Greek Resources for Indwelling

Recently I’ve received several requests, both in person and through the Contact page, for my recommendations for learners of Ancient Greek who want to take advantage of the brain’s ability to process meaningful spoken and written language and who want to employ some of the habits celebrated on this site. This post highlights several resources–books, recordings, and videos–for people improving their Greek at home, as well as some organizations and programs doing good work in this area. The lists are not exhaustive, but should give you good places to start!

Resources for reading, listening, and viewing

Reading

• The “Greco” list on the bottom half of this Vivarium Novum page contains 20+ readers published between the mid-nineteenth-century and the present that contain much more continuous Greek text than standard textbooks do, providing many of the benefits of Extensive Reading.
• Alexandros, a course by Mario Díaz based on W.H.D. Rouse’s classic A Greek Boy at Home, includes long passages of Greek with illustrations and has a useful blog and wiki (in Spanish), as well as a supplement with readings from mythology.
• Dialogos (scroll right on the linked page), a course by Santi Carbonell, is based on dialogues in conversational Greek and has several ancillaries.
• The text Reading Greek: Text and Vocabulary (listed on the above Vivarium Novum page, but highlighted here for its value) provides extended, often amusing reading. I recommend the main volume more strongly than the ancillaries and sequels. This is also the text I most recommend if you are starting from scratch, unless you can get your hands on the following:
• The Italian edition of Athenaze is a good introduction IF you can comfortably read Italian. The Vivarium Novum site has extended samples from Volume 1 and Volume 2. (Note: The Italian edition differs significantly from the English edition, which has much less total Greek text.)
• Geoffrey Steadman provides user-friendly editions of many Greek texts for intermediate readers.
• Christophe Rico’s textbook Polis: Speaking Ancient Greek as a Living Language (see below for accompanying YouTube videos) includes written dialogues and other short texts.
• Paideia’s Living Greek blog “provide[s] interesting, intermediate content in . . . ancient Greek to help bridge the gap between textbook [Greek] and classical authors.”

Listening

• All passages on Paideia’s Living Greek blog are accompanied by an audio version.
• The above-mentioned Reading Greek text is accompanied by the audio CDs Speaking Greek.
• The above-mentioned Dialogos is accompanied by free audio.
• Believe it or not, developing facility in Modern Greek will do quite a bit for your proficiency in Ancient Greek. You might try the Pimsleur Greek Course if you can find it at a library.

Viewing

• These videos featuring Christophe Rico (sample below) of the Polis Institute give viewers a sense of participating in full-length Greek classes centered on Total Physical Response (TPR). The videos dovetail with Rico’s textbook, Polis: Speaking Ancient Greek as a Living Language.
• Although the first few lessons are missing, this playlist of Greek classes by Paul Nitz allows viewers to follow an entire Greek course taught with TPR and other meaning-focused techniques.

Organizations and Programs

Most recommended: The Paideia Institute and the Polis Institute

• If you have the time and money, Paideia’s Living Greek in Greece is about as good a short-term Ancient Greek program as you can find.
• Paideia’s conference Living Latin in New York City offers a Greek track.
• Paideia’s Telepaideia (online) courses include both conversational Greek and Greek reading courses.
• Polis has a number of summer Greek programs.
• You can learn about the Polis method (inspired mainly by Ulpan and Total Physical Response [TPR]) and see sample videos here.

BONUS: Posts tagged “Greek” at Patrick Burns’s DIYclassics feature many topics of interest to Greek readers and learners.

As for how to make use of all these resources, this site should give you lots of ideas. You might start with these tips and triggers for opportunistic language learning and the linked posts.

This page will be updated periodically. If you have a resource or program to suggest, please do so using the Contact form!