Modern Greek, i.e. the language spoken in its common form (common modern Greek or modern standard Greek), belongs, like most European languages, to the Indo-European language family, with a cradle of origin probably in Anatolia. It is used today in Greece, the Republic of Cyprus and with varying degrees of proficiency in the Greek diaspora-homeland to a total of 13.4 million speakers based on 2012 data.
Like all languages, modern Greek is not limited to its common form, but also has its dialects (Tsakonian, Politiki, Greek or Low Italic, Pontic, Cretan, etc.). But surely the dialects are under the pressure of the community and are on a downward trend.
For many years in Greece, as in many parts of the world, there was social bilingualism. Administration, the written word, public life and education were dominated by the “cleaner”, an archaic form of the colloquial language, unmixed with other languages, free of foreign, mainly Turkish borrowings.
In the daily life of the citizens, however, the municipal was used, simpler, easier to use and closer to the lifestyle of the majority of socialites. The vernacular was formalized as a form of the Greek state in 1976. Here it should be noted that Greek borrowed and borrowed over the centuries from many languages (Semitic, Latin, Romance, Turkish, Slavic, French, etc.).
The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, arranged from A to Z and distinguished by uppercase and lowercase letters. The 24 letters give us 19 phonemes and to these are added the two-digit consonants g (or γγ), b, nd, ts, tz and the two-digit vowel u, shaping the total number of phonemes in the Greek language to 25.
In addition to the native population, there are also many aliens, foreigners who live in Greece and are users of Greek either rudimentarily or sufficiently. In any case, whether it is for communication reasons, or for work reasons, or for study reasons, or for reasons of better coexistence with the native element, the knowledge of Greek is for foreigners who wish to remain in Greece an important issue and for an additional reason; it is a basic condition for obtaining Greek citizenship (naturalization).
- Additional written or audiovisual material to develop all four language skills
- Simulations of written and oral examinations depending
The Greek Proficiency Certification Exams are held once a year, every May, in examination centers under the auspices of the Greek Language Center (NPID of the University of Athens).
