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Hydra Island Greece - Saronic Greek Islands - Hydra Greece

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A few useful tips on pronunciation

The much quoted phrase "it's all Greek to me" is certainly accurate. I've lived on Hydra since 2000 and still pronouncing even the simplest of phrases defeats me. I know what I mean but my accent leaves a lot to be desired so rarely does anyone Greek have a clue what I'm talking about. But having an appreciation of a few basics does help so I hope you enjoy having fun with these small pointers before you come to Hydra. 

There are a few vowels and characters in the Greek alphabet that conspire to make pronunciation very difficult especially for the English who are notoriously bad at languages in the first place - yes I know a very sweeping statement and of course there are exceptions but ...

Below is a table of some basics to get you started.

Greek

English

Meaning

Pronunciation
α Α a A   somewhere between the southern English a in mast and u in cup or ah.
Άγιος / Άγια Ayios / Ayia Saint (male & female) because the γ (gamma) is followed by ι, the γ sounds soft like a cross between yet and heal
Αυγό Avgho Egg αυ or ευ followed by β, γ, δ, ζ, λ μ, ρ, τ or any other vowel is pronounced as in average or every. Before any other letter it is pronounced as f.

because the γ (gamma) is followed by ο, the γ sounds hard as in grab and is translated as gh.
ευχαριστώ efcharisto thank you because ευ is not followed by β, γ, δ, ζ, λ μ, ρ, τ or any other vowel, it is pronounced as in effort.

because the χ is not followed by ι or ε it is translated and pronounced  as ch as in the Scots loch.
Όχι Ohi  No when χ is followed by ι or ε pronounce as hat.
Ναι Ne Yes αι together sounds like e in met.
παρακαλώ parakalo please  

 

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