What is a "P" doing pretending to be an "R"? Generations of English-speaking students of Greek have wondered the same thing.
Now comes to one of the biggest problems - the letter "Sigma", which looks like a backwards "E" but is pronounced "s". To make matters worse, its lowercase form has two variants, one of which looks like an "o" and the other which looks like a "c", though that may at least give you a hint as to the sound.
Confused? It gets worse. Many graphic artists have seen the apparent resemblance to the letter "E" and routinely plop it in as if it were an "E" to give a "Greek" feel to lettering. Movie titles are particular abusers of this letter... even "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", whose creators should have known better.
Try this to help you remember this letter- "I See an E but I Say an Ess." Hang on, we're almost through here.
Go on to the next three letters of the Greek alphabet.
You can also practice on some real Greek roadsigns.
