Most apps that say "Greek" teach the Greek spoken in Greece today, and Duolingo's course list has no Ancient Greek at all. If you want the Greek of the New Testament, only a few apps are made for it, and each one teaches a different part of the job.
Biblical Greek is Koine Greek, the language of the Gospels, Paul's letters and the Septuagint, so apps for Plato's Attic Greek are a second choice here. The Ancient Greek app comparison covers all three forms of Greek in Bubblegum, and the best ways to learn Biblical Greek covers textbooks, classes and tutors. This page compares the apps.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Ancient Greek. You learn from Ancient Greek you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, your level and what you like, and she writes your Biblical Greek lessons. If a sentence is hard to follow, ask Poppy to explain it. Ask her how Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος (In the beginning was the Word) is built, one word at a time.
With Regenerative Review™, words you save show up again in new lessons, so that you can review words in new contexts without having to use flashcards.
Bubblegum's Biblical lessons use the Erasmian sound system, which many Greek classes teach, and say so before you start. Level 1 reads "I know a few Greek words, like agape and Christos," and Level 6 reads "I can read Paul, Hebrews or the Septuagint as written."
- Pick Ancient Greek, then Biblical, and the lessons are written in Koine Greek.
- Choose a goal such as reading the New Testament, the Septuagint or the early Church writers, and Poppy writes toward it.
- A Biblical Greek alphabet course on the website teaches the 24 letters and the marks above them in nine chapters.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, and you can export them to Anki.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Learn every letter and its sound in the free Classical Greek Alphabet course.
- The audio is made with AI voices, and the voice has a British English accent, so it does not sound like a recording of a Greek speaker.
- You can't turn your own Greek New Testament into lessons. However, you can paste a verse in the chat, and Poppy will explain it.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
Mobile
Other Apps We Looked At (1)
- BiblingoTeaches Koine Greek for the New Testament, along with Biblical Hebrew and Latin, with alphabet videos, interactive lessons, video grammar lessons, paradigm drills, graded readers, a tagged Bible text and a dictionary. Its Bible reading tab shows the percentage of words you know in each book or chapter. It is free to download, with in-app purchases, and its listing names English as its language.
Biblingo is the closest match to a Biblical Greek course in an app, and it is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Its listing names graded readers and a tagged Bible text, so you read Bible Greek from early on.
Mango Languages
Mango's Koine course teaches through short conversations, with grammar and culture notes beside them. It is a way to hear and say Greek, and your New Testament reading happens elsewhere.
- Mango lists Greek (Koine) as its own course, apart from Greek (Ancient).
- Its page lists native-speaker audio, a voice comparison tool and spaced-repetition review.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Biblical Greek is written the same way everywhere, and a recording can say it in different ways. Bubblegum's lessons and its Biblical alphabet course use the Erasmian sounds. The free class by Bill Mounce gives each chapter's vocabulary in a standard and a modern pronunciation, and the recordings on KoineGreek.com use a historical Koine pronunciation, a third system. Biblingo's alphabet videos cover whatever pronunciation you choose, and Mango's page doesn't name its sound system, so play a lesson before you commit.
| Word | Erasmian | Modern Greek |
|---|---|---|
| Ἰησοῦς (Jesus) | ee-ay-SOOS | ee-ee-SOOS |
| εὐαγγέλιον (good news) | eh-oo-ang-GEL-ee-on | ev-an-YEL-ee-on |
Bill Mounce's free class follows his textbook chapter by chapter, and his site also lists A Graded Reader of Biblical Greek, which introduces twenty texts including the Septuagint and the Didache. Crossway's Reader's Edition prints a gloss under the Greek for every word that occurs fewer than 25 times in the New Testament. The text of the SBL Greek New Testament is free to download under a Creative Commons license.
Preply
Preply's tutors are listed under Ancient Greek, not under Koine, so tell yours which book you read. Bring a Gospel passage and ask for the Erasmian sounds if that is what your class uses.
- Preply lists about 130 Ancient Greek tutors from 21 countries.
- If the first tutor isn't a match, you can try two more for free.
MobileWeb
Open one lesson to see which language it explains the Greek in, because a long language list can mean only the menus are translated.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 76 | Supported language pairs |
| Biblingo | 1 | Full list |
| Mango | 2 | Full list |
| Preply | 19 | Full list |
Which Biblical Greek app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Ancient Greek, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. Or start with Biblingo if you want alphabet videos and readers that stay in the New Testament, and you use an iPhone or iPad.
Does Duolingo teach Biblical Greek?
No. Duolingo's App Store listing names Greek but no Ancient or Koine course, and Rosetta Stone's Greek course teaches the Greek of today. Mango and Biblingo teach Koine, and so does Bubblegum.
Can an app teach me to speak Koine Greek?
An app can play and read Greek aloud to you. For speaking with other people, the Polis Institute teaches Koine in classes held entirely in Greek, and the best ways to learn Biblical Greek describes its levels.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Bubblegum: Ancient Greek
- Bubblegum: Biblical Greek Alphabet course, chapter 1
- Duolingo on the App Store (courses and languages you can use it in; no Ancient Greek course)
- Biblingo on the App Store (Koine Greek, Biblical Hebrew and Latin)
- Rosetta Stone: Learn Greek (a Modern Greek course)
- Mango Languages: Greek (Koine)
- Mango Languages: available languages
- Mango Languages on the App Store (languages you can use it in)
- Preply: online Ancient Greek tutors
- Preply on the App Store (languages you can use it in)
- Bill Mounce: Read the Greek Testament (free online class, Graded Reader of Biblical Greek)
- Crossway: The Greek New Testament, Tyndale House, Reader's Edition
- KoineGreek.com: free audio of New Testament texts in a historical Koine pronunciation
- Wikipedia: Koine Greek
- Wikipedia: Erasmian pronunciation
- Mango Languages
