Blend in, don't perform.
You're not learning Greek. You're learning the handful of moves that make a local relax instead of bracing for another cruise-ship tourist. Tap anything to hear it — in a real Greek voice.
The five that do 80% of the work
First time? Do this
- Audio is built in. Tap any phrase to hear it in a native voice — pre-recorded and cached, so it just works offline, no setup. (The voice bar can still pick a phone voice as a backup.)
- Phrases — drilled by situation: the taverna, bars, directions, the boat. Hit play, then say it back out loud.
- Sounds — the whole alphabet, tap to hear every letter. Ten minutes here pays off the most.
- Customs — the unspoken rules. This is where tourists actually give themselves away.
- Practice — hear / read / recall / speak. Use it on the plane.
Right thing, right moment.
Tap a chip to jump to a scene — or just search. Common holds the go-anywhere basics (hello, thanks, where's the toilet); a few phrases like drinks live under more than one scene.
New alphabet, but it reads cleanly.
Greek is a different alphabet, not a puzzle: 24 letters, nearly one sound each, and the accent mark shows exactly where the stress lands. Meet all of them once, then drill the tricky ones. Tap anything to hear it.
Tap a letter to hear its Greek name. Half of them you already know from math class.
Greek spells some sounds with two letters. These pairs unlock most menus and signs.
- The accent is the law. Every longer word marks its stressed vowel (καλημέρα). Hit that syllable hard — it's never optional.
- Two "th" sounds. θ = THink (hard), δ = THis (soft). Keep them apart.
- Many ways to spell "ee". η ι υ ει οι all sound the same — "ee". Don't overthink it.
- γ is soft. Not a hard English G — a throaty "gh", or a "y" before e/i sounds.
- A "?" is written ";". Greek uses a semicolon for questions: Πού είναι; = "Where is?"
The rules nobody prints on the menu.
Vocabulary rarely outs you. These do. Read once, and you'll move differently.
Test the four channels.
Understanding by ear, reading, recall, and your own mouth. Quick rounds — do them twice.