"Your Greek Word On A Sunday" is a popular, award-nominated, bite-sized podcast hosted by bilingual actress Emmanuela Lia, where she introduces a new Greek word each week, explaining its origins, etymology, and connection to Greek history and culture. The podcast is available on various platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Soundcloud.

Emmanuela Lia is a Greek actor, translator, and podcaster, who has worked at the National Theatre of Northern Greece and performed in numerous venues in London, including The Barbican and The Lyric Hammersmith; she has appeared in films such as Brides and Alexandria, as well as TV series, including Netflix’s The Sandman II. Alongside acting, she has translated of Helen Kostopoulou’s play "Σαν να μη συμβαίνει" (As If Nothing Happened), and her translation of Andreas Flourakis’ 'Ασκήσεις για Δυνατά Γόνατα' (Strong Knees) was staged at the Omnibus Theatre in London.

Each episode of your "Your Greek Word On A Sunday" is intentionally kept short, typically under two minutes, as Lia aims to provide an enjoyable piece of information rather than a formal lesson. The podcast, which recently has reached 300 episodes, has garnered a significant global following, reaching monthly listeners in 193 countries, with the majority of its audience residing in America and Europe, and as of recently,

Emmanuela Lia spoke to Greek News Agenda* about the creative process behind Your Greek Word on a Sunday, explaining how she chooses words that resonate with current events, holidays, or stories that personally fascinate her and her listeners. She reflected on why international audiences connect with the podcast, noting that people discover Greek to be less intimidating than its reputation suggests, especially when words are linked to familiar concepts, myths, or cultural references.

The episodes of your podcast “Your Greek Word on a Sunday” are wonderfully concise—just about a minute long. How do you go about choosing the one Greek word to feature each week, and deciding what historical or cultural thread to highlight?

Thank you! That’s a very good question. I try to make the episodes as relevant as possible. World news is the first thing I check when planning and, I always leave a little gap in the recordings, in case something happens and there’s a word I can link to that. Big holidays are another standard. Most of the time however, is the same way as choosing what to highlight within the word’s history. I focus on what I would find interesting to listen to. What would fascinate me in a story, a myth, a culture or a connection to my language and so far, thankfully, my listeners seem to agree with me.

The podcast is award-nominated and has developed an international following, reaching 193 countries, with most listeners in America and Europe. Why do you think international listeners connect with these explorations of modern Greek language and its influence on English?

I have Shakespeare to thank for! By popularising the phrase ‘it’s all Greek to me’ in his Julius Cesar, he made Greek feel extremely difficult and confusing. And although it’s partially true-it is, after all, a different alphabet- Greek language as a concept is not that confusing. And I think that’s what people realise when listening. They can see the mechanics behind the words in a way that is not a language lesson (something I actively tried to avoid) and then make the connection, work backwards in a way; you start by what you already know and connect it with something new and, you might be told a myth or two in the process.

Many of the words you explore have travelled from Greek into English and beyond. What’s one word whose journey across languages surprised you the most?

It’s not so much a journey across languages but rather a journey across humans. The word Encyclopaedia (ep. 222). I call it 'a human error word’. It was created because a Roman, translating from ancient Greek, read three words as one and then Greeks found it convenient and started using it themselves. I love words that carry the human element beyond their original creation.

Your podcast has recently approached its 300th episode and has been running for eight years. Have there been any changes in your goals for the podcast from when you started until now? Looking ahead, what are your plans for this podcast, or for any new projects/podcasts relating to the Greek language?

I started this podcast without thinking much. I just wanted to do it and dived straight into it. I learned how to produce, edit, publish and market a podcast without any help. So, for the first couple of years my goal was to make it to the next season. Then it was upgrading my production value and refining the writing. And now, yes, there are a few things I’d like to do. First of all, I would love to make it available to more people. The deaf community is a priority for me. I’m looking into creating videos with sign language and, I’m currently trying to figure out how can this happen in a bilingual, cross-alphabet way.

Another thing I’d like to start doing is promoting small businesses. I’ve been running all these years without sponsors and earlier this year Audible (the audiobook company) came on board as an affiliate and that helped me a lot. I think now, I can give some time to promote small companies and have created some really affordable plans to benefit everyone. As for another projects , right now, between acting, translating and, running the podcast, my time is very limited but, my phone is full of notes for new things and I will get to all of them, eventually.

