George Kanarakis studied Greek and English Philology at the University of Athens under a scholarship from the State Scholarship Foundation. In 1963 he studied Teaching English as a Foreign Language with the British Council in London. He received a Fulbright scholarship which enabled him to complete a Master of Arts (MA) degree in Linguistics at Indiana University in the United States. In 1974 he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph.D) from the University of Athens. He has taught at the University of Athens, Bridgewater State College, Massachusetts, and at other universities and colleges.

After his arrival in Australia, he joined the academic staff at Charles Sturt University. He has been the recipient of many research grants, including a Commonwealth Schools Commission Grant (1984), a Mitchellsearch Limited Research Grant (1986), a Charles Sturt University Research Grant (1991) and an Australian Research Council Grant (1993). His research interests include the literature of the Greeks of the Diaspora, and in particular of Australia and New Zealand, the press of the Greeks in Australia and New Zealand, and applied and comparative linguistics. He has published several books which have been awarded prizes. In 1994 he was honoured by election to the International Academy for the Promulgation of Civilisation. In 1999 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by Charles Sturt University and around 2002 he was appointed a Professorial Fellow at that institution.