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Erroneous comments on the FSI course for Greek

Printed From: FSI Language Courses
Category: Learning Languages
Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Discription: Discussion about studying languages using the FSI courses. If you would like to see a specific language forum not listed below, just let us know.
URL: http://fsi-language-courses.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=299
Printed Date: 16 January 2009 at 3:22am


Topic: Erroneous comments on the FSI course for Greek
Posted By: gmut
Subject: Erroneous comments on the FSI course for Greek
Date Posted: 25 January 2007 at 4:27pm
Hi all, langer pointed out today that the first two parts of the Greek course cover the demotiki and only the last part, 25 units, cover the katharevousa. I have to confess that I just looked at part 3 thinking that it would be the more advanced level and it was precisely that part that covers katharevousa. I withdraw the comments I made about the language used in the course. The only difference between the language used in the FSI course and the one actually written and spoken today is some spelling rules and the fact that only one of the accents is currently used.
 
I apologize to all for having jumped into conclusions by just checking one volume out of 3 and confused you.



Replies:
Posted By: andrew
Date Posted: 26 January 2007 at 12:29am
Hi,
 
I would just like to know if the average person on the street in Greece would understand katharevousa? Or would it appear to be as archaic as the English "thou art" instead of "you are" etc? I mean if someone were studying Greek would it be worth learning the material in part 3?
 
Thanks,
Andrew


Posted By: gmut
Date Posted: 26 January 2007 at 11:58am
The average person on the street in Greece can understand many things in katharevousa but not everything. The older the person the more they might understand. The only spoken form of katharevousa nowadays is the one used in church, and that used by some elderly scholars. It's indeed a beautiful language, but hard to learn for a foreigner because it's not really spoken any more.  



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