*Interview to Ioulia Livaditi

Examples of words discussed on 'Your Greek Word on Sunday'

Syringe: Explains the origin from the Arcadian Nymph "Συριγξ" and Pan's musical instrument.

Stigma: Discusses its ancient Greek meaning "to mark" and its use as a "mark of disgrace," including historical examples from Herodotus and ancient tattoo removal methods.

Telegraph: Breaks down "Τέλε" ('something far away') and "Γραφείν" ('to write'), detailing the historical progression of long-distance communication technologies, highlighting "years of collaborations and building upon other people's ideas."

Talisman: Explores "Τέλεσμα" ('a ritual') and "Τελετή" (modern Greek for ritual), its journey through Arabic meaning "enigma" or "lucky charm," and its ancient use as divine protection.

Idol: From Ancient Greek "Είδω" ('I know' or 'I see'), describing an image or statue of gods, later associated with paganism in Christian texts.

The post It’s not all Greek to you: Emmanuela Lia on her language podcast “Your Greek Word on a Sunday” appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

Johanna Hanink is professor of Classics at Brown University, and her work in Classics focuses on classical Athens, particularly on the intellectual and political life of the city's fourth century BCE. She is especially interested in the construction and reception (in both antiquity and more modern times) of the idea of the ancient 'Greek miracle'. Some of her work touches on the points of contact between modern politics and ideas about ancient Greece, and antiquity more generally. She is the author of Lycurgan Athens and the Making of Classical Tragedy (Cambridge 2014) and The Classical Debt: Greek Antiquity in an Era of Austerity (Harvard 2017). She is is a translator Ancient as well as Modern Greek, having translated among others The Archeologist and Selected Sea Stories (Penguin 2021; a volume of works by Andreas Karkavitsas), she is active in Brown's Program in Modern Greek Studies  and hosts a biweekly podcast called Lesche: Ancient Greece, New Ideas.

Professor Hanink spoke to Rethinking Greece* on how she was inspired by other academic podcasts and her desire for more informal scholarly dialogue to create her own podcast, Lesche, which aims to foster a sense of community within academia. Hanink discusses featuring authors of longue durée studies, as well as translators—such as Emily Wilson and Daniel Mendelsohn—whose work offers a unique bird’s-eye view of entire Ancient Greek texts and makes them more accessible to contemporary readers.

She also highlights the wealth of creative work inspired by Greek mythology, such as Kaos, the British mythological dark comedy TV series, whose creator Charlie Covell, appeared on the podcast. Hanink emphasizes that the barriers between academics and creatives should be lower, and that there should be space for open dialogue between the two groups about their work on Greek antiquity. Finally, she expresses her hope that the podcast will gain listeners among undergraduates—not just classicists—especially at a time when the Humanities are under threat; students need to know that Humanities research demands real expertise and generates new knowledge.

Professor Hanink, your podcast Lesche brings together Hellenists to discuss their latest work. What inspired you to create this kind of conversational platform, and why did you choose the format of a podcast over more traditional academic dissemination? How does this concept of a lesche inform your approach?

During the pandemic, I hosted a few Zoom events for my department for which I interviewed colleagues about their newly published books. I really enjoyed the format—the conversations last about 45 minutes, and covered everything from the book’s conception to the author’s ideas for their next project. Then, over the last couple of years, I became an avid listener of Anthony Kaldellis’ podcast Byzantium and Friends. We didn’t have anything quite like that in the field of Ancient Greek Studies (nor is there one for Roman Studies, as far as I know). By “like that” I mean a podcast hosted by an active researcher in the field who curates a program of conversations with colleagues about their latest work in the field. It all finally clicked into place last summer, when some exciting titles came out: e.g., Rachel Kousser’s Alexander at the End of the World, but also Ferdia Lennon’s wonderful Glorious Exploits, which takes an anecdote from Plutarch about the Athenian invasion of Sicily during the Peloponnesian War and spins a whole novel out from it. When those books appeared it pushed me over the edge, and I decided to give podcasting a try.

