Living Language Greek, Essential Edition

The course is well laid out, with different sections for everyday situations. Hopefully, I will progress to the next level when I complete the beginners course.

When I began the process to join the Orthodox Church several years ago, I decided to learn some Greek to communicate with some of the parishioners, and to prepare for a trip to Greece. I have used Living Language courses before to prepare to travel to foreign countries, and I've been pretty successful each time. (Part of the fun of traveling is communicating with the natives, right?) I bought their Spoken World Greek, but since it was a "comprehensive course in 40 lessons," they had so much jammed into one lesson that I simply gave up. Modern Greek is pretty difficult! So when I discovered that LL was coming out with an Essential Edition, which would break the material down significantly more, I put my studies on hold and decided to wait. I reordered it, and reviewed the little Greek I had already learned.So when the course came, I already knew a little Greek. I was also communicating with some Greek-speakers in my church. I was therefore able to catch multiple errors in the very first lesson. I list them below; you'll want to amend your copies if you're using a first edition.On the second page of the alphabet, the sigma (σ) is omitted as a letter to create an "af" or "ef" sound.On p. 19 of the first edition of Living Language Greek, esena (εσένα) is listed as the formal of "you," and esas (εσάς) as the informal of "you." Esena is informal and esas if formal.These errors are also present in the recordings, the online language lab, and the iphone app. I contacted Living Language about this some time ago, and while they confirmed all the errors and apologized, they have not updated any of the materials.And this is only the first lesson! Lucky for me, I have the other Living Language course as well as native speakers to check the material against. But I should not have to! If someone were using the first edition, and had no knowledge of Greek, nor access to Greek speakers, they would be mispronouncing many words, and using others wrong.The course was given three stars, but it would have gotten more. The material is laid out clearly and in easily digestible chunks. The vocabulary is pretty useful, but for travelers like me, I do not need to be bombarded with vocabulary for the extended family in the second lesson; I'd rather have real-world travel scenarios. The app has been very useful as I basically have a portable course. However, while no book is ever totally free from errors, I do not get the sense that this one had been gone over with a fine-tooth comb. Quite the opposite. This would be a 5-star course if these (and other potential) issues are solved.

I have studied basic conversational Greek twice, the first time was four years ago before a two week vacation. Now, we are returning to Greece for another vacation, and while I didn't remember hardly anything "spontaneously" it is much, much faster to relearn basic conversation than the first time. For example, I couldn't have possibly counted from 1 to 20 by memory, but I could relearn in 15 minutes or less.STAGE ONE. To really force yourself into the basics I recommend 2 things: (A) I highly recommend Pimsleur audio only Greek as an entry point (at least the first 15 half hour all audio lessons, about 7 hours of audio training, and listen to each lesson twice). Also, I think it would be pretty hard to break into reading Greek with just one of the intro textbooks that lists all the letters on page 1 and 2 and then dives in. Therefore, I highly recommend (B) Teach Yourself Beginner's Greek Script. I actually got comfortable with basic reading from TY Beginner's Greek Script.STAGE TWO. What next after "A" and "B"? Four years ago I collected a couple different introductory book & CD courses. (Teach Yourself and Hippocrene). I sort of played with them. I didn't get too far. I did work through Greek in 7 Days which is a good, very inexpensive paperback (at least I didn't have any CD with it). The title is is laughable though, it is more like a book for Greek in Seven Weeks.I got this book, Living Language Greek Essential, from my library. It is a new edition (2013). It comes with a good book and 3 CDs, I think it is the best bargain and best designed intro textbook of the several I've picked up over the years. (With the warning, I would still recommend a newcomer to start with (A) and (B) above because Pimsleur pretty easily forces or trains you to understand a couple hundred spoken words, and the Beginner's Greek Script book by Teach Yourself actually worked for me so I can vouch for it).Living Language Greek Essential seems the best teach yourself simple textbook and CDs I have seen. Also, Living Language has free 20 or 30 page PDF vocabulary and phrasebook guides online at its website you can get with or without the book/CDs under review.As you look for conversation Greek training, be careful that quite a few sources are based on biblical Greek, so be sure you are getting conversational Greek of one kind or another. There are some free smart phone apps that let you see and hear basic vocabulary (there might be half a dozen). Nothing wrong with that, they seem OK, but I like having a book to read.Final note about this book. A previous review is correct, he found a couple isolated mistakes (with my limited knowledge, I can confirm what the other review said, on page 19 in a table they reverse the lines for the formal/informal You? -- in one place. I am too much of an amateur to find such errors on my own but I think they are pretty rare.

What do you do if your PC doesn't have a CD player? Listening to the sounds is important. There needs to be another way to access the sounds. a friend gave me access to her CD player for a little while but it doesn't help. In addition, when I was a le to hear some full sentences, the sentences were spoken so fast it was difficult to process and to emulate. YOU SHOULD BETTER SERVE YOUR CUSTOMER!!!!! THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE.

What a bargain for getting started with the Greek language. Three CDs with a well coordinated book. Instruction starts slowly and picks up reasonably. The speaking on the CD is very clear. You will have to make an effort. This won't make you into a UN translator but it can get you started on a more enjoyable trip.