Advice for Learning Latin?

[ServusHumilis]

Thank you all for your excellent advice, I really do appreciate it.

If I may ask one more question: with Latin declensions, I understand the use of cases, i.e. nominative, genitive, etc., and genders, but when two different cases or declensions have the same endings, how do you know which is which? Like, if the genitive in the first declension ends in -um (hypothetically), as does the ablative in the third declension, how do you know the meaning of each one in a sentence?

Again… try being more hands on. A child doesn’t learn English by worrying about declensions.

 

[tee_eff_em]

Thank you all for your excellent advice, I really do appreciate it.

If I may ask one more question: with Latin declensions, I understand the use of cases, i.e. nominative, genitive, etc., and genders, but when two different cases or declensions have the same endings, how do you know which is which? Like, if the genitive in the first declension ends in -um (hypothetically), as does the ablative in the third declension, how do you know the meaning of each one in a sentence?

The same way you readily understand homonyms in English – Practice and context.

Wind often comes from the west.
Wind the clock every day.

Our Lord invited Thomas to place his hand within the wound in his side.
Thomas wound the clock every day.

Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana.

:tiphat:
tee

 

[Lion_IRC]

Try this.
mobile.twitter.com/pontifex_ln

Pope Francis’ Twitter feed in Latin.

“Rem publicam Beatitudinibus coram oportet faciamus, tendentes una cum aliis ad Regnum caelorum.”

Hey let’s start a Latin social group here at CAF

 

[Lion_IRC]

I’d love to learn more.

My high school motto was “…agite quae didicitis”

 

[Lion_IRC]

The same way you readily understand homonyms in English – Practice and context.

Wind often comes from the west.
Wind the clock every day.

Our Lord invited Thomas to place his hand within the wound in his side.
Thomas wound the clock every day.

Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana.

:tiphat:
tee

Mouse - Mice
House - ???

The teacher taught.
The preacher…?

After a number of Novocain injections, my jaw got number…

 

[tee_eff_em]

I’d love to learn more.

My high school motto was “…agite quae didicitis”

My high school refectory’s motto was “He Knows the Faith” – Fidem scit.


tee

 

[alcuin18]

Could anyone reference some avenues to find materials in Latin, particularly writings by saints, Roman authors and works of fiction? I’d really appreciate it. I tried to find some free Latin books for my Kindle but there was only one book in Latin for it, surprisingly.

Also, for those who know Latin, what’s your opinion on Latin poetry? There’s a book at my local library called Beginning Latin Poetry I thought about trying. Thanks.

 

[floresco]

Also, for those who know Latin, what’s your opinion on Latin poetry? There’s a book at my local library called Beginning Latin Poetry I thought about trying. Thanks.

Latin poetry involves creating patterns of long and short syllables of certain lengths. You need to know how to identify which syllables are which and know the various patterns. So there is a bunch of stuff to learn beyond what you learned for prose. In university, poetry courses tend to be introduced after two years of Latin.

Also, a great deal of classical Roman poetry deals with sexual immorality. Personally I am uncomfortable with that.

 

[OraLabora]

Could anyone reference some avenues to find materials in Latin, particularly writings by saints, Roman authors and works of fiction? I’d really appreciate it. I tried to find some free Latin books for my Kindle but there was only one book in Latin for it, surprisingly.

Also, for those who know Latin, what’s your opinion on Latin poetry? There’s a book at my local library called Beginning Latin Poetry I thought about trying. Thanks.

Download iBreviary. Select Latin and read the readings for the Office of Readings in Latin. Since you can also select English or some other vernaculars, you can also see the translations.

Although of course not originally written in Latin, the Psalms, especially chanted on the Gregorian tones, acquire a poetic quality. You can go wrong with them for biblical fidelity!

One reason I prefer the LOTH to the more complex breviaries (monastic, 1960) is that with fewer psalms, it’s easier to absorb the Latin. Although I can read/chant Latin fluently, understanding it takes more effort.

