Hellenistic: My Greek Learning Journey Companion

Hi everyone! I wanted to share a personal project that's been keeping me busy lately: Hellenistic, a little companion app I built to help with my own Greek language learning journey.

# Why I Built This

Learning Greek has been both fascinating and challenging for me. The different alphabet and grammar structures were tricky, and I often found myself struggling when watching Greek videos - pausing constantly, looking up words, and forgetting them later. I thought there must be a better way to learn from the content I enjoyed.

# What Hellenistic Does

Hellenistic is simply a tool that lets you watch videos with Greek subtitles while making it easier to understand and remember new words. It started as something just for me, but I figured others might find it helpful too.

# Some Things It Can Do

📺 Watch & Learn

• Load your own Greek videos and subtitle files
• See both Greek text and English translations if you want
• Slow down the playback when those native speakers get too fast!

🔤 Learn Words More Naturally

• Click on words you don't know to see what they mean
• Save interesting words to come back to later
• Build your vocabulary from content you actually enjoy

📚 Remember What You Learn

• The app uses a simple spaced repetition approach (basically, it reminds you of words just before you might forget them)
• It suggests reviewing a reasonable number of words daily
• You can see your progress as you learn more words

⚙️ Make It Work for You

• Set it up to pause after subtitles if that helps you
• Choose between light and dark themes
• Use keyboard shortcuts if you're into that

# How It's Built

I'm using some standard web tools:

• Next.js and React for the interface
• TailwindCSS for making it look decent
• Node.js for the behind-the-scenes stuff

# What's Next

I have some ideas I'd like to add when I have time:

• Better dictionary lookups
• Help with pronunciation
• Simple grammar explanations
• Maybe ways to share vocabulary with friends

# Give It a Try

If you're learning Greek too, you might find this helpful. It's available at hellenistic.vercel.app.

I'd love to hear how it works for you and any ideas you have for making it better!

Learning languages is more fun when we help each other. If you have thoughts or suggestions, I'd love to chat! Just visit the Support page.