It goes on: We speak Greek!

Tzatziki, gyros, feta cheese, syrtaki and the good old ouzo - of course, we are talking about Greece! A country in which Germans love to spend their holiday, enjoy the sun and relax. The antiquity, Aristoteles, Athens as the cradle of democracy and the financial crisis - all of this is Greece to us. But what is behind the Greek language? And why is it interesting to us? We have the answers! 

Because alugha now speaks Greek! 

We’re literally getting closer and closer to the “Olympus” of multilingualism! Greek is already the unbelievable fifteenth(!) language on our multilingual platform! 

Facts 

• Modern Greek is not only the official language of the Republic of Greece and the Republic of Cyprus, but also one of the official languages of the EU. 
• In the 19th century, Modern Greek - also called “Dimitokí” - became the official language of the Greek kingdom. 
• The existence of the Greek language can be traced back about 4000 years - back to the time of antique Athenians, Trojan Wars and Greek myths. 
• On the other hand, the exact origin of the Indo-European language, to which Greek belongs, is unclear,. 
• There are many varieties of Greek - there are several dialects. 
• Greek is one of the oldest European languages. 
• The New Testament was written in Greek. 
• There are 13,1 million Greek speakers in the world. 
• The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters - 15 single consonants, 7 digraphs and 2 vowels. Furthermore, more sounds are formed through combinations. 
• There is no other language based on the Greek alphabet. 
• The Greek alphabet is often mistakenly seen as Cyrillic. 

If you want to learn more, we suggest the following link: http://www.partnerbiz.net/griechenland-griechisch.html

In comparison to other languages, 13,1 million speakers doesn’t sound like much. So where is Greek spoken? Actually, the number of countries is manageable. Greek is spoken in Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria. What you shouldn’t forget are the wide number of countries, in which the Greeks prefer to immigrate: USA, Australia, Great Britain, Germany. This is how we come full circle! 

Useless knowledge 

To most people, their own birthday is an unbelievable important and at the same time beautiful day on which they have a glittering celebration. However, in Greece, name days are celebrated similarly to birthdays.

Apart from that, the Greeks put great emphasis on traditions: Firstborn children are usually named after their dad’s parents. If the firstborn is a boy, he is named after his dad’s grandfather, a girl after her dad’s grandmother. Children are usually not named until they’re baptized according to Greek Orthodox rites, and - attention! - not the parents but the godparents choose the name of the child.

On that note: Look forward to a new language which we like to cordially welcome to the alugha-family! 

Since we focus on - multilingual - education, we immediately start learning Greek: "Άνθρωπος αγράμματος ξύλο απελέκητο" ("The illiterate person is like an uncarved piece of wood")! :-) 

#alugha

#doitmultilingual

#alughaeducation