87 Comments This discussion is locked.
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First language course in Duolingo ever which really teaches the alphabet!
HOW TO ADD THE GREEK ALPHABET TO YOUR KEYBOARD Here are some links to easily convert your keyboard to enable you to use both Latin and Greek characters as you need. We have found these easy to install and simple to use. For instructions on how to easily find the Greek letters on your new keyboard check out the Tips & Notes from the ABC skill.
For Windows
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17424/windows-change-keyboard-layout
https://www.conversationexchange.com/resources/keyboard-language.php?lg=en ;
https://billmounce.com/freegreekfont/unicode-windows
For Mac
http://www.wikihow.com/Change-the-Keyboard-Language-of-a-Mac
Don't forget to read the Tips & Notes (top left of page) where you will find information including:
Use the HOVER DROP DOWN HINTS (gray dots under each word
And of course, ask us if you have any other questions. Best of luck.
I hope it lives up to your expectations. We're really trying. Any questions just ask.
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Same here! My next goal as a language learner is to learn another alphabet, Greek is probably going to be easy since it's similar to the Russian one :)
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Why don't they accept "αλφα" if they ask me to write what I "hear"?!
άλφα is still marked as incorrect on the listening exercise version of this question
Yes, we can't make alternatives for listening exercises, as far as I know.
I'll disable the audio for this one, too.
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Very appropriate to begin with alpha! Looking forward to getting the mobile version as well. Any ideas when that will be available? And many thanks for the team getting this off the ground. Very exciting.
Thank you and best of luck to you. Please check the Tips & Notes on many of the units and the Forums created for this course : >>https://www.duolingo.com/topic/936
The letters in Greek have names e.g. Αα is άλφα = alpha/alfa, Ββ Βετα which is pronounced VEETA etc.
See here for further information on the use of Duo, the alphabet and other Resources for Modern Greek learning:
Resources for the use of Duo and Modern Greek... https://www.duolingo.com/comment/22040507<
The Greek Alphabet:
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/22424028<Hints on learning the alphabet: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/22424028
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When and why do you pronounce "v" the "b"? All the civilised world say alfabeto, alphabet*,... and you pronounce "Alphaveet"?! THANKS.
When and why the pronunciation of Ββ changed is not known. Greek is the oldest documented Indo-European language as well as the is oldest living European language. In Ancient Greek Ββ was pronounced as "Bb" in modern Greek it is pronounced as V.
Yes, indeed the rest of the world has gained a great deal from Greek but the rest of the world does not use Greek daily for three and a half thousand years. As a living language Greek has undergone change one of which is the pronunciation of Ββ.
Here is an example of old English....Notice the changes and that is from merely a thousand years ago. When and why did it change?
Hƿæt! ƿē Gār-Dena in ġeār-dagum, ,
þēod-cyninga, þrym ġefrūnon,
hū ðā æþelingas ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scēfing sceaþena þrēatum,
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Thanks a lot. Unfortunately, the reply is "I don't know", but the parallel with the English does not match very much: this language, without German and Latin (through French), virtually would not exists, which is not the case of Greek. I would add: and how do you read the text in old Greek? With the today pronunciation or with the old one? I heard a "pànta ri" (πάντα ῥεῖ) instead of "panta rèi" that upset me... Same when now you say that sheep bleat saying bi-i-i instead of be-e-e (as we can find in Homer). I am curious, I know... Thank again
I really can't see your point here. Greek does have some loan words from Latin, German and other languages as well, even if it would probably exist without them. In fact, most words in English that contain the syllable ph are Greek. Same goes for almost all medical terms, and terms used in science in general.
The fact that you are used to pronounce the letter B as bee doesn't mean that this is also the case in Greek. It might be the same exact capital letter, but is always pronounced like V now, it's just the evolution of the language. ΜΠ, on the other hand, does sound like the english B.
I'm also a native speaker of Greek, and I am positive that sheep still say μπε and not μπι or μπα.
Also, there is no such thing as old Greek. Do you refer to Ancient Greek, Koine Greek..?
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Probably you didn't understand me. I said that meanwhile certain modern languages wouldn't exist without the loans from others, older languages, this is not the case of Greek, so the changes appear to be less comprehensible. I notice that, to have a"b" sound, today you have to take two letters, (M,P): in other words, the alphabet doesn't have a consonant for a sound. The "Greek names" in science, very often, have been chosen for the love for Greece by not-greek Scientists ( see telephone (Meucci), telescope (Galilei), and so on). He's Homer writing somewhere that there were sheep making the sound of "μπε", but by writing this βεε...
