Greeklish

Metagraph of Greek - a new trend

Greeklish (Greek and Eng-lish) is the Greek language written with English alphabet. It is usually used among teenagers when they communicate online (e-mail, fb, messenger, forums etc.) or via mobile phone (sms).

An example of Greeklish could be:

Greek

- Καλημέρα, πώς είσαι;

- Είμαι καλά. Ευχαριστώ.

English

- Good morning, how are you?

- I am good. Thank you.

Greeklish

- Kalimera, pos ise?

- Eime kala. Efharisto.

There is not a universal acceptable way of writing Greek words in Greeklish but there are some common letters such as a, e, o and most of the consonants.

Around 2004 some users of online forums initiated a movement against the use of Greeklish but nothing changed significantly as some of the users had access to keyboards with English characters only and it was quicker for them to write in Greeklish. Nowadays, hardly anyone can find a big text in Greeklish and is used only between friends for sending messages online.

Why using Greeklish is not a good idea?

- it is hard to think about the correct spelling of the words

- it needs time to think about how to write some letters or combination of letters

- it needs a bit of time to read it

Why using Greeklish may be a good idea?

- it is easy to write Greek even if you have not got access to a Greek keyboard (visiting another country)

- it needs less time to think about spelling