Greek Language
Read Your First Greek Book, The Easy Reader “Lydia “ | Free Sample
Dec
Are you ready to read your first book in Greek?
This story ‘Λυδία: Ένα καλοκαίρι στην Ελλάδα!’ (Lydia: A summer in Greece!) is an “easy reader” in the Greek Language, and intended for students at the Beginner levels in Greek (A1 – early stages of A2). It also includes the Audiobook.
About the authors, Terpsi Gavala and Konstantinos Oikonomou
Terpsi is from Athens and Konstantinos is from the island of Crete, now also living in Athens. They are both qualified Greek teachers and for several years they have been teaching at the Omilo Greek Language and Culture School.
How the story of Lydia was born
Many students at the Beginner levels in Greek are eager to start reading in Greek, rather than just learning vocabulary and doing grammar exercises. These students often ask which books they can read at their level, while also repeating the vocabulary and grammar they already have learned. There are not actually very many books for this language level, so Terpsi and Konstantinos decided to write a pleasant story themselves, with a hint of mystery and the vocabulary to cover various everyday life topics.
The story
Lydia is Greek-American. On a trip to Greece, she meets a man, Orestis. They become friends. However, there are hidden secrets…
The story is set in Athens and on the island of Syros. Since Terpsi and Konstantinos have been teaching Greek there for so many summers, together with Omilo, it was no surprise they got inspired by this beautiful island!
How to buy the Easy Reader
For the Hard Copy: 15 euro + postage
https://masaresi.com/product/lydia/
For the eBook: 13 euro
https://masaresi.com/product/lydia-easy-reader-audio/
Info About the Book:
Language: Greek
Includes free English Vocab and MP3 Audio-Book
Package Dimensions: 16.5 x 12 x 0.5 cm
Soft Cover
The book is accompanied by audio files. Listen to the story, recorded by native Greek speakers, and improve your listening skills.
The audio-book is included with your purchase.
The book features:
- plenty of dialogues covering a great variety of everyday topics, such as: Introducing myself / Talking about my family / Ordering in a coffee–shop or a tavern / Arranging a meeting / Asking for or Giving directions / Hobbies / Shopping / Traveling / Describing a city
- short, easily–manageable chapters
- illustrations that show the reader clearly the essential elements of the story
- footnotes with explanations of words in Greek
- footnotes with synonyms of words
- footnotes with the present tense of verbs found in the text
- an Audio with all of the story, recorded by native Greek speakers
- a selected vocabulary from each chapter translated into English (included in the book)
Supplementary materials, also available online on the e-Shop
https://masaresi.com/product-category/ebooksgreek/easy-readers-in-greek/
1. Translated vocabulary. 5 euro
The book includes the basic vocabulary of the story translated into English. In addition, you can download the vocabulary in French, German and Turkish at extra charge.
2. Learn more Greek verbs. “71 Everyday Greek Verbs” – 10 euro
https://masaresi.com/product/71-everyday-greek-verbs-lydia/
You probably agree that verbs in Greek can be sometimes a little tricky. Therefore the authors created a supplementary book with the verbs used in the story conjugated in the Present, Future and Past Tenses.
Get to know the authors!
Take a look at the video, and get to know Terpsi and Konstantinos. You can also follow them on Instagram.
Credits
Illustrations – Book Design
David Hitch, an experienced English illustrator, with an excellent understanding of the Greek language and culture, created the illustrations and designed the book.
Music
Original melodies for the story were composed by talented musician Issidoros Papadakis. In addition, two great musicians, the bouzouki master Petros Kapellas and Yannis Varthalitis (guitar), played a taqsim (a piece of improvised folk music) that was recorded on the island of Syros – right next to the sea – and then included in the story.
I am currently studying Greek at A1 level. I bought Lydia for myself as a Christmas present this year although I thought I might need to wait a bit till I was able to start it because it might be too hard for me. However, a couple of weeks ago I started it, and am really enjoying it and finding it having just the right amount of difficulty I need now: in each lesson, there a few words I need to look up, and a few others I manage to guess from context. I love the voices, and really loved the music in the chapter about the concert. I do hope you guys manage to produce other books like this, there are not many such products for Greek learners.
Thank you so much for your nice words, and happy you like the Lydia Easy Reader.
When we have more Easy Readers ready, we will inform you 🙂
Greetings from Athens
Greetings, Maya, from Edinburgh! Thank you for producing the λυδία reading book. I have only recently commenced learning the Greek language and am really enjoying the book. It seems to be pitched at the correct level for beginners like me, with an interesting story and vocabulary which can be challenging but very useful. The workbook is excellent, providing more exercises relating to each chapter of the book and helping to deepen language and grammar comprehension. The voices and music in the audiobook are also first rate, so I would thoroughly recommend the book, the workbook and the verb book (which is really helpful with present, past and future tenses of all the verbs in the story) to anyone starting their Greek language journey! Ευχαριστώ πολύ!
Kalimera! Thank you so much for your nice words. Great to read you are proceeding with your Greek Language Journey, and you like the Easy Reader Lydia. I will forward it to the authors 🙂
χαιρετίσματα από την Αθήνα
This blog was… how do I say it? Relevant!! Finally
I have found something which helped me. Cheers!
thank you for your feedback, and we wish you all the best with your Greek Language Journey.
Since you like this easy Reader, the next step might be also the Podcast Notebooks…take a look…it might also interest you.
https://masaresi.com/product-category/greek-podcast-notebooks/