comment! I am really pleased to hear that you’re enjoying the course, and you are right to say that I have increased the lesson frequency; I now publish a lesson every Saturday, and there should be plenty of studying and practice for you to do in future lessons :)
To answer your question, I deliberately pronounce omega as “aw” because that is the standard recommended pronunciation of omega (in the UK, at least, and for Classical Greek). You will find it recommended in books like the Oxford Dictionary of Classical Greek, for example. I presume that this is based upon a consensus amongst contemporary phonologists concerning how omega would have been pronounced.
The reason that some people pronounce omega as “oh” instead is because that is how scholars of the last century typically pronounced it, probably on the basis of the fact that the Latin equivalent of omega (ō) would have been pronounced “oh”. I hope that this helps and thanks again :)
thank you for the great lesson
You're welcome! Thank you for your comment :)
These lessons are great. Please keep it up!
Thank you very much for the kind and encouraging comment! I really appreciate it :) I aim to release a new lesson every week. This aim will be much more feasible for me in three weeks, when I shall have much more time than I do now!
Rules, rules, rules... There are so many but I love em
What a great channel. Do you do one to one lessons? If so, how do we contact you?
Thank you for the kind comment! Yes, I do one-to-one lessons.
Are you in the UK? If so, you can find me on Tutorful under “David L”, and if you sign up with this referral link, you will get £25 credit to use on your first paid lesson - tutorful.co.uk/referral-landing?ref=8n8vo652&
If you are not in the UK, then please let me know, and I shall see if I can set up an alternative :)
Is Eureka related to the verb to that you presented in this lesson?
Yes indeed! Well done for making that link. "Eureka" comes from the Greek verb εὑρηκα, which would actually be "heureka" if we transliterated it with the rough breathing (the rough breathing has been lost in "eureka"). Anyway, εὑρηκα is the perfect tense first-person singular form of εὑρισκω, meaning that εὑρηκα means "I have found". In Archimedes' famous utterance, we understand "it" as the direct object, so "eureka" or εὑρηκα is "I have found it!" Thank you for your comment and keep up the good work! :)
This is probably the best series on this language on UA-cam by far, and I can definitely say it's the best free course. The Center for Hellenic Studies' series is super disappointing, ridden with technical errors that make it hard to use effectively, poorly structured, and rigidly follows a textbook that the professor himself is constantly talking poorly about. These videos aren't complete yet but I await every one that comes out as they come out because it is completely irreplicable for actual, verbal explanations of the language.
Possibly some time soon after we go through more of the verb behavior specifically and have more vocab, I don't think it would be too out of the question to start analyzing more simple sections of original texts for examples such as Plato's dialogues/The Apology of Socrates. If you are unfamiliar with it, Jackson Crawford has an excellent series of videos on Old Norse and I personally found his style of explanation followed by prompting the viewer to translate original texts to be very encouraging, though Old Norse is a bit easier than Ancient Greek in some respects.
Thank you very much for your incredibly kind and encouraging comment! And yes, after introducing the requisite grammar and vocab, I would definitely like to move on to studying Greek texts. I am even going to try to incorporate more quotes from real Greek texts to illustrate grammar points. Thank you for your comment once again! :)
This is an excellent course. I've been following it since the first episodes which, by good chance, appeared just as I was starting to tackle Ancient Greek. You have done a great job of designing and delivering the course and I thank you for your dedication.
Could you give some hints about how you prepare your recent slides that use both the Roman and Greek alphabets, please? Specifically, the font that you use and the method of mapping the keys on your keyboard to the characters in the font set? Thanks again.
Thank you very much for your kind words! I am very happy to hear that you have been following the course since the start :) I know that there are have been significant pauses between some lessons but, in a few weeks, I shall have much more time than I do now, and I intend to create weekly lessons. Thank you for following the course!
In response to your question, I use a piece of software called Keyman, which allows you to switch between different downloaded keyboards. I downloaded an Ancient Greek keyboard created by a Cambridge academic, who taught me (and other students) how to get and install the keyboard. I cannot see this exact keyboard on Keyman’s website at the moment, so I am not sure if the exact same keyboard is available there. However, I can see that they have a Classical Greek keyboard on their website, which should work in much the same way.
You can find Keyman’s site just by Googling “Keyman”, and you need to download and install Keyman itself first, and then you can find the Classical Greek keyboard by Googling “Keyman Classical Greek keyboard”. - this will help you find the appropriate page on Keyman’s site. On that page, you will be able to find details about how to download and install the keyboard.
An Ancient Greek keyboard for Keyman enables you to switch to typing in Greek using a keyboard shortcut or with a few clicks, and the keys are already mapped for you (they are broadly mapped onto the equivalent letters of the Latin alphabet). You will be able to find information about how to type breathings etc. on the details page for that keyboard on Keyman’s website.
I was actually planning on making a video on how to get an Ancient Greek keyboard set up on your computer, but I have been very busy recently. I hope that my reply suffices for you to find Keyman and the Greek keyboard, but please let me know if you need anything else. I shall make the tutorial at some point in the future! :)
@@LearnAncientGreek Thanks very much for your reply.That's just what I was looking for. Keyman has never shown up in any of my searches - now to get busy. Thanks again!
@@jameswakefield8901 You’re welcome! I’m glad that I could help :) Please let me know if there are any issues - if there are, I shall see if I can get a copy of the keyboard that I installed whilst undertaking my MPhil. Also, I forgot to mention, I use Times New Roman as the font with the Greek keyboard enabled. All the best!
@@LearnAncientGreek Νο προβλεμς ατ αλλ! Whoops! I mean: No problems at all! I just followed the instructions on the page and it came together nicely.
@@jameswakefield8901 That’s great news! Glad that you got it set up :)
Sorry, but I meant the verb to find, even though it doesn't have a rough breathing
Its funny, people just naturally make that sound in disappointment
I wonder if the Greek word "to find" is at the root of our word heuristic, which is a process for learning (or rather, a means of finding out for oneself!).
Isn't it also strange that "nai" means yes in Greek? I feel like most European languages begin their negating words with an "n" sound. For example: no, non, nein, nyet, nao, etc... and yet for some reason nai means yes in Greek. very odd.
εὑρισκω is indeed the origin of our word "heuristic" :) And you're right, in light of all of the negative terms in European languages beginning in "n", it is does seem strange that ναι is "yes" in Greek! ναι apparently comes from νη, which is a synonym of μα (meaning "by" when swearing an oath, e.g., "by Zeus!") I suppose the connection is that when you say νη, you are strongly affirming something, and you're also affirming something when saying "yes". Thanks for your comment!
@@LearnAncientGreek what an interesting development! Languages can be so strange sometimes.