Greek to GCSE: Part 1: Revised edition for OCR GCSE Classical Greek (9–1)

Clear, simple to understand tutor book.

This is an excellent textbook. Context - I'm reteaching myself Ancient Greek (did a classics degree 20 plus years ago: my Greek was never very good, even then). I'd like to flag its particular strengths, because some reviewers have cited these as weaknesses. 1) From the third chapter - the translation exercises are based on (very simplified) Greek texts: Demosthenes, Aesop, Homer etc - this continues throughout the series. The only point of learning Ancient Greek is to read the Ancient Greek Classics (or the New Testament, if you're into that kind of thing) - so it is far more interesting and useful to base the exercises on real texts rather than, say, some kind of soap opera about a friendly farmer and his pet dog or whatever, or someone who spends too much time in the garden. 2) I love the approach to grammar: introduces and explains the technical concepts - but rather than presenting them as mere rote exercises, Taylor explains how and why certain rules may have developed. I find this very interesting, and it helps me learn. Neither a patronising: "these are the rules - go learn them", nor a wishy washy "rules aren't important" approach. As an adult, it's how I want to think about things. 3) The cultural and historical asides are also very interesting (ok, I know all that stuff anyway, but only because I've studied it): stuff on how the alphabet was adopted and developed, throwbacks to Linear A and B, a bit about Homer and the oral tradition etc. I see, from the reviews, that some people find these bits boring. One does not have to read them - but I query why anyone would want to learn Ancient Greek if not to find out about the ancient world. So - excellent for an adult (re)learner, and I should imagine it's also very good for school students.

The author presents his material in such a way that the reader is constantly building on what he has learned earlier in the book. The exercises are well thought out and the grammatical explanations, being aimed at teenagers rather than adults, should be readily comprehensible to anyone. Although there are occasional “compare and contrast” references to Latin, even a reader with no Latin should find this book easy to use. The author has done an admirable job. It would be good to have a companion volume of graded exercises.

A well planned and easily understood introduction to Classical Greek for the examination minded or merely interested beginner. recommended.

I have started relearning Ancient Greek after a gap of forty years. This is a very clear, well presented and accessible text. It lends itself most effectively for the independent learner as well as school or university student . There are very helpful exercises and grammatical summaries to consolidate learning and measure progress. The grammatical endings and vocabulary lists are highlighted in orange. This really helps to clarify the GCSE requirements. The author has provided an answer key on a companion website which is extremely useful in assessing progress. Moreover, the choice of passages for translation relates very engagingly to aspects of Greek culture such as philosophy, literature, mythology and history. All in all, the book provides an introduction to Ancient Greek which is ideal for the twenty first century. I am now enjoying the second part, which is equally good.

In conjunction with a touch of Duolingo (yes, the modern Greek alphabet differs slightly, but overall it's useful), this book has been an extremely well-written, colourful introduction to the Greek language. It has interesting facts about Greece and it's history, or the language and its history, written in easy-to-read bullet point format. I got this book because it was recommended by the GCSE Classical Greek course I'm studying independently through Sulis Learning online, which, incidentally, is very good, and the book has been extremely good. Highly recommend.

As a self-learner I was initially chary of this course as I thought it would be geared to school students or perhaps too lightweight. I was told to use this course by my long-distance tutor and I found I had been completely wrong, this is an excellent course as you are really pushed along carried by the authors' evident enthusiasm for the language. Crucially for a self-learner you can register at the Bloomsbury website and get the answers (I have done this for the equivalent Latin course but not the Greek as I have a tutor). Only easy way to learn Ancient Greek as a self-learner in my view, although the CUP Reading Greek course is effective as well although perhaps less interesting. The formating/printing problems mentioned by other reviewers appear to have been cleared up as I had no trouble reading it myself.

I'm an adult up to Chapter 3. I've long business and academic careers behind me and I'm doing this for fun - and fun it is. However, I'd give much to be on the editorial team behind this publication. It is ok, but could be so much better. For example, p. 24 states that "if the [word] stem ends in iota or rho, the singular endings usually* have an alpha instead of an eta.... * [girl, a word we have already met] is an exception" Simple rule, easily grasped. Turn the page and neuter nouns are introduced. Blow me down, the example used (gift) ends in a rho! Four of the ten other neuter examples are also exceptions to the iota/rho rule. But not a word of "please note these are also exceptions to the rule given over the page"! And why on earth use 'gift' as the example? Honestly! Also see p.18. At the top of the page first feminine, then masculine noun endings are listed. Beneath these the matching definite articles are given: masculine then feminine. Why not be consistent? We are LEARNING, we need all the clarity we can get! And while I'm at it, and since it is a topic debated in the Preface, I hate the constant cross-referencing to how it is in Latin. I'm learning GREEK. I'm trying to think in GREEK. I respect books and try not to deface them, but my copy of this text book is utterly defaced by heavy crossings out to obliterate these Latin references, and notes stating 'beware, actually exceptions seem to abound'. Having worked in the City of London, so despised by many academics, and taught at a senior University, let me say that this book would not have been regarded as a fit User Guide by the former. It would have failed on layout, print colour (faded madder for the greek), examples, clarity, text size (I often have to get a magnifier out to check if accents go right or left, although if Greek were not in madder this would not be an issue). 'Madder' what a apposite word! I have also bought the Reading Greek set of text books. I really aught to try these, but I've toiled over cross-translating the exercises here. How I do in them is my baseline. The book, for all its shortcomings, is like a security blanket. And I do seem to have a good grasp of what I'm doing in just a couple of months. Big decision.... Good luck in Your Classical Greek learning.

Me encantó, está diseñado el manual para estudiantes autodidactas del griego arcaico. El único problema es que no trae un apartado con la solución de los ejercicios. La parte práctica se base en traducciones, sin embargo quedas con la duda si has hecho bien el ejercicio o no. Me gusta que sea bilingüe el libro. Me encantaría oír los audios (por el momento no hay) y leer una traducción a español. Si sabes inglés no tendrás ninguna dificultad de leer el manual, sin embargo, la lengua de Shakespeare ha perdido muchas desinencias, entonces te podrías confundir, entonces ahí aconsejo que se complemente este manual junto con alguno de bachillerato para comprobar la correlación exacta a nuestro idioma.

The explanations are good and there are plenty of clear and useful excercises. The Greek texts are also nice (e.g. Aesop), especially considering the basic level of Greek available. There are, however, no keys provided for yhe exercises and requesting them via the website as instructed did not work. Another downside is choice of the font and colours used for the Greek. It makes it an absolute pain to see the accents properly.

Good! happy with it

I use this as a supplemental text. A good book. But the font (small and unconventional) and colour (low contrast) adds a little difficulty which I don’t need.

We are enjoying this for our daughter who is in the 6th grade and has a desire to learn Greek. We contacted the author and he provided an answer key for us, and also encouraged her in his kind remarks. Above and beyond!