 | Re: Opinions about the FSI course? (spelling differences, etc.) |
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Yes, it does help. Though I don't intend to learn (to write using) polytonic spelling at the moment, at least not before at least attaining some reading fluency in the language, which is still a long, long time away with my current pace. There are much higher priorities at the moment. I was just looking for alternative online courses, to use after finishing LGO (and to start using them even before finishing it). I got the impression that LGO doesn't go through all the important parts of grammar, so it would be useful to keep following a formal course after finishing it. I would like to say, however, that this website, the transcripts, and especially your FYI explanations and replies do make a big difference! Thank you for them! FSI seems to be the only other serious online course (Filoglossia doesn't go as far as LGO), and I was simply wondering if the spelling differences would cause any serious trouble for a student learning the contemporary language. But, as you said, they don't seem to be a problem. I glanced through the book, and apart from the the occasional double consonant (e.g. κρεββάτι), there are a few words that seemed to be alternates to words we have learnt here, e.g. υιός - γιος, εορτάζω - γιορτάζω. However, these are all in the in.gr dictionary, so I guess they're not old spellings, just simply alternates. Another difference I noticed was the use of είσθε in place of είστε. Apart from these few differences, everything seemed to be the same. On a related note, how is υιός pronounced (and what is its syllable structure)? Is it [i.os]? Or [ji.os]? Or just [ʝos]? |
| Re: Opinions about the FSI course? (spelling differences, etc.) |
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The reality is that the vast majority of spellings are the same, although, of course, the written accents vary between the polytonic system (3 types of accents) and the monotonic system (one type of accent). υιός and εορτάζω are "older" spellings, which means that they are in fact the ancient/classical/katharevousa forms of these words: υιός is the ancient/classical version of demotic γιος (/jos/, L18) and is pronounced /iós/ (which, by the way, rhymes with ιός, "virus"), while εορτάζω (/eortázo/) is the ancient/classical version of demotic γιορτάζω (/jortázo/, L77). Regards, Greg Brush |
