Modern vs Koine Greek

[MoyaPechal]

My daughter (kindergarten) has been consistently asking to learn Greek. She wants to learn "church Greek" (Koine, we're Orthodox and visit a Greek-speaking parish sometimes) but we know people who speak modern Greek and it would be nice for her to be able to speak with them. Can someone who studies Koine Greek understand modern Greek and vice versa? What are the benefits of learning Koine over modern when we are in a community with lots of Greek speakers? It seems harder to find modern Greek curriculums and the Greek school at the parish I mentioned is really expensive, but I'd like us to be able to speak Greek with people.

[caffeineandbooks]

Let me first admit that I do not speak modern Greek!  However, I took classes in both classical Greek (5th century BC) and koine Greek (2nd century AD) at college, and they were really not different.  A couple of differences in pronunciation, a couple of words with slight changes in meaning, but essentially the same language used to read a different pool of texts. 

It is my understanding that the language has changed less than English - we find it difficult (well, I do anyway!) to read Shakespearean English though it was written less than 500 years ago, but Greek has not changed as much.  You will likely find the friends in your community use different pronunciation than koine CDs, and of course they will have lots of vocab - television, car, bra, braces, McDonalds... - that wasn't around in ancient times, but you will be able to understand and make yourself understood.

Now, which should you learn?

Koine Greek is usually taught to understand the New Testament and other early Christian writings in Greek.  It tends to emphasise grammar, because people learning it are interested in careful study of texts, rather than conversation.  There are some kid-friendly resources around - I'm aware of Hey, Andrew! (https://www.greeknstuff.com/andrew.html) that works for kindergarten up, and Classical Academic's Song School Greek from about second grade.

If your goal is conversation, though, you might do better with a modern program because koine programs don't usually teach the kinds of vocab you need to make a connection with other people.  Instead of "Hi, how are you, my name is..." you start with "In the beginning was the Word".  You could also learn informally - perhaps try some YouTube or Duolingo videos, and then try to arrange a regular opportunity once or twice a week to practice with a Greek speaker from your community.

[MoyaPechal]

2 hours ago, caffeineandbooks said:

Let me first admit that I do not speak modern Greek!  However, I took classes in both classical Greek (5th century BC) and koine Greek (2nd century AD) at college, and they were really not different.  A couple of differences in pronunciation, a couple of words with slight changes in meaning, but essentially the same language used to read a different pool of texts. 

It is my understanding that the language has changed less than English - we find it difficult (well, I do anyway!) to read Shakespearean English though it was written less than 500 years ago, but Greek has not changed as much.  You will likely find the friends in your community use different pronunciation than koine CDs, and of course they will have lots of vocab - television, car, bra, braces, McDonalds... - that wasn't around in ancient times, but you will be able to understand and make yourself understood.

Now, which should you learn?

Koine Greek is usually taught to understand the New Testament and other early Christian writings in Greek.  It tends to emphasise grammar, because people learning it are interested in careful study of texts, rather than conversation.  There are some kid-friendly resources around - I'm aware of Hey, Andrew! (https://www.greeknstuff.com/andrew.html) that works for kindergarten up, and Classical Academic's Song School Greek from about second grade.

If your goal is conversation, though, you might do better with a modern program because koine programs don't usually teach the kinds of vocab you need to make a connection with other people.  Instead of "Hi, how are you, my name is..." you start with "In the beginning was the Word".  You could also learn informally - perhaps try some YouTube or Duolingo videos, and then try to arrange a regular opportunity once or twice a week to practice with a Greek speaker from your community.

I think the issue is that we have different goals. She wants to understand the church stuff and I want to talk to people. I told her we would wait until her reading is stronger. We're partway through 100 EZ lessons but took a break for a month due to illnesses and me fracturing my rib.

[TK5004]

It is more difficult finding modern Greek programs for younger children, all of the homeschool Greek programs are Classical/Koine. We enjoy using the Γεια Χαρά program from Greek123 and I believe this curriculum is widely used in church-run modern Greek classes. There is also an online program, ellinopoula.com that looks interesting. 
 

For older children, I think using Duolingo, Rosetta Stone and Michel Thomas Total Greek would work. I’ve heard it’s best to use a combination of different programs when trying to gain fluency in a language. It’s certainly helping me, though I’d probably be a lot further along if I was more consistent with my studies! 🙂