 

[floresco]

One reason I prefer the LOTH to the more complex breviaries (monastic, 1960) is that with fewer psalms, it’s easier to absorb the Latin. Although I can read/chant Latin fluently, understanding it takes more effort.

An even simpler form of liturgical prayer is the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In terms of learning Latin (obviously there are other considerations) this has the advantage of more repetition. Baronius Press has an English/Latin side by side edition that I found helpful. Here is an online version (with the Latin separate from the English)office.ageofmary.com/lang/la to give you an idea of what is involved.

At any rate, I recommend that the OP memorize Latin prayers. One can do this before one starts learning Latin and it enhances the learning process as one goes along. One starts to recognize more and more vocabulary and grammatical structures in the prayers. This site has a good collection of basic Catholic prayers in Latin: preces-latinae.org/index.htm

 

[floresco]

The Hieronymous monks in Florida also have a great-looking program, but I have not used it. It has tapes to support the aural part of learning a language.

I suspect that you are thinking of Familia Sancti Hieronymi (Latin for Family of St. Jerome). They are not monks. It is an association that includes both clergy and laity for the promotion of Latin in the Church. From their constitution:

All faithful Roman Catholics may become members of this association who agree to dedicate themselves to the following ends:

Sincere love for the Holy Father and a devoted obedience to His Supreme Magisterium;

Intense commitment to the spiritual life, striving to union with God according to the teaching and the example of so many Saints;

Diligent study and use of the Latin language, the living language of the Roman Catholic Church, in order to arrive at a sound command of the language in reading, thinking, speaking and writing.

They sell a program for learning Latin (with an emphasis on spoken ecclesiastical Latin) and other Latin materials. They also run a yearly Latin immersion week with rotating locations. This year it is in San Francisco at the end of July and early August.

Here is their website: hieronymus.us.com/

Much of it is in Latin, but there is English too so look for it.

 

[ProVobis]

Also, a great deal of classical Roman poetry deals with sexual immorality. Personally I am uncomfortable with that.

I realize his works aren’t necessarily considered poetic, but have you studied Cicero yet? Do you realize that the early fathers used his writings to set the moral code for the Church?

 

[floresco]

I realize his works aren’t necessarily considered poetic, but have you studied Cicero yet? Do you realize that the early fathers used his writings to set the moral code for the Church?

Cicero wrote in different genres, but I can’t think of anything by him that I would consider poetry. His sexual morality seems relatively compatible with Catholicism. I had in mind authors like Ovid and Catullus.

If I needed to pick a “Catholic compatible” poet, I would go with Virgil. It’s not that all classical Latin poetry has objectionable sexual morality; it’s just that it is common.

 

[tee_eff_em]

Could anyone reference some avenues to find materials in Latin, particularly writings by saints, Roman authors and works of fiction? I’d really appreciate it. I tried to find some free Latin books for my Kindle but there was only one book in Latin for it, surprisingly.

Also, for those who know Latin, what’s your opinion on Latin poetry? There’s a book at my local library called Beginning Latin Poetry I thought about trying. Thanks.

As others have noted, Latin poetry is …different, and can cover a variety of subjects which may not be to one’s taste. (The suggestion of Virgil is a pretty good one though, I think)

There are modern works of fiction translated into Latin: the first 2 Harry Potter books, a couple of Winnie the Pooh’s, Ferdinand the Bull, Charlotte’s Web, and several Dr Seuss*.

The Loeb Classical Library has tons of stuff in Latin-facing-English volumes. Some saints, some classical and post-classical authors – A wide variety.

And just in case you had not considered it, the bible is available in a couple of translations. One of my old teachers suggested reading the Gospel of John to brush up my rusty Latin: “You already know the story, and John repeats himself an awful lot, giving you two or three chances of getting it right.”

