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- Topic: Greek >
- "το γράμμα ψι"
26 Comments
Interesting. In Greek every letter evidently has its own separate name, of up to three syllables. In English our letters hardly have names, we just use the letter itself spoken with a conventional vowel sound. (For M, we always say "em", not "am" or "om" or "mee"). I wonder why do we say "bee" like beta rather than "eb", but "ef" rather than "fee" like φ? I suppose our biggest anomolies are "aitch" for which there is no direct Greek equivalent ( it used to be just a breathing), and "Double-U", which just seems a late addition to the alphabet. We have even split up two letters into alternative versions, I/J and U/V
Yes, the alphabet even though very basic has many interesting features in all languages. The English alphabet names are a stumbling block for young students. And double U is a good example because it neither looks like nor sounds like what it is. :-))
Fun fact about the double-u thing: in French, it is called a double-v, because it looks like two v's next to each other (w vs vv look alike.) And it is also pronounced like a v in some languages, ex. German or Polish.
Maybe w/double-u got its weird name from that? Sometimes, depending on how you might write it, it would look like two u's.
I think the English names for our letters derive from the Latin alphabet (which itself is, via Etruscan, derives from the Greek alphabet), which would explain why we have single vowel sounds for most of the letters. "Zed" for non-US English speakers is the exception, though; it derives from Latin/Greek "zeta".
As a learner, my advice is to use the word bank for these alphabet lessons. Otherwise, report it anytime when your answer isn't accepted. (There's a button for "report", and it usually allows you to say "my answer should have been accepted).
So, I heard and translated ζι and got this one correct even though it gave mw the translation psee. Ζι does not equal ψι, or does it? Does anyone have any thoughts about this, or is it just a glitch in the software? Thanks
If you check out this link:
you'll get a good overview of the Greek alphabet and what it sounds like. And no...Zi does not equal ψι.
If there is a glitch you can report it here...
https://support.duolingo.com/hc/en-us/articles/204728264-How-do-I-report-a-bug-
Thank you, Jaye. I do realize that I misheard. I can clearly hear the psi sound. I just don't understand why it marked it correct when clearly ζ is not ψ.
The reason I asked is because I am new to Greek and I didn't want to ignorantly call this a glitch if there is some deeper rule at play here that I am unaware of.
If no one else has anything to say regarding this, I will report it as a glitch.
Then I'd say to let it go for now and go on to the other skills. I think you'll find them more interesting and less troublesome. If you do encounter anything let us know and try to send a screenshot.
Best wishes for happy learning.
You should report that here:
The Official Duolingo Link for audio problems
Greek Course Audio Update
We, moderators, have no jurisdiction over the audio used.
1587
That appears to be a place for discussing how pleasant the voices sound. This is not what I'm complaining about.
That is the place to report>
The Official Duolingo Link for audio PROBLEMS
This is where complaints are made.
None of those comments are about "how pleasant" the voice is.
They all refer to problems from how "unpleasant the voice is" to
mispronunciation of words etc.
Anything to do with the audio should be reported there.
- 798
The audio used to be MUCH better and sounded like real people. Now it sounds like a computer voice and does not pronounce many things clearly. I've been using Duolingo Greek since it was available and I'm very disappointed. This time it pronounced what should clearly be the name of the letter psi as two seperate letters.
If you contact the link I give just above yours, Greek Course Audio Update
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/38493063
which is designated for these problems you'll see that Duo has changed its audio system and there are many problems with it. However, the information we received just yesterday is that they are going to remove it and install another and much better system.
NO, Duo never marks exercises wrong due to incorrect capitals, nor punctuation, nor missing or misplaced accents. There might have been an error in your sentences or there might be a bug. Please send a screenshot so we can see what happened.
I'm sorry but i don't have any screenshot, i will try to send you a screenshot of the same type of error with another letter
Ps: excuse me for my english i'm not a native speaker
Check out this site:
Especially these:
HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE ALPHABET AND MORE:
http://www.xanthi.ilsp.gr/filog/ch1/alphabet/alphabet.asp?vletter=1
And this:
AUDIO: TO LISTEN TO ANY WORD YOU WANT. SPOKEN BY NATIVE SPEAKERS:
The audio is "psi iota" but the accepted answer is "psi"! Inconsistent to say the least. Knowledge of the spelling of letter names and is not useful but rather confusing.
If you check out this link:
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/22040507
you'll get a good overview of the Greek alphabet and what it sounds like.
TIPS TO MAKE LEARNING EASIER + HOW TO REPORT A PROBLEM
These tips will show you exactly:
-
which words to use (Drop Down Hints) and the proper spelling (no guessing needed),
-
how to find the explanations for the grammar of each Skill (Tips¬es),
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what to do if your sentence is rejected.....and much more:
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/22424028
And check out the Greek Forum here with more links. https://forum.duolingo.com/topic/936
