Read and Speak Greek / Multimedia CD-ROM

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Letter	Name	Word starting with small case letter	Word starting with large case letter
a as in art	01	eagle	Athens, capital of Greece
v as in voice	02	mountain	Varkiza, a seaside suburb of Athens
w as in wood	03	cat	Glifada, a seaside suburb of Athens
th as in that	04	tear	Delphi, a city that has ancient ruins related to the Delphi oracles
e as in egg	05	six	Ekali, a suburb of Athens
z as in zoo	06	animal	Zakinthos, an island in the Adriatic sea
ea as in meat	07	sun	Iraklio, a city on the island of Crete
th as in think	08	sea	Thasos, an island in the northen Aegean sea
ea as in meat	09	hippopotamus	Icaria, an Aegean island where, according to legend, Icarus fell
k as in cook	10	summer	Crete, a big Aegean island
l as in lamp	11	rabbit	Leros, an Agean island
m as in man	12	apple	Myconos, an Aegean island that is part of the Cyclades island group
n as in no	13	island	Naxos, an Aegean island that is part of the Cyclades island group
x as in taxi	14	wood	Xanthi, a city in nothern Greece
o as in horse	15	eight	Olympia, old city where the Olympic games were played
p as in port	16	mouse	Piraeus, the major port of Greece
r as in room	17	wheel	Rhodes, an Aegean island
s as in sea	18	dog	Santorini, an Aegean island that is part of the Cyclades island group
t as in tea	19	cheese	Tinos, an Agean island that is part of the Cyclades island group
ea as in meat	20	sleep	Idra, a small Aegean island
f as in fun	21	snake	Folegandros, an Aegean island that is part of the Cyclades island group
h as in he	22	hand	Chios, a relatively large Aegean island
ps as in maps	23	fish	Psara, a small Aegean island
o as in horse	24	shoulder	Oropos, a city near Athens

Notes:
(1)    The small Greek letter has two versions and .  The first version is used at the beginning and the middle of a word.  The second version  is used at the end of a word.

(2)    If or  is found in front of , then  or  is pronounced z as in zoo. For example, the word  (=lime from limestone) is pronounced as if the spelling was  but is written .

(3)    Modern Greek has many duplicate sounds.  As an example we note that ,,  have the same sound.  Also,  , and  have the same sound.

(4)    Modern Greek Pronunciation differs substantially from the pronunciation attributed to Classical Greeks.  Classical Greek pronunciations have been inferred from correlating Classical Greek text and sounds that we know.

The sound of lambs provides an example of sound inference.  In a Classical Greek comedy the sound of lambs is written as  .  Assuming that (a) the publisher did not misspell the word and (b) the comedy author did not intend to make a pun, one deduces that the Classical Greek sound of  is like b in ball and the sound of  is like ai in air.  Notice that the Modern Greek pronunciation for is like v in voice and for  is like ea in meat.

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