FAQ

• Educational advantages — Many of the hardest and most important college subjects use Greek terms and ideas. Medicine, biology, architecture, philosophy, physics, political science, geology, and mathematics, to mention a few, rely on Greek vocabulary and concepts.

• Professional Advantages — Greece stands at the geopolitical crossroads of Southern and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Modern Greek opens employment opportunities in business, commerce, finance, technology, travel, banking, journalism, media, education, lay, and gives you a competitive edge in graduate school.

• Travel Advantages — Greek is spoken in a beautiful country blessed with famous islands, cosmopolitan cities, mythical landscapes, as well as monuments from the classical, Christian, medieval, Renaissance, and modern eras. Greece has been a favorite destination for adventurous souls for 4000 years.

• Cultural advantages — Greek language and culture have been an integral part of the American society from the very beginning. Within Michigan alone, we find them in the architecture of Ann Arbor, the name of the neighboring town Ypsilanti, "Greek Town" in Detroit, Orthodox churches in most cities, and the "Greek system" on most campuses.
 

Greek words enrich the language we speak. In fact, over 20% of English vocabulary comes from Greek-the Greek Greeks still speak today!

Students of all backgrounds and fields of interest. In addition, people can take modern Greek classes who are not enrolled as regular students at the University of Michigan.

Of course!

Yes! Every course fulfills a university requirement. The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) requires that a student have the equivalent of two college years of a foreign language for a bachelor of arts or bachelor of science degree. The modern Greek language courses fulfill the undergraduate language requirement. Other courses fulfill freshman and upper level writing requirements and the race and ethnicity requirement and social science distribution.

Graduate students in a wide range of disciplines study modern Greek. Although we do not yet offer graduate degrees in modern Greek, we supervise students in a variety of fields, from history and anthropology to comparative literature and classical studies.

Every Fall, Modern Greek 101 is offered for the beginner, with little or no knowledge of the language. MGK 201 covers the needs of those who can speak and write some. In the Winter, you continue with MGK 102 and MGK 202. Successful completion of 202 fulfills the LSA foreign language requirement. Classes meet Monday-Friday, 12-1 for MGK 101 and 102 and 11-12 for MGK 201 and 202.