How to memorize Greek vocabulary: 5 techniques

Why do we forget?

New information that is never reviewed is largely forgotten within a few days. That’s natural: the brain treats unused information as unimportant.

The good news: trying to recall a word just as you start to forget it makes it last longer each time.

1. Spaced repetition

Instead of repeating a word many times on the same day, review it at growing intervals: the next day, a few days later, a week later. LinguDay’s daily test follows this idea and asks about recently learned words.

2. Say it out loud

Listening to a word and saying it out loud uses both visual and auditory memory. That’s why every Greek word has audio and a pronunciation written in letters you know.

3. Learn words in sentences

A short sentence that uses a word is easier to remember than the word alone. Example sentences and conversation lessons give each word a context.

4. Make your own links

Connect the word to a word you know, an image or a memory. The more vivid and odd the link, the better the word sticks.

5. How many words a day?

Starting with lots of words is tempting, but the review load grows fast. 10 words a day is a sustainable balance that leaves time for both new words and review.

At this pace you finish the 300-word Greek core list in about 30 days. If you want to go faster, Premium lets you add “10 more words”.

Sample Greek words

As a member you learn 10 new words like these every day, with pronunciation, meaning, an example sentence and audio.

Tips for learning Greek

• You already know Greek words

  English is full of Greek roots: telephone, democracy, music, geography, photo. Spotting them in Greek words (τηλέφωνο, μουσική, φωτογραφία) gives you a quick head start.

• The 24-letter Greek alphabet

  You already know many Greek letters from maths and science: α, β, π, Σ, Ω. Watch out for look-alikes: Η is read “i”, Ρ is “r”, Υ is “i”, Χ is like “ch” in “loch” and ν is “n”. Learn these on day one and you’ll read short words within days.