Many people speak English in the cities and tourist areas so you can survive in Greece without speaking Greek, but of course if you live here you will want to learn the language. In remote areas little, if any, English may be spoken.

You'll soon pick up words and phrases; however becoming fluent in Greek will take much longer so don't expect to be fluent within six months.

Mastering the alphabet is important and is not quite as hard as it may seem at first glance. Greek is phonetic so once you have learnt the letters it is relatively easy to read in Greek.

The Greek government in many municipalities runs Greek Language Courses for foreigners. There is also an online course by The Greek Institute for Language at http://www.xanthi.ilsp.gr/filog/