The concept of the lesche certainly informs the vibe I’m going for: I wanted the podcast to feel like a place where people can chat informally about their work and ideas. Honestly, I often prefer those kinds of relaxed conversations to formal academic lectures. The ideas seem to flow more naturally, and I like to be able to joke around a little with the guests. I also like that the word lesche has similar, positive resonances of friendship and idea-exchange in both Ancient and Modern Greek.

Your focus is on the latest work of Hellenists in the field of Classics. What trends or shifts in Hellenistic studies have you noticed emerging through these discussions? Are there particular themes you find repeatedly surfacing?

I try to cover a good spread of topics, but the books/projects I do choose to cover inevitably reflect my own interests. I spend a lot of time scouring publishers’ lists of forthcoming books, though, and on the basis of those I’d say that there is still a lot of interest in classical Athens, and that maybe the boom in Hellenistic Studies is subsiding somewhat. (I hope that I’m wrong.) I’ve especially enjoyed speaking to guests about projects with very long temporal ranges—John Ma on his Polis book, Emma Greensmith on her new Cambridge Companion to Greek Epic, and archaeologist Alex Knodell on the Small Cycladic Islands Project (SCIP). Those kinds of longue durée studies are really important.

Translation is another big theme; the first season featured Emily Wilson on her Iliad and Daniel Mendelsohn on his Odyssey. I hope to have more translators on to discuss their work in Season 2. Classicists tend to read very small passages from texts in a fragmented way, whereas translators gain a unique birds-eye view of the entire work they’ve translated. There’s a lot of insight to be had in that.

Season one of Lesche features conversations about monumental translation efforts like Daniel Mendelsohn’s Odyssey and Emily Wilson’s Iliad, as well as the Cambridge Greek Lexicon. What do you think these projects reveal about how we’re reimagining access to ancient Greek texts today?

Both Wilson and Mendelsohn’s translations of Homer and Diggle’s Cambridge Greek Lexicon share an aim of rendering Ancient Greek texts more accessible to contemporary readers, whether those readers know no Ancient Greek whatsoever or are experts who still need to consult a good lexicon every so often. I work with both kinds of texts, in my teaching (for which I assign translations of Homer) and my research (I’m writing a commentary, and use the CGL all the time). There really is still a strong interest in these texts, and it’s been exciting to host conversations with scholars who are making better access to them possible.

The podcast has been running for a year now. What has been a particularly memorable or insightful moment for you as a host, perhaps one that deepened your own understanding or sparked new ideas?

I have to say it was really a thrill to do an episode with Charlie Covell, creator of the Netflix show Kaos. Kaos sparked a lot of discussion in the U.S., Britain, Greece, and beyond, and I loved talking to Charlie about their vision for the show and how they brought it to life. After the episode came out Charlie and I stayed in touch, and we were lucky enough to host them for a week in the Classics Department at Brown last spring. For their final event with us, Charlie did a table reading, with a Brown undergraduate actor, of their short one-act play called “Asphodel,” which had marked the start of Charlie’s worldbuilding for Kaos. There is so much creative work out there inspired by Greek mythology, and I’d love to see more dialogue between those creators and academics. Creators read academic works, and academics teach about creative reception of antiquity, so the barriers between them really should be lower. Meeting Charlie through the podcast helped me see that more clearly.

Looking ahead, what role do you see for the podcast in engaging with these broader, perhaps more critical or unconventional, perspectives on ancient history and classics, beyond traditional scholarly work? Are there audiences beyond academia you especially hope to reach?

I’m always happy to hear that audiences outside academia are interested in the podcast, but one of the reasons I started Lesche was to improve the sense of community within the academic field. There are amazing podcasts out there that speak to wide general audiences, but I do want Lesche to be a place where both academics and creatives can speak about their work on Greek antiquity in technical terms. I initially envisioned the podcast as an academic one, but something I love about conversation is that it can make even highly-specialized topics very accessible—much more accessible than on the pages of an academic journal. A lot of the listeners are non-academics.

I would be very happy to see the podcast gain listenership among undergraduates, and not just classicists. I think it’s good for students to be exposed to academic research in the Humanities—that is, to learn that Humanities research really does require expertise and produce new knowledge. In a moment when the Humanities are very much under threat (we always say that, but it’s truer than ever right now), people need to know that Humanities work is serious, and the most basic aim of Lesche is to showcase the serious and exciting new work going on in my field.

*Interview to: Ioulia Livaditi

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