(* Speaking of poetry – IIRC the Latin Cat in the Hat. Cattus petasatus, is written in the same meter as Stabat mater. )

tee

 

[DaveBj]

snip

(* Speaking of poetry – IIRC the Latin Cat in the Hat. Cattus petasatus, is written in the same meter as Stabat mater. )

tee

Speaking translations of 20th-century classics, there is also Winnie ille Pu

arretetonchar.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/IMG/archives/Divertissement/Latine%20Legere/Winnie%20Ille%20Pu.pdf

 

[floresco]

There are modern works of fiction translated into Latin: the first 2 Harry Potter books, a couple of Winnie the Pooh’s, Ferdinand the Bull, Charlotte’s Web, and several Dr Seuss*.

I have most of these. The level of language difficulty does not necessarily correspond to the level in English. It seemed to me that the Latin* Charlotte’s Web* was easier than *Winnie the Pooh *for example.

Probably the most suitable books of this sort for a beginner are the Latin translations of Asterix comics since these have pictures to aid in comprehension.

 

[alcuin18]

Thank you very much for all your advice and links, I really appreciate it.

I actually saw a Latin translation of The Hobbit at my local Barnes and Noble. It’s great to see a renewed interest in Latin. I’ve even heard some suggesting it as a new universal language; original, right?

Do you guys ever read many scientific works in Latin, like Copernicus or Newton? I assume they’re more difficult than some other Latin works, though I can’t imagine St. Thomas is any easier.

 

[floresco]

Can anyone give me any advice for the best way to learn Latin, by self-tutelage, especially dealing with the heavy inflection? Also, is it worth learning Latin today, especially as it is rarely used socially? Thank you and God bless.

As you might have guessed, I think that it is worth learning Latin.

About dealing with inflection, my advice is to invest the time and effort into doing a lot of memorizing at the beginning. Conceptually, inflections are not really difficult. For nouns, the information about relationships between words that English conveys through word order, Latin conveys through a system of endings. For example, in English, “Mark hits Quintus” means something distinct from “Quintus hits Mark”. In Latin, the first of these sentences could be translated “Marcus Quintum pulsat” or “Quintum Marcus pulsat” or other orders of these words.

Most people can quickly pick up the principle that noun endings show the word’s function in the sentence. However, there are about 12 different possible endings for every noun. There are 5 different patterns of these endings. One needs to know the endings and know which words fit into which pattern. For verbs, there are over a hundred endings for each one and 4 patterns. If one is not a native Latin speaker, this requires conscious memorization.

In theory, one could keep looking it up in a chart, but it would make reading far too time-consuming. When I first studied Latin in high school, I was a lazy student who did not put in the memorizing work, so I hit a wall in my progress. Much later I taught Latin while homeschooling my children and put in the time to drill endings so that my children could learn them. Once I did this I could start moving forward again.

 

[floresco]

Thank you very much for all your advice and links, I really appreciate it.

I actually saw a Latin translation of The Hobbit at my local Barnes and Noble. It’s great to see a renewed interest in Latin. I’ve even heard some suggesting it as a new universal language; original, right?

Do you guys ever read many scientific works in Latin, like Copernicus or Newton? I assume they’re more difficult than some other Latin works, though I can’t imagine St. Thomas is any easier.

The reviews I read for the Latin Hobbit sounded like it was a poor translation, so I do not have that one.

A friend of mine who translates Latin professionally says that the various authors and genres have their own characteristic vocabulary and style. So, for example, a person who was fluent in liturgical Latin might nevertheless find Newton difficult. I’m sure that I would find reading Aquinas easier than Newton (though I have never tried) because I have more interest and background in Aquinas.

I think the key is to master the basics and then put in lots of time reading Latin in an area of interest or two build up this sort of specific fluency.

 

[ProVobis]

Do you guys ever read many scientific works in Latin, like Copernicus or Newton? I assume they’re more difficult than some other Latin works, though I can’t imagine St. Thomas is any easier.

Indeed, I touched on Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica and Kepler’s Harmonices Mundi. Marvelous.

And for those who didn’t know there are the Pope’s tweets in Latin (which he supposedly personally checks)

@Pontifex_ln

and a Latin Wikipedia

la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicipaediaagina_prima