Today I would like to comment about the Greek language. Mark Twain wrote a lovely essay on the topic that I cannot possibly match, but then indeed, I don't want to even start on the grammar. That would take pages. I merely want to comment on the pronunciation.

For one thing, the Germans have created an oddly-shaped letter I cannot represent here to make the sound "ss." They still have the letter S, however, which makes a sound like "zzz." That's not all. They also have the letter Z. which sounds like "tz."
Also in the German language, the letter W sounds like "vvvv." No problem, except the letter V also sounds like "vvvv," or "ffff," depending on the circumstances. The R, however, is my favorite letter. It begins in the very back of throat, sounding very much like a cat snarling, and travels up the tongue. In a word like 'Das Quadrat,' which means "the square," the R then impacts with the front top teeth and struggles there for just the slightest instant before it emerges. If you get it wrong, it sounds like you are choking.

The vowels do funky things too. An A in the word 'tragt' for example, makes a perfectly reasonable "ah" sound. In the plural 'tragen,' however, the A gains two inexplicable little dots above it. Then it makes an "eh" sound. "Tregen."
Actually, I could be wrong about that. Perhaps it is a different word. Perhaps it is still "trahhhgen." I've been learning less than a week, so it is possible I may be mixed up.
But I digress. All the vowels seem to do this. A fairly normal O that is making an "oh" sound turns to "ooo," for example. And then you put them into combination. Just when you've learned one weird diphthong, it becomes something even stranger with the mere addition of a squiggle of some sort above it.

I could continue, but I have no doubt I'll find more things to comment about as time progresses. At the very least, it helps me think about the language, and perhaps therefore also learn it.  ¶ 9:05 AM