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!

Very instructive and builds up step by step. One can follow easily. I would suggest to every beginner interested in studying Ancient Greek.

I had learned Greek to a fairly decent level at college, but after years of focusing on other things, had lost much of my knowledge. I tried a number of other textbooks and readers (including the textbook I had originally learned from) and it just wouldn't click for me. It all felt overwhelming, like learning the language over again, and I wasn't up for the mental exertion. I had Taylor on my shelf and pulled out Part 1, and it got me up and running and confident again very quickly. I think it hits the right balances. Not too overwhelming, not too simple; a good amount of vocabulary but it's manageable and easy to look up. The exercises and stories also hit the right balance I think, and held my interest (loved the story about the ancient Greek tribe which had a very conservative approach to changing laws--you die if you suggest a change and it isn't approved--and how they modified their eye for an eye law). Highly recommended textbook.

I cannot recommend this book despite considerable virtues that it does possess. The problem: It does not contain any accent marks. What I mean is that nothing is marked for kind of accent or vowel length. This means that anyone who uses this will develop mispronunciations that will become permanent since you are after all a complete beginner. The choice to omit stress marks is, frankly, bizarre. Every single Greek text you will pick up for contemporary students will have these marks, and you cannot understand what the language is supposed to sound like without them. The professor who put this together is betraying serious students. If they master the text and want to continue they will arrive in second-year Greek with a set of almost ineradicable bad habits This may have something to do with the way "Greek" is taught in British universities. They basically pronounce it as if Plato were a British upper-middle-class boy. Maybe this works out for students at their schools. For the rest of us, give it a miss or use it as a review text. It's a horrible thing because with computer technology it could be fixed in an afternoon. But they won't do it.

This is an excellent beginning Ancient Greek book. After many years of trying to learn Greek, this book is what finally made it possible for me to start really progressing. The learning curve is gradual and the grammar is simple and clear. There are also many excellent beginning reading passages from Greek history and mythology. This is the best beginning Greek book I have found. I suggest you make this your core book, and then supplement with reading-approach books such as Athenaze, and Reading Greek published by Cambridge. This book is meant for a classroom, and therefore has no answer key is included. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a teacher manual or answers available from the publisher.

Two reviewers commented on the absurd situation of the publisher not offering an answer key, and far more annoying is the font choice. Look at the photo: the Greek—a new alphabet for the student—is printed in a tiny font, in a super faint fawn color...eh? I worked in design and publishing for over a decade and never saw a less helpful/readable choice. Greek is challenging enough even when you CAN read the font clearly. If any reader knows of a better program, please comment with ideas. For those who have studied Latin: “So You Really Want to Learn Latin” is an exceptional example of how to teach a language and create a user friendly book design.

Before buying this book I wanted to see if I could obtain the answer key. Like the reviewer above, I also did not receive a reply after asking Bloomsbury Publishing for the answer key. But they will take your email and address so that they can sell your information. Because I feel the answers are critical to progress I will be passing on this book. It seems to me the publisher should have published an edition with questions and answers away from GCSE.

I cannot recommend purchasing this book since there is no answer key. What good is a book to teach you Greek if you can't tell if you've done the exercises correctly or not? I have tried several times to contact the publisher. There does exist an answer key, but they won't give it to me. There is a site where you can request access to it electronically. However, I received an email saying my request had been denied. I also tried contacting the publisher directly through writing to them on their corporate website. No reply.

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.

A very good introduction to ancient Greek, plenty of tests throughout, good preparation for O level.

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.

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.