How fluent are you in Latin?

[MaryT777]

I can pray the rosary in Latin. I had a tape and repetition made it fairly easy to learn.
Can say a few phrases of some other prayers in Latin, thus

LOW…
Mary.

 

[Golf_Zulu]

Low moderate. Took it for 2 years in high school in the mid 50s. Entire student body did the Missa Recitata for 4 years every Friday morning before classes. Still do most of my Mass responses in Latin. Do some prayers in Latin, sing some hymns in Latin. Can read with decent pronunciation, but need a good dictionary at my side.

Frankly, I was dragged through Latin I & II kicking and screaming, but the Brothers decided I had a flair for languages and force fed me three years of Spanish and one each of Greek and Russian. After seeing my academic records, the Marine Corps sent me to school for 14 months to learn Thai and Lao, I did 3 years of French in college (I needed a quick major and by now I considered languages fun and easy credits). Also Spanish refresher training prior to assignment in Panama; intermediate Thai training prior to assignment in Bangkok; and German prior to assignment in Germany. So, I thank the good Brothers every day for spotting a skill I denied having and grinding my nose into it. I turned out making a life long career out of my language skills, wrote a Lao language text book, lived in a number of different countries in Asia, Latin America, and Europe. A long way from amo, amas, amat!!!

 

[GangGreen]

I probably know more prayers in Latin than I do in English . I love learning Latin hymn/chants/prayers when I can. My pronunciation I think is quite good, mainly because I pronounce Italian very well for an American English speaker. However, while I know what a lot of the individual words mean, Latin grammar is still a mystery to me. One thing I regret was that in my last semester of undergrad, my Italian professor taught an intro to Latin class for the first time and I didn’t take it. This was before my love for Latin prayers was established. Oh how I wish I could go back and take that class.

 

[Cat]

I can pronounce it, but it means nothing to me.

Even though I have sung or played for quite a few Latin pieces over the years, I can never remember what any of it means. You can tell me what it means, and five minutes later, I won’t remember what you said.

I just have an incredibly bad–really really bad–memory for languages. I must have been exposed to some kind of brain-destroying alien rays or something at birth.

I can’t memorize music either, either playing (piano) or singing it. I can spend an hour rehearsing a song with a choir, but if someone asked me to sing the song out in the parking lot after the rehearsal, I wouldn’t even be able to sing the first line, or even the first few words of the song, or even the tune.

So maybe that helps some of you to understand why I’m not really interested in attending Latin Mass regularly.

 

[JuantheTuba]

I have memorized all the basic prayers(Our Father, Hail Mary, etc.) and the responses to Altar Serve, but I don’t just merely have them memorized, I can tell what exactly I’m saying as I’m saying it.

I have been teaching myself Latin using Wheelock’s Latin 7th edition for about half a year. I can pick up on vocabulary fairly quickly being fluent in Spanish and knowing a little bit of French.

 

[OraLabora]

I can read ecclesiastical Latin fairly fluently, and pronounce it in the current “Italianate” fashion. I chant Lauds and Vespers every day in Gregorian chant (and some times mid-day prayer and Compline as well, otherwise I chant those, and Vigils, in French).

I can understand a good chunk of the words of the psalms in Latin and get the general drift of the psalm. Being fluent in French helps. My practice at Lauds and Vespers is to chant the psalm in Latin, then read it through silently in French.

I’ve also memorized a good number of Gregorian chants, I can chant all of the marian antiphons from memory on the simple tone, and the Salve Regina and Alma Redemptoris Mater on the solemn tone as well, plus obvious things like the Pater and the Confiteor. I chant them in the dark after Compline. I’m working up to try to memorize all of Compline (of the monastic schema, which is ps. 4, 90 and 133 daily, and which traditionally would be recited from memory by the monks, in the dark), but at 55 the best I can say is that it’s a “work in (very slow) progress”

 

[on_the_hill]

Useless? I would have loved to take Latin throughout High School

I love Latin and love studying it.

At the same time I am discerning religious life and will need it specially if I join the FSSP.

Well, I have friends who are fluent in German, Spanish, and French. It sure seems more fun to have that knowledge and exposure to the rest of the world. Latin really didn’t give me anything. Other than I get annoyed when Latin is used in church and the pronunciations are wrong.

