Greek to English Translator Keyboard

Why Greek to English is harder than it looks

Χρόνια πολλά is not only for birthdays. It covers name days, holidays and new years, and English has a different greeting for each occasion. Translated as “happy birthday” on the wrong day, it is simply wrong, which is the clearest example of Greek set phrases carrying context the words do not.

Greek has cases, and word order is loose because of them. The ending tells you whether a noun is doing something or having it done, so the words can sit in an order English would never use. The sentence has to be read whole before the English can be built.

Greeklish is common and hard to translate. Typing Greek in Latin letters — kalimera, ti kaneis — is widespread in chat, and spelling varies between people. Using the Greek keyboard rather than transliterating gives noticeably better results.

Politeness uses the plural. Greek addresses someone respectfully with the plural verb, which English cannot show at all. A formal Greek message and a casual one translate into identical English unless the tone is set deliberately.