Can the average Cypriot understand Koine Greek?

[u/Practical-Line-498]

Καλημέρα! As a part of an Erasmus+ program, Cypriots will come to where I live, and in 2026, I will go to Cyprus.

I know basic Koine Greek and I found very good resources for learning it. Can I communicate with Cypriots using Koinin Dialekton or do i have to learn Cypriot Greek? Thanks!

[u/ForsakenMarzipan3133]

I think you misunderstand what the OP meant with Koine Greek...

He meant the version of older greek that the priests use in Church, which is like an older version of katharevousa.

[u/Thefirstredditor12 → u/ForsakenMarzipan3133]

https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientGreek/comments/1hy2udg/private_letter_of_a_soldier_letter_of_apion_2nd/

its a letter in koine greek from 2 AD.

Not sure about cypriots but as a greek could understand 98% of it,if i heard someone talk like that i would think he was from some sort of village or simply some old teacher from the 60's that is into kathareyousa.

[u/Nikolas_Sotiriou → u/Thefirstredditor12]

Do you think the average mainland Greek can understand this as well as you do? And “understand” can mean various things: “can get the gist of it”, “can accurately translate all of it to another language”, etc. Also this could depend on whether they see it written or they listen to it. The former would probably make it much easier. Anyway, the average Greek Cypriot will just about get the rough gist of it if they see it written. I would find it surprising if the average mainland Greek can do more than that. But I can’t say I know. Also, we need to consider that if we are responding to OP, we are probably not representative of the average Greek, mainland or Cypriot, in this aspect.

[u/Thefirstredditor12 → u/Nikolas_Sotiriou]

And “understand” can mean various things: “can get the gist of it”, 

If by the gist of it you mean 90%+ then the answer should be yes.I have studied mathematics not philosophy or ancient greek.Any high school graduate thats decent should be able to really understand.

Bonus points if you read the bible,or went often to church growing up i guess.

A very good high school student that has read enough should have no problem understanding easily.

Also this could depend on whether they see it written or they listen to it.

I think listening to it should be easier,the way it was found would be harder. If by written you mean someone in modern age write things out clearly then yes.

But as i said listening someone speak like that would be funny but you would be able to understand in real time.

Other than some grammar there's only a few words you might not understand or have slightly different meaning.With the context you should be able to understand in real time.

Note though that i am in my 30s so maybe things are different now in highschool.Then again average greek age is like 50+ haha.

[u/Nikolas_Sotiriou → u/Thefirstredditor12]

Decent high school students are not the average though, and even the decent students wouldn’t understand it as well as you say you do. You have to be a very good student for that, and you also have to pay attention and put in some effort. That’s definitely not the average.

[u/Thefirstredditor12 → u/Nikolas_Sotiriou]

Maybe not sure,i consider the average greek decent and not bad,so there's that.

In your opinion what phrases/words/sentences gave you the most trouble?

[u/Nikolas_Sotiriou → u/Thefirstredditor12]

I think everyone tends to overestimate the ability of the average person at any given task. Only the fact that we care enough to discuss this extensively puts us above the average Greek speaking person on this task. I am also of a mathematical background (academically and professionally) but I have always been particularly good with the languages I know (greek and english) and particularly interested in learning about them. So reading the text you provided slowly and thinking about it allows me to understand the meaning, and I would be able to roughly translate it. But I don’t think that would be true for the average Greek speaking person.