How Do You Say 'Flashcard' in Greek?

A few weeks ago my oldest son brought home his first assignments to complete for Greek tutoring.  On the first crisp white pages of the workbook I saw it.  It.  The completely totally, utterly, insanely different-from-ours alphabet that you're supposed to learn when your mind is young and supple, not when it's somewhere in between young adult and middle aged and getting rigid.  I broke out in a sweat.  How am I supposed to assist him with his homework???  How will I be able to sound anything out???  Help!  I am entirely un-schooled in anything Greek!!!  (Well, except I really like stuffed grape leaves and tzatziki and souvlaki.  Oh, and baklava.)  

"Pull yourself together, Theresa.  No more complaining."   Well... a little less complaining, at least.

I started combing the Internet with searches like "Greek Alphabet reference chart," "Greek Alphabet flashcards," "Greek for elementary students," and "Greek for the anglophile parents of elementary students studying Greek."   Let me tell you, there's not a lot out there.  At least not what I was looking for.   So I did this the hard way and made my own teaching tools, the way I wanted them and the way I thought they would help my son best.  (Let's be honest though... these are really more for me.)  And for what it's worth, I share them here with you.

Anyone may freely use these pdf files.

** Note: Pronunciations are based on the lessons in Song School Greek, Classical Academic Press (Koine Greek) and may be slightly different than pronunciations used in other Greek language programs.
** Double Note: I am not a Greek scholar.  And I am a notoriously bad speller, typist, and editor.  (Why the heck do you have a blog, then? you may ask. I have no reply.)  I have read, proof read, and re-read again, (don't you just love over-redundancies?)  but it is more than likely that there are some mistakes here.  I will not be upset if you find one (or more) and point it out to me.  I will be embarrassed, but I will fix it.  Thank you.

(1) Greek Alphabet Reference Chart
     a chart with capital and lower case letters, letter names, letter sounds

(2) Greek Alphabet Flashcards, letter names
     Greek Alphabet Flashcards - each card has capital letter, lower case letter, and letter name on the front   Instructions: cut pages into sixths to form flashcards.

(3) Greek Alphabet Flashcards, front and back
     Greek Alphabet Flashcards, front and back - the front of each card has the capital and lower case letter, the back has the letters, letter name, and letter sound.  Designed so a child can self-quiz, or an adult can see the "answer" info on back while quizzing.  Instructions: cut cards along the OUTER lines and in between the cards the width of the paper.  This will leave the front and back of each card attached; fold along the line in the middle.  (If this sounds as confusing to you as it does to me, see the photo below)  I stuck some double-sided tape in the middle of each card and put all the cards on a binder ring... because I. can't. stand. flashcards. flying. everywhere.  KEEP THEM TOGETHER.  ok?

(4) Greek Alphabet to Color - capital and lower case letters to color, letter name underneath.  Instructions: cut sheets in half lengthwise, tape together if desired to form an alphabet banner.  (Idea shamelessly taken from a friend in the same Greek boat, except she complains less than me!)

So, with these handy tools you're ready to take on Greek.  Good luck!  I'm sure you'll do fine.  As for me... Well, if Greek restaurants had been handing me menus in Greek all along, I would have had a little practice and I wouldn't be in this predicament.     Aaron would have brought that workbook home and flipping through it I'd say, "Oh, look!  You're going to learn about grape leaves and baklava. It says so right here!"

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

My oldest, who studied Latin this past semester, is always asking me stuff like, "How do you say garbage truck and off highway truck in Latin?" or "How do you say 'Stop touching my Legos' in Latin?'" or "How do you say 'Let's watch YouTube videos of Lego garbage trucks' in Latin?"  So it got me thinking, How do you say those things?  I know that all of the official documents that come out of the Vatican are written in Latin, and that many of them are about life in the modern world and  things related to technology (media, Internet, etc...).  The ancient Romans weren't using those words, people. Someone must be making them up.  So, who?

I asked my mother, who is by all accounts the absolute smartest person I know (and I'm not just saying that because she's my mother.)  And *gasp* she didn't know.  But she did put her formidable skills to work (she is a former radio personality with an awesome voice and is kind of a tech geek) and she called up her favorite pod-casting Catholic priest, Father Roderick Vonhogen in the Netherlands, and recorded a message to his show.  He took our question!  And answered it at length.  

Check it out on The Break, where Fr. Roderick discusses topics from "the Simpsons to the Sacraments and technology to theology."  The question was answered on the December 12th show (BFR 862 - I don't really know what that means, but it seems like some sort of important reference thing...)  The intro leading up to our question starts around the 9 minute mark.  I think the question itself is close to 9:50.  And the response, informative and somewhat tangential, lasts until about the 25 minute mark.   Hope you get to listen to it!

The Break at SQPN, with Fr. Roderick

So, now we know.  And I'm happy to have gotten that out of the way because now I have some way bigger piscis to fry.  We just got some surprising news... My son and his peers at tutoring were such Latin stars, they finished the book in half the alotted time. So naturally, they. sent. him. home. with. a. GREEK. book.  Deus misereatur.  Uh, I mean, Kyrie eleison.  Whichever.  We're along for the ride either way....

ps - Want to impress your friends with your knowledge of modern-day Latin words???  Click here to learn how to say words like discotec, flirt, radio, rum, and zoosafari.... among others.  (And maybe by the end of the school year I'll be able to translate them into... Greek.  Ahhh!!!!)