Avid Neos Kosmos readers are more than likely to be of Greek descent, so there is a sense in which an article extolling the virtues of their ancestral tongue may be preaching to the converted. Most will have heard the familiar spiel from parents and grandparents – Greek is a language with an illustrious, unbroken written tradition going back thousands of years, used by Homer, Thucydides and others, and what’s more it’s our language, so we – i.e. you – have to know it! Unfortunately, such arguments are often counter-productive when it comes to naturally rebellious adolescents: you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Being burdened with guilt over not rejoicing in your cultural heritage doesn’t exactly help either. So it may be of interest to hear from someone who started out with absolutely no connection to Greece or Greeks, but who has benefited from learning the language from scratch.

First of all, it is worth bearing in mind some of the overall benefits of bilingualism. These are all too often overlooked by speakers of English, which is currently the dominant world language. Since the 1950s, numerous studies have shown that learning two languages from early childhood brings significant cognitive benefits. Perhaps unsurprisingly, knowing and using two different linguistic systems appears to promote overall mental agility and the ability to perceive situations in different ways. My own experience as a language teacher in Greece confirms that bilingual pupils are faster and more proficient at acquiring additional languages. And if bilingualism gives us a head start in life, other studies show that as a form of mental gymnastics it may also be of assistance in advanced age, impeding the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia by several years. This is highly significant, given that Alzheimer’s now ranks as one of the most costly diseases in Western societies, and is expected to affect as many as 1 in 85 people worldwide by 2050.
So why choose Modern Greek in particular? As a non-Greek, I would say that there is much to be gained from choosing a lesser-spoken world language. Nobody will automatically expect you to have taken the effort to master their mother tongue, and will warmly congratulate you even on your first stumbling attempts. This is particularly true of Greek, since native speakers justifiably take pride in the long history of their language, which is central to their ethnic identity, and will want to help you learn more. I first started learning Greek almost thirty years ago, and still find people keen to point out nuances in the language, or to teach me unknown words in (Cretan!) dialect.

Of course, gaining a sound reading knowledge of the language will further enrich your vocabulary and unlock a vast body of literature to you, stretching back at least to Byzantine times. Quite apart from the fact that literary works lose in translation – Kazantzakis springs to mind here – relatively few Modern Greek authors have been translated into English. Such are the dynamics of the publishing industry in an English-dominated world.

In the case of Greek, even those who are not bookworms will have a great deal to gain. Personally, I have no particular interest in calculating the number of Greek-origin words in the English language. But to give a trivial example, I can understand why hippotragus (‘horse-goat’) is a genus of antelope simply because I know Greek. This kind of knowledge gives a head start to anyone interested in studying medicine, the natural sciences, philosophy and many other disciplines (by comparison, law school candidates in Greece are generally expected to have some Latin). Anyone deciding to embark on a career in translating or interpreting will find that there is a niche market for suitably qualified people; translators are ideally expected to work into their first language rather than the other way around.

Lastly, beyond the oft-cited value of reconnecting with ethnic roots, Greece is a fascinating country to know and study. The current economic crisis has generated unprecedented interest in the international media, with articles and reports ranging from the incisive to the inflammatory. Injurious at times, the hoo-ha may ultimately be indicative of the country’s tendency to be at the forefront of developments that subsequently unfold on a wider stage. This was cogently argued by leading historian of Modern Greece Mark Mazower, in a 2011 New York Times article entitled ‘Democracy’s Cradle, Rocking the World’. For anyone even remotely interested in Greece, it’s a great place to start.

* Ben Petre studied German and Modern Greek at King’s College London. A British Commonwealth scholarship brought him to Monash University, where he wrote an MA thesis on language and media use in the Melbourne Greek community. He then settled permanently in Heraklion, Crete, where he has spent the past twenty years working as a freelance translator and English teacher. Having published a number of papers on Modern Greek literature, he recently submitted a doctoral dissertation on literary life in Heraklion (1881-1941) to the University of Crete at Rethymnon.