I did get what you said about the languages, I just pointed out that while English has many loan words from Greek (well, technically not too many, but a fair amount), Greek also has many loan words. Even if there used to be a Greek equivalent, we would still used the loan word out of habit.
I think you might be seeing this the wrong way. :P As far as I know, B was never pronounced as bee in Greek, but as vee. Μπ came later, and as you can see in the table here https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%95%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%B7%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C_%CE%B1%CE%BB%CF%86%CE%AC%CE%B2%CE%B7%CF%84%CE%BF, Β just used to be pronounced as veeta. So it would be perfectly normal for a kid that is used to hearing μπε, to see βεεε somewhere in their textbook.
The word Αλφάβητο was never pronounced as "Αλφάμπητο". The pronounciation of Β just doesnt match the one of the English B. It's not weird, it's just different. Thinking that this word is a loan word to all other languages that use it, it's safe to say that we are not responsible for them using their supposedly corresponding letter (supposedly, because Bee and Βήτα only match in appearance not in sound), altering the pronunciation.
It's just the language evolution. Besides, I can't say that that many things have changed from back then, regarding the alphabet. Τhe sounds are all the same, all the letter names are almost the same as well, just a couple of letters gone. It's nothing to be confused or upset about.
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Sorry: a short reply, for the moment (as I cannot remain near the PC). I read on the paper edition of my Treccani Encyclopedia that the (Italian) "B" derives from the Greek beta (B), which represents the Phoenician bēt, with the same phonetic value. The use of B with the value of v (and its modification Ƃ with the value of b) in the Cyrillic alphabet derives from the medieval (and modern) pronunciation of the Greek β as v, following a development that is also found in other languages". If this is true, the b, read v, is less than a millennium old
HOW TO ADD THE GREEK ALPHABET TO YOUR KEYBOARD
These are a few we find easy to install and to use. If you have others please share them with the community. If you encounter problems let us know so we can inform others.
Windows: Click here-> includes screen shots Click here-> windows keyboard
Click here->wikihow
Click here->exchange
Mac:
Click here->wikihow
Check out the other comments on this page.m/topic/936HOW TO ADD THE GREEK ALPHABET TO YOUR KEYBOARD These are a few we find easy to install and to use. If you have others please share them with the community. If you encounter problems let us know so we can inform others.
Windows: Click here-> includes screen shots Click here-> windows keyboard
Click here->wikihow
Click here->exchange
Mac:
Click here->wikihow
Check out the other comments on this page.
im so excited that you have greek, i have wanted to learn greek for so long!!!!!!!
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I was really looking forward to the Greek track on Duolingo! lets take it to the stable version!
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Does anyone know how I can quick change from one font to another on Windows 10?. And, does anyone have a good suggestion for fonts to use for the Greek alphabet?
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It is not difficult to set up hotkeys to enable quick and easy switching between languages but it is fiddly. Don't be put off by the number of steps it is actually a 5 minute job and considerably less daunting than it looks, I have merely given every single step to make it simpler to do.
To change quickly from one font to another enable hotkeys for each language. In Windows 10 take the following steps:
1/ Go to start menu ( bottom left corner)
2/ Open all apps
3/ Choose Windows System
4/ Choose Control Panel
5/ Choose Clock, Language and Region
6/ Under Language, choose Add a language
7/ Choose Advanced settings
8/ Choose Switch input methods
9/ Tick Use desktop language bar
10/ Choose Language bar hot keys (highlighted in blue)
11/ A pop up dialogue box appears. Choose Advanced key settings
12/ Click on the language you want to set up hot keys for. eg English
13/ Tick Enable key sequence, the greyed out boxes below become live
14/ Use the drop down menu boxes to choose the hotkeys eg. English = ctrl +0
15/ Click ok this will return you to the first page
16 Repeat the procedure for Greek but choose ctrl + 9 (these keys are next door to each other, which makes switching easier)
16 Click ok again to return to first page again
17/ Click apply
18/ You may also need to click ok to exit the dialogue box.
You can now swap languages very quickly and easily. I hope that helps.:-))
We have just added a few links for Greek fonts on The Greek Discussion Forum. I'm not sure which version of Windows they cover. But have a look. https://www.duolingo.com/comment/17556409
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Duolingo shoud add a virtual keyboard! Would be so much simpler!
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Also... I'm not sure if it's any different from Windows 8 (that's the version I use) but I have 4 different keyboards configurations set up. I jump from one to another by pressing the "Windows key" + space bar. It just saves me the work from remembering hotkeys codes
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It's so great that this course was finally released! I've been so excited for the past months. I already know the alphabet and some basic things but I haven't studied either of them in quite some time so I think I'll start from the very beginning.
