Greek Traditions Community
What languages are most similar to Greek?
- Thread starter ssherie_
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ellinasgolfer0320
Well-known member
Spanish is similar with the conjugation of verbs, so Spanish speakers can pickup on it a bit quicker than others... Greek is a difficult language because there isn't a specific place in a sentence where you need to place objects. As a simple example, I can say - "είσαι καλά;" which means "are you well?" Or I can say "καλά εισαι;" and it will have the same meaning. Not many languages allow you to change the position of words in a sentence and allow it to have the same meaning - i.e. there is no strict order in which you have to put your words in Greek.
Greek - mila(o) - i speak
Spanish - habl(o) - i speak
Greek - mil(as) - you speak
Spanish- habl(as) - you speak...
Greek - mil(am)e - we speak
Spanish - habl(am)os - we speak
Greek - mil(an)e - they speak
Spanish - habl(an) - they speak
Spanish is easier than Greek though because it only has 2 genders whereas Greek has 3, and Spanish doesn't have 9 declensions of words.
Greek - mila(o) - i speak
Spanish - habl(o) - i speak
Greek - mil(as) - you speak
Spanish- habl(as) - you speak...
Greek - mil(am)e - we speak
Spanish - habl(am)os - we speak
Greek - mil(an)e - they speak
Spanish - habl(an) - they speak
Spanish is easier than Greek though because it only has 2 genders whereas Greek has 3, and Spanish doesn't have 9 declensions of words.
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seleanor
Active member
This is an excellent analysis
I also always wondered why Spanish and Greek sound a little similar. Do you have a background in languages/linguistics??ellinasgolfer0320
Well-known member
I'm trilingual (English, Greek, and Spanish)This is an excellent analysis
greek_ggirl
Active member
I also picked up Spanish pretty quick when I was learning it in high school. The accent is very similar too
The root of a word expresses the meaning of the word, whereas your grammatical endings express only Mood, Tense, and Persons. To understand or to speak Greek, one needs, above all, to understand roots. I see no affinity between MILA- and HABL-.. Hence, without the English translations, a Spaniard will not understand what "Milao" means. Sorry.
As for the order of words, inflected languages (like classical Greek or Latin, Middle English, etc., ) present no semantic problems. No problem here: Him she called but received no reply ana Zeu.
As for the order of words, inflected languages (like classical Greek or Latin, Middle English, etc., ) present no semantic problems. No problem here: Him she called but received no reply ana Zeu.
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The similarities (and, hence, dissimilarities) can be of various types, wherefore there can be different difficulties in learning [understanding, speaking, and even writing] a language or Greek in particular. SIMILARITIES in grammatical endings [morphology];
in words [lexikon] or word-roots; in syntax [formation of compound words, or of sentences into a discourse/Logos]; and in peculiar/ethnic idiomatic expressions; in diction or pronunciation [phonetics]; and in orthography. // Lexical study: If two words from two languages are similar in sound and in meaning, they are said to be affine (kindred) or cognate, and most likely, one of the words derives from the other. My manuscript, still unpublished, "Indo-European and Its Speakers" presents the etymology of many words from Greek (Proto-Greek) -- words of Latin, Akkadian, Etruscan, Basque, Anglo-Saxon, Eblaite (Canaanite), etc.
dubai_suzie
Active member
Hmmm maybe its different grammatically but just familiar or sounds similar? I don't know too much about languages, I'm jus guessing here
dubai_suzie
Active member
I just read your next comment, makes sense now with the kindred words, thanks!
ellinasgolfer0320
Well-known member
No, a Spaniard won't understand it, and I was not trying to show that the root of the words are similar but if I were then I would have picked a verb like goustaro (γουστάρω) and gustar which have the same roots - both of these words mean "to like". What I was showing was that the conjugations are similar in the present tense, which is why emphasized the ending.
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kosta_karapinotis
Active member
That makes a lot of sense to me. The languages may not come from the same root, but it isn't like Greek and Mandarin for example
ellinasgolfer0320
Well-known member
Found this today
dubai_suzie
Active member
Makes total sense, finally someone is putting it into words with perfect examples!! Phonology is the idea everyone was looking for I guess
Thanks for sharing
k_tsoukalas
Administrator
This is very cool! Spanish and Greek are both part of the Indo-European language group so it makes sense that there are similarities. Each language off shooting from Indo-European has its own family branch. Greek is in a branch by itself, and this would include Ancient Greek, Koine Greek, etc. The branch that has Spanish has its root from Latin, and that is an offshoot from the original Indo-European. Here's a fun chart:
The Proto-Indo-European Family | Soho Press
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It seems to me that because all of these languages are tied together by the same, ancient root language, whether Spanish, Italian, Greek, even German, we are bound to find similarities. I think of the word mother. Mother (English). Mutter (German). Mitera μητέρα (Greek), Madre (Spanish), Madre (Italian) ... they are all similar. I don't know about you, but I can just kind of tell that they all mean "mother".
seleanor
Active member
Yes true, they all sound very similar to me...not sure how or why though ?
