>Just a few decades ago, all Greeks spoke Demotiki (modern Greek or "people's" Greek) but also learned Katharevousa in school ("pure" Greek, very close to ancie

>Just a few decades ago, all Greeks spoke Demotiki (modern Greek or "people's" Greek) but also learned Katharevousa in school ("pure" Greek, very close to ancient Greek). They don't teach that any more, but some of my friends say their parents can read Plato like it's the morning newspaper. How envious I am of that! :-) That's correct, but katharevousa was nowhere close to ancient Greek, it was really a bastardized language created to sound more ancient-y in an era when the nation was searching for identity (Greece was heading for its revolution against the Ottomans). But it was forced and unnatural. There's an era around the turn of the 20th century where many prominent scholars, poets and novelists formed a movement against it but nationalistic reasons (and thick headed archaists) made it stick until the 70's. It's true that previous generations (like my parents') had a better classical education, but that has nothing to do with katharevousa