# follow a course



## infozas

Hello to everybody,
how would you translate "to follow a (Greek/dance) course" into Modern Greek?

Thanks a lot in advance!
Alberto S.


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## Eltheza

Hello infozas!

You can say, "παρακολουθώ μαθήματα" for *follow a course.*

I'll leave the 'dance' part to a Greek expert;-)!


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## Eltheza

P.S.

Dancing lessons = *μαθήματα χορού*


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## eno2

*<I completed successfully a course in political philosophy lately>*

Sorry but I'm not very happy that their should possibly not be a one word translation for the English 'a course' and the German 'Der Kursus' word and for the Dutch 'kursus' word for that matter.

'I have been following a German and a Greek course lately'

Now I have recently taken note, in my own vocabulary file, for the translation of 'Course' and 'Der Kursus' the following: Σειρά μαθημάτων" and  ΚΥΚΛΟΣ ΜΑΘΗΜΑΤΩΝ

It seems it's not possible to escape the word μαθήματα and a periphrasis with it.

<I completed successfully a course in political philosophy lately==>
Now to translate that with the help of "παρακολουθώ μαθήματα" or "Σειρά μαθημάτων" or ΚΥΚΛΟΣ ΜΑΘΗΜΑΤΩΝ seems difficult (and not exactly the same) .


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## dmtrs

eno2 said:


> <I completed successfully a course in political philosophy lately>



I have to admit that courses were not really wide-spread or popular in Greece until a few decades ago, therefore the language has not fully adapted to the situation.
We would usually use the word _σεμινάριο_ (seminar) for such a course: _Πρόσφατα παρακολούθησα/έκανα ένα σεμινάριο πολιτικής φιλοσοφίας_. (If it was a serious university course, though, many would hesitate to call it a seminar in fear of diminishing it.)
_Πρόσφατα παρακολούθησα μαθήματα πολιτικής φιλοσοφίας_ would be OK, but it would remain uncertain whether I _completed _the course or not.
_Πρόσφατα παρακολούθησα έναν κύκλο μαθημάτων πολιτικής φιλοσοφίας_ would resolve the problem, but it would maybe sound just a tad pretentious or unnecessarily formal.
As in many cases and in many other languages, using the English word solves the problem for many (usually younger and familiar with the language and the practice) people: _Πρόσφατα παρακολούθησα/έκανα ένα course μαθημάτων πολιτικής φιλοσοφίας.
_
For non academic courses (dance, cooking etc.) _μαθήματα (χορού, μαγειρικής_ etc.) is about the only option.


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## eno2

dmtrs said:


> . (If it was a serious university course, though, many would hesitate to call it a seminar in fear of diminishing it.)



American University online course with certificate (~30 hours). Another one was at Princeton about Buddhism. Those are not seminars but  online university MOOC courses that take some months to complete. 

Thank you for the  explanations. 

"Course" is  a bit of a problem indeed.


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## Perseas

eno2 said:


> American University online course with certificate (~30 hours). Another one was at Princeton about Buddhism. Those are not seminars but  online university MOOC courses that take some months to complete.


If it's not a seminar, "σειρά μαθημάτων" or "κύκλος μαθημάτων" sound OK to me.


dmtrs said:


> For non academic courses (dance, cooking etc.) _μαθήματα (χορού, μαγειρικής_ etc.) is about the only option.


I agree. It's the most common option.



eno2 said:


> the German 'Der Kursus'


"Kursus" or "Kurs"?


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## eno2

The notes I took from my current online German course have 'Kursus'. I don't know if I made an error.  Pons refers KUrsus to Kurs as an entry.
It's  a cognate
Course- Kursus/Kurs (German)- Cursus (Dutch)- cours (French)-curso(Spanish)
In Greek, it's a ...problem.


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## Helleno File

I've held off on this until the native speakers have commented. My experience has been that "course" for English speakers is a minefield in Greek (not literally ). There isn't an exact equivalent. The very helpful suggestions from dmtrs and Perseas clarify matters considerably and are as near as we are going to get. Many times it just comes back to μαθήματα. dmtrs' suggestion of "το course" is the most revolutionary idea yet! Is πρόγραμμα μαθημάτων ever used?


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## dmtrs

Helleno File said:


> Is πρόγραμμα μαθημάτων ever used?



"πρόγραμμα μαθημάτων" is the timetable.


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## dmtrs

eno2 said:


> American University online course with certificate (~30 hours). Another one was at Princeton about Buddhism.




In that case "_Πρόσφατα παρακολούθησα έναν κύκλο (διαδικτυακών) μαθημάτων πολιτικής φιλοσοφίας από το Πρίνστον/το Χ πανεπιστήμιο"_ would solve the problem, and you shouldn't worry if it sounds a tad pretentious or formal; it is serious business, formal fits; it's Princeton, you cannot be pretentious about that. At least so I think.


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## Helleno File

dmtrs said:


> "πρόγραμμα μαθημάτων" is the timetable.



Fascinating! We could probably still use "course" for this in some instances.  E.g. "Do we have the dates for the new Greek course yet?" "Έχουμε ακόμα τις ημερομηνίες για το καινούριο πρόγραμμα μαθημάτων Ελληνικών;"  But clearly more evidence that caution is needed. I take it that πρόγραμμα is what is organised _not_ what is learnt.


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## dmtrs

Helleno File said:


> I take it that πρόγραμμα is what is organised _not_ what is learnt.



Quite so.
But _πρόγραμμα _also means lots of other things, like program in English: TV programs, computer programs... Also: schedule.
Maybe the etymology of the word (<προγράφω, "pre-write") can somehow clear things out.


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## Helleno File

dmtrs said:


> Quite so.
> But _πρόγραμμα _also means lots of other things, like program in English: TV programs, computer programs... Also: schedule.
> Maybe the etymology of the word (<προγράφω, "pre-write") can somehow clear things out.



The word is so familiar that the etymology never occurred to me!


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