Greek Translation Services

Despite its qualifier, Modern Greek, also known as Romantic Greek, has existed and been spoken since 1453.

Modern Greek around the World

Modern Greek has therefore been the official language of Greece and the Republic of Cyprus since the 15thcentury. Greek the only classical language to have survived among all others of Indo-European origins. In the country of Turkey, many Greek-speaking communities also still remain, mainly among the Ottoman Greeks (Orthodox Christians originating from Anatolia who are not necessarily Greek nationals).

Greek-speaking communities are also scattered around Europe. They’re found anywhere from Italy (especially Southern Italy) to Hungary, Bulgaria, Georgia, and even Ukraine and Moldova.

There are around 22 million total Greek speakers around the world.

Greek in the Professional Sphere

Modern Greek has been an official language in the European Union since 1981. Greek is also one of the languages from the initial cradle of civilization. Many principles related to the fields of medicine, politics, and technical sciences derive from the original and ancient studies carried out by Greek speakers, as evidenced by many scientific and mathematical terms deriving from Greek words and the Greek language. Examples of these include words such as: astrology, laryngotomy, pleonasm, and oligarchy.

Greece is depicted as a gateway to the Balkans, with an economic potential that incudes both Greek-speaking countries as well as neighbor nations like Montenegro or Slovenia. Interaction between these countries is more easily established with a solid knowledge of Modern Greek, useful as a working language in Greece as well as several other Balkan countries.

The Subtleties of Modern Greek

Modern Greek is divided into 5 or 6 known variants: Demotic Greek, which is the official language in both Greece and Cyprus. This version could be categorized today as standard or common Greek. This official language status was given to Demotic Greek after the year 1976. Until then, another variant had been used as the official Greek: Katharevousa, also known as Modern Purist Greek.

The differences between these two main Greek variants are due to the structure of the sentence itself and the vocabulary. Thus for the phrase “I have a house” Demotic Greek uses the letters “Έχω ένα σπίτι” and Purist Greek uses “Έχω οικίαν”.

The other main variants of Greek language are Tsakonian, Pontic and Cappadocian, which interestingly each also have many different versions.

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