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Lesson Transcript

Introduction
Maria: Hi, everybody! Welcome back to GreekPod101. I'm Maria.
Iro: And I'm Iro. Geia sas.
Maria: Today we have help for your Greek studies!
Iro: Yes, we do.
Maria: Today we're going to tell you the best tools to help you learn Greek…besides us, of course.
Iro: Yes, these are the supplements for you!
Maria: Think of these tools as like the hammer, nail, wood, glue, etc. that are going to help you build your Greek. Build it into a nice, big Greek monument of language. Or something like that.
Iro: Once you have these tools, imagine what you can do. You can totally fool people into thinking that you can read and write Greek. I mean that in itself is a great party trick.
Maria: Once you have these tools, imagine what you can do.
Iro: We'll show you how to get instant translations and word lookup!
Maria: Now, the tools…some are slightly technical, others are just tried and true methods.
Iro: Yes, but use the tools! They will help you a lot.
Maria: Yep, even if you just try out one or two that suit you, it's going to bring a lot of benefits. We know because we've been there!
Iro: The best part is, you can come to GreekPod101.com and share and learn what has worked for other students like you.
Maria: I mean we have learners from all over with all styles. From the Bill Gates of learning Greek to the bookworm who doesn't like computers, there is someone in our community that relates to your style of learning, and we can all give each other tips.
Iro: So come and say hello, and make some language-learning partners.
Five Tools for Learning Greek
Maria: Okay, now, number one…what is the number one thing you're going to need, Iro?
Iro: A Greek Dictionary!
Maria: Yeah, sorry guys. That was a bit anti-climactic, perhaps.
Iro: Anti-climactic, maybe, but necessary.
Maria: However! What we do have for you are some very exciting dictionaries.
Iro: Yes, there are some surprising new forms out there that won't make your school bag any heavier.
Maria: Number two is online dictionaries.
Iro: Another one, number three, is a grammar dictionary.
Maria: Number four is an old favorite, flashcards.
Iro: They have helped us many times!
Maria: And last, but definitely not least…audio and visual aids.
Usage of Tools
Maria: So, a Greek Dictionary. This is like what, the hammer?
Iro: Yeah. The most essential, anyway!
Maria: Okay, yes, we know that you are thinking, "obviously." But here are what we think are the best ones and maybe some specialized forms of Greek dictionaries you've never heard of.
Iro: So, of course, you can choose the paper form.
Maria: But these are heavy and tedious. Manually looking up words isn't always that easy, and it takes a long time.
Iro: So there are some more choices. Therefore, there are some great tools that have been created to make it easier.
Maria: Electronic dictionaries have developed tremendously, and my recommendation is a dictionary from ECTACO.
Iro: Some of these dictionaries are talking ones and they allow you to select the phrase you want at the touch of the screen.
Maria: And they have an extensive data bank and phrases for most situations so you don't ever need to feel panic.
Iro: But of course, if you prefer the good, old hardback, there are some good dictionaries out there.
Maria: Yeah, I recommend Oxford's dictionaries. They always have the most updated words and phrases.
Iro: But are quite heavy. And if you used a paper dictionary, you might have a very impatient waiter.
Maria: Or worse, give up and just randomly point…scary…
Iro: Well, either way, you'll get great help from both!
Maria: Yes, and very good translation. Okay, now translation is something tool two is going to help with!
Iro: Tool two is an online help.
Maria: Yes, it's called "Magenta." Inevitably, like everything in life these days, your learning process is going to be somewhat online.
Iro: Yes, you can't really avoid it.
Maria: Therefore, faced with characters you don't know on the screen, you are not alone. There is help!
Iro: You can find it at www.magenta.gr, and basically, it is an incredible, super-dictionary.
Maria: This dictionary has all the tenses you can imagine for a verb, and it has a text-to-speech conversion function.
Iro: You can also use Magenta to translate text directly from Greek to English.
Maria: Plus, it also has very thorough definitions, often for slang or more current terms, as it's constantly being updated.
Iro: As well as idioms, and you can translate a whole web page to the language you want. Also, if you receive an e-mail, you can have it read aloud to you.
Maria: If you think you can settle with a simple online dictionary, Babylon or LingvoSoft have limitations, but work perfectly fine.
Iro: Oh, and if you are using FireFox as your browser, you can install an add-on that translates a word if you hover your mouse over it!
Maria: Okay, so dictionaries are a great tool, and we continue with tool three.
Iro: It's a grammar dictionary.
Maria: So, once we have some vocabulary down, we, of course, need to form sentences!
Iro: And as we know, this is done with grammar!
Maria: Yes! And if you don't have time to take Greek grammar lessons every day and only listen to GreekPod101, a grammar dictionary is a great complement.
Iro: Yeah. I think everyone should have a grammar dictionary at hand.
Maria: Definitely! And there are many out there in pocket format, so you won't have to break your back learning Greek.
Iro: Okay, so the tools are all great so far.
Maria: Yes but I think we need a dictionary tools break. Let's get back to something more arts and crafts-y.
Iro: Yes, like one of my personal favorites…flashcards.
Maria: Yep, no better way to burn Greek into your mind or to reinforce what you have learned visually.
Iro: And in this case, you can choose - the old fashioned way or the modern way…
Maria: Yes, you can buy books with ready-made flashcards, practice your writing by making your own, or there are many online resources for flashcards…
Iro: Yes, there are a lot, including iPhone apps, and so on.
Maria: It makes it really convenient to use any spare moments you have to do a few. Guaranteed to push your Greek to the next level faster. And categorizing your flash cards is always a great start.
Iro: Okay, the last thing is, back to some technical methods. In this case, the computer is a real help.
Maria: Yes, because it can make you able to listen and see Greek whenever you want.
Iro: So tool five – audio and visual.
Maria: Audio and visual is one of the best ways of learning a language.
Iro: And very important to help your brain associate certain parts of a language, too.
Maria; Yes, make sure you listen to the language every day (even for a few minutes) to let your ears get used to the sound of the language.
Iro: You can listen to some Greek music, read some news, or listen to online radio at www.e-radio.gr or www.ert.gr.
Maria: I'm a hardcore listener to Greek radio and it has helped my listening and pronunciation heaps!
Iro: Sure! We also need to let our eyes get used to Greek, so what better way that reading!
Maria: As reading a novel can be a bit tricky at first, I recommend you go back to when you were a kid learning your own language. What did you use?
Iro: Picture books!
Maria: Correct! You might think that it's too childish, but it DOES work. And lucky for you that you are studying Greek, as Greek mythology has some of the best-written stories in the world! For both children and adults!
Iro: Yes, and books for all levels are available!
Post banter
Maria: All these things are great; I've used them all. But I do have to say that there is one last thing that I want to mention. Maybe people get so into these high-flying tech things that they forget about it.
Iro: What is that?
Maria: It'sThat is the humble notebook and pen. So many uses, but I'll share my tip. Every time you hear a word, learn a word or find yourself lacking a word that you need to know, write it down.
Iro: Yes, otherwise you won't retain as much.
Maria: Yes, and the next time you are with someone Greek, you can ask them, 'How do you say such-and-such," or just study the words whenever you pull out the notebook.
Iro: Yes, it's a really good supplement.
Maria: It's really going to take your Greek to the next level. Well, those are the Top Five Tools for Learning Greek. If you have some other resources you would like to share, you can always stop by GreekPod101 and share it with the community!

Outro
Maria: Thanks for listening!
Iro: Antío!
Maria: Bye!

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