 

[Evan]

My biggest problem using Latin at Church is that I learned Classical Latin and the Church wants us to use the Ecclisial pronunciation.

I’ve found it’s quite easy to read the Vulgate, and while i’m trying to learn Spanish, the Bible in Spanish is much easier for knowing Latin.

Although I still find Cicero hard going.

 

[AdDeum]

I voted barely a word… Though I think I may be somewhere between that one and the fairly low mark, I am probably closer to the lowest one.

I am working on it though… though not serious study

 

[ProVobis]

Other than I get annoyed when Latin is used in church and the pronunciations are wrong.

I think it was Pius X who wanted a standardization of the Church Latin pronunciations to follow Italian pronunciations. And you consider this wrong? I hope not.

 

[Evan]

I think it was Pius X who wanted a standardization of the Church Latin pronunciations to follow Italian pronunciations. And you consider this wrong? I hope not.

That seems quite parochial. Just cuz he is Italian, why should we pronounce Latin as if it were Italian. I’m pretty good at pronouncing words in English, maybe we should use an English pronunciation.

Or we could use Classical Pronunciation, such as used in the 1st Century.

 

[landon13]

I think it was Pius X who wanted a standardization of the Church Latin pronunciations to follow Italian pronunciations. And you consider this wrong? I hope not.

It is wrong that he wanted it pronounced in the Italian. That is not Latin. It doesn’t sound right when comparing it to the classics like Cicero and Virgil. I have nothing wrong with it but, personally, I use the true Latin pronunciation when I pray in Latin.

 

[ProVobis]

Or we could use Classical Pronunciation, such as used in the 1st Century.

It is wrong that he wanted it pronounced in the Italian. That is not Latin. It doesn’t sound right when comparing it to the classics like Cicero and Virgil. I have nothing wrong with it but, personally, I use the true Latin pronunciation when I pray in Latin.

I don’t have a problem with that. My university Latin teacher didn’t. Keep up the good work.

 

[adawgj]

I didn’t have much of an interest in Latin until i heard the phrase habemus papum.

That’s the only Latin phrase I know.

 

[Razanir]

It is wrong that he wanted it pronounced in the Italian. That is not Latin. It doesn’t sound right when comparing it to the classics like Cicero and Virgil. I have nothing wrong with it but, personally, I use the true Latin pronunciation when I pray in Latin.

To me, Classical Latin sounds weird. Namely the Classical pronunciation of “Veni, vidi, vici”

 

[landon13]

To me, Classical Latin sounds weird. Namely the Classical pronunciation of “Veni, vidi, vici”

Classical Latin is the original way it was before it was modernized by Italians!

Veni, vidi, vici is a wonderful quote from Caesar and I prefer it to be pronounced
“WEENEE, WEEDEE, VEEKEE”

not the Italian version

“venee, veedee, veechi”

 

[on_the_hill]

I think it was Pius X who wanted a standardization of the Church Latin pronunciations to follow Italian pronunciations. And you consider this wrong? I hope not.

Well… If you’re going to put it that way… Yes. Yes I do think he was wrong. If the Pope declared 1 is a prime number he would be wrong. Just because he’s the pope doesn’t mean he’s always right.

 

[UncleBill]

Forget Latin…Greek is the way to go!

Kyrie elyieson!

 

[NickD]

Let’s see…I know all declensions and conjugations. I know the indicative voice and a smidgen of the subjunctive. My grammatical knowledge is pretty good for two years of courses, I think. My biggest problem is vocabulary…my knowledge in that area is not where it needs to be, at least in my opinion

 

[EphelDuath]

Well… If you’re going to put it that way… Yes. Yes I do think he was wrong. If the Pope declared 1 is a prime number he would be wrong. Just because he’s the pope doesn’t mean he’s always right.

lol what. How is that “wrong”? Do you think Latin has throughout its entire history always been pronounced the same way, to the point where there is a SCIENTIFIC correctness?

Consider this point. Most of every language has a committee somewhere that determines the validity of certain grammatical and dictionary laws. Vatican City is the arbiter of the Latin language. Therefore the Pope’s legislation on Latin pronunciation is more valid than a definition you would find in the Oxford English Dictionary.