About ~ Speak Greek®

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About


About the language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, having the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. The Greek alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Coptic, and many other writing systems.

Key facts about the Greek Language and Greece:

Greek is the official language of Greece (also called Hellenic Republic) and one of the official languages of Cyprus (also called Republic of Cyprus), and is spoken by about 13 million people mainly in Greece and Cyprus.

30% of the English vocabulary is estimated that consists, directly and indirectly, of words of Classical Greek origin. Most of them are technical and scientific terms.

Words of Greek origin are often used at the beginning of a word, such as:
aero from ἀήρ [aeer], air
auto from αὐτός [aftos], self

Human history in Greece goes back to 120,000 BC, with evidence found in the Petralona cave from a northern Greek province. Greece is recognized as the birthplace of Western civilization, starting with the Cycladic civilization in 3200 BC.

Greece has more than 2,000 islands including all sizes, of which approximately 170 are inhabited.

There are big Greek and Cypriot communities in the US, the UK, Australia, Germany, Canada, Chile, South Africa and Russia, but also in neighbouring countries, such as Albania, Bulgaria and Turkey.

About Speak Greek
Speak Greek (www.speak-greek.com) promotes Greek language and Culture through a series of initiatives. Since 2017, Speak Greek offers bespoke lessons of Greek to all levels of learners by using interactive and engaging teaching methods. Other activities include: monthly Greek conversation classes for adults, weekly support groups for children, a Greek library, play reading groups, cooking lessons, dance classes, power yoga & pilates sessions, Greek theatre sessions for kids, educational programs for schools, educational material for GCSE and A Level students, ebooks and a pen pal project.

Iraklis Lampadariou

Founder of Speak Greek

Iraklis Lampadariou is a Classics Teacher (BA Hons, QTS, CELTA), a Chartered Linguist and Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (MCIL CL), a Member of the Panhellenic Association of Translators and a Professional Member of the Institute of Customer Service with teaching experience in various schools in Greece, Slovakia and England where he has been living since 2015.

He specialises in teacher mentoring, designing educational resources for Secondary students who are aiming to sit their GCSE exams in Modern Greek and translation of legal documents and books for children. He is the Founder of Speak Greek, of Saita Publications and Discimus, a platform with hundreds of free resources for teaching Latin. He is a volunteer translator at Translators without borders and he has written a significant number of books mainly for students and parents. You can visit his online house.


Konstantina Charlavani
Speak Greek Manchester

Konstantina Charlavani has studied Greek Literature and has been occupied actively as a teacher since 2006. Through both volunteering and educational programs, she got involved in Special Education having an impressive experience. Since 2016, where she lives permanently in Manchester, she has also been involved in teaching Greek as a second/foreign language, working as a self-employed and in Supplementary Schools.

A great tool in her teaching is imagination and play, always keeping in mind that learning is achieved to the best degree when combined with the fun and interests of her students.

In her personal time she writes educational-entertaining books for kids and young readers, online books that everyone can download for free via the internet. She is also a fan of several arts, such as painting and theatre, and tries to include them in her classes, in order to enhance her students' creativity.

Apart from young ages, in the last years she has gained experience in teaching adults, through face to face and online lessons. She constantly enriches her skills, communicating with people who may be from different backgrounds, but they all share the same love for Greek language and Culture. Through this, she continuously discovers a new world and way of learning that she loves.