And we hope that together you will learn Greek. May I ask if you have a Greek keyboard? If not check out this link with a few suggestions on how to access the Greek on your keyboard. Scroll down the page to see various ideas. Ask about any problems you have.
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And for the phones & tablets, there are great keyboard apps too!
HOW TO ADD THE GREEK ALPHABET TO YOUR KEYBOARD These are a few we find easy to install and to use. If you have others please share them with the community. If you encounter problems let us know so we can inform others.
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I've been waiting for the Greek course for two years and I missed when it came out. I just found out and I'm so happy
Well, it seems similar to the other computers. Here's what I found on the net:
https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/1059492?hl=en
Here's one with a video: Chromebook Keyboard and Language Settings - YouTube
This one also seems reliable: www.wellesley.edu/lts/techsupport/windows/foreign-keyboards
Try them out and please get back to us so we can help other users. Also, to help you find the Greek letters on the keyboard check out the Tips & Notes on the ABC skill. Good luck.
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For Windows Seven: Control Panel - Clock Language and Region - Change Keyboards or other input methods - Keyboards and LAnguages - Change Keyboards - Add -> Scroll to Greek and check box next to Greek -> OK To switch between English And Greek use ALT+Shift. In corner of screen it should say EL when using greek.
In Greek there is only one Αα and its name is άλφα = alpha/alfa. All the letters have names e.g. Ββ Βετα which is pronounced VEETA etc. See here for further information on Duo use, the alphabet and other resources:
Welcome. Ok here are some tips.
1 Always read the comments before you post. There is a lot of advice on this page.
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Every skill has a Tips & notes page...it starts right below the list of lessons...and it has a lot of information about the lessons.
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You'll need a Greek keyboard and some hints on how to learn the alphabet but we have made it easy with this link. You'll also find hints on how to use Duo in general.
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Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. Good luck and enjoy learning on Duolingo.
Glad you like the course. Here are some hints to help you out.
1st rule of Duolingo: read the comments before posting.
2nd rule; read the Tips & notes which is on the page with the lessons
3.rd rule use the hover drop down hints....move your cursor over a word and the meaning will appear.
Now have a look at the links here. They are aimed at helping the learner form the ABCs through advanced lessons.
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Hard to know whether the question wants the name of the letter or the letter itself. Frustrating repeating the alphabet
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There are some inconsistencies that I think make these exercises a little tedious. In this case, it asks to type the English translation for 'α' (audio output says "άλφα") and typing 'alpha' or 'alfa' is marked wrong, only allowing 'a' as a valid translation. I consider 'alpha' to be a more valid translation since there are some greek letters that you can't accurately represent with a single English character as 'ω' or 'η'.
(I'm experiencing this issue in a ABC exercise of Level 2 - android app)
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α is alpha, not a! We can not call a "foreign" letter with a Latin one: we can say that it is an equivalent, which doesn't mean equal!!
We decided to show the closest English letter to the Greek along with the name of the letter because the purpose of the course is to teach modern Greek. Knowing the names of the letters will not add that purpose if the learner doesn't know how to pronounce the letter and words.
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The fact is that old Greek is still living. If you say "God is the α and the ω", I can not translate "God is the A and the O (big)..."
Yes, theya re and if the computer did not accept one for the other just try to go on. It's one of the bugs we are trying to correct.
Why is Alpha wrong? The previous one asked for omicron and accepted the word instead of the letter. The first time I put Alpha and it said it was wrong and should be A a. So the next time I hedged my bets and put A a alpha and it still said it was wrong?
Alpha, of course, is not wrong. The problem is that the computer program that grades the exercises has its quirks. And problems such as this are one reason we are working on bringing out a new tree to overcome these mistakes. Once you get beyond the fist skill things will get better.
I'm enjoying it anyway! I have learned some Greek by listening to tapes, but never got the hang of writing and reading properly because I'm dyslexic .. so this program is really good. It would be good to have the chance to donate towards it when you can't afford the paid version?
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Totally puzzled one thing says Alpha I write Alpha and it is correct another I have to write A, a, but it still says I am incorrect when I have written what they say is the correct answer
Yes, in case that was a listening exercise, only the main translation is considered correct.
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The instructions are not clear. "Write this in English: α" should accept "alpha," especially since the audio track says "alpha." If you want the answer "a," then the question should be "What letter is this in English?"
Please read the comments mentioning that we've tried disabling listening exercises for this sentence and that only the main sentence is considered correct in exercises of this kind. This is an issue throughout the whole ABC skill, which won't be part of Tree 2. Many discussions in the ABC skill have this exact type of comments.
