six thousand islands

Daria, a Greek transplant living and teaching in Glasgow, is an absolute gift for those interested in learning or improving their Modern Greek. This podcast is in a Greek that is designed to be largely intelligible to intermediate learners who already have some grasp of the basics. It’s spoken just a bit more slowly and clearly than normal conversational Greek (which can be quite fast); for my own learning, I find the speed and rhythm just right. Episodes are (usually) scripted, but are delivered in a style that is natural and extremely engaging. They are relatively short, and thus fairly easy to assimilate in a single sitting, but Daria’s quirky humor -- at once engagingly exuberant, humane and self-ironic -- makes you willing and even eager to listen again and again, and this helps in assimilating and actively appropriating the language. (Even the podcast’s name gives a taste of the humor; it appears to mean “Do you have this in bubblegum [flavor / color]?”) Full transcripts (in Greek) are available at the podcast’s website free of cost (though contributions are of course welcome); English translations are available at an appropriate Patreon membership level.

There is so simply no better podcast for upper beginner & beyond students of Greek. Daria is easy to understand without being slow and boring - in fact, she’s hilarious. Every episode will have you laughing and enjoying yourself so much that it doesn’t feel like “studying” and you’ll keep listening fanatically even as you become reader for “harder” Greek content.