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

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!

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.

Einfach gehaltene Erklärungen und simple Sätze zum Üben. Perfekt, um sich langsam an die Sprache heran zu tasten. Ich hätte das Buch echt gebraucht in meinem 1. Semester... Ein Nachteil ist andere Anordnung der Kasus.

Good! happy with it

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.