LATIN: Language Study Resources

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didymus said:
Found on Fr. Z’s blog, WDTPRS (What does the prayer really say?):

There is a review (in Latin, of course) with a link to an English tranlation.
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Yes, once you have some mastery, reading Latin literature is a treat. :bounce: Everything from the Loeb Classical Library to children’s classics (among which are translations of several works of Dr Seuss, AA Milne’s Winnie Ille Pu, Charlotte’s Web, Ferdinand the Bull, and yes, the first two volumes of Harrius Potter).

Nunquam draco dormiens tittiliandus,
tee
 
Well, I got a 98% in my first quarter grade average for Latin I! I love Latin! 😃
 
tee_eff_em said:
:twocents:

Other things being equal, if you’re just looking for a quick start, I would say start with Ecclesiastical. Not only will pronunciation be more straightforward, but the word-order of Ecclesiastical Latin is generally more like modern English.* However: Once you’ve studied one, the other ought not be too difficult to pick up as well.

tee
(* The epistles of St Paul, the run-on sentence king, excepted in any language)
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Do I understand that Ecclesiastical vs. Classical is only about pronunciation? I thought I remember hearing that Classical is believed to be the pronunciation that the Romans actually spoke whereas Ecclesiastical is the Latin that evolved through use by the Church. Classical would pronounce “veni, vidi, vincit” with a “w” sound while ecclesiastical would pronounce it with a “v” sound–is that right?

I recall that there was someone on the forums who was fluent in Latin and was hired during the last Conclave to translate Church proceedings, announcements, and so on. Was that you tee ef em?
 
ReginaNova said:
Do I understand that Ecclesiastical vs. Classical is only about pronunciation? I thought I remember hearing that Classical is believed to be the pronunciation that the Romans actually spoke whereas Ecclesiastical is the Latin that evolved through use by the Church. Classical would pronounce “veni, vidi, vincit” with a “w” sound while ecclesiastical would pronounce it with a “v” sound–is that right?
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And *C *and *G *are always sounded hard, never soft. But it is more than that too. As I’d said above: word order. Classical Latin is well known for *Subject - Object - Verb *order, and for any of those to be an embedded phrase also *S-O-V *et cetera. Ecclesiastical Latin often (not always) makes use of the more familiar to English speakers *Subject - Verb - Object *order. Ecclesiastical Latin also make more use of prepositions, rather than relying on word form and position. (There are other differences (in pronunciation, in vocabulary, et cetera), but those are the big glaring obvious ones.
ReginaNova said:
I recall that there was someone on the forums who was fluent in Latin and was hired during the last Conclave to translate Church proceedings, announcements, and so on. Was that you tee ef em?
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I wish I could say it was. 🙂 Alas, I have not seen Severinus in this forum in many months. 😦

tee
whose lovely bride just padded an Amazon order with *Harrius Potter et Camera Secretorum *to bring it up into the free shipping price range :bounce:
 
There are also the Asterix and Obelix comics in Latin for the boys among us. Some of the TinTins are also in Latin. Thanks for the info on the news in Latin.
 
Right, it was Severinus.

Thanks for the explanation of Ecclesiastical vs. Classical Latin. I remember the Latin Mass from when I was a kid, and I also studied Latin for a couple of years, so I got a little of both kinds of Latin.

Ah, the Reputation System–now that goes back a long time!
 
To all
I hope the pronunciation differs among us but still we understand each other.
When I learned Latin in Vietnam, my teacher pronounced see say roh (Cicero), or mar gnee fee cat (Magnificat), many vowels were pronounced in certain ways. Coming to America, I heard the words lightly spelled out in a different way but my friends could have understood me well. The hardest part, common to all of us is the different grammar rules. Thanks God, the Latin used in Nova Vulgata and the Clementina Vulgata is still within our grasp - surely a dictionary and a grammar book are necessary- but I would give up if shown a text of Cicero.
Have fun in reading Latin
 
[Anyone with first-hand experience, positive or negative, please pipe up]

Textkit is a collection of on-line Greek and Latin learning resources, including downloadable (public domain) texts. There is also an electronic newsletter (I do not know how periodic) and discussion forum (in Greek, Latin or English) which seems to be regularly trafficked.

tee*
 
JKirkLVNV said:
I’m trying to learn the prayers in Latin, and I find I’m a bit confused. On the Adoremus site, the Ave has this: “et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.”

Yet, when we sing the Ave Maria, in all of its various arrangements and compositions, we sing it:

“et benedictus fructus ventris tui,* Jesu,” *with no “s” on the end.

Which is it? And is the first pronounced “Geesus” or “Yasoos?” The second “Gesoo” or “Yasoo?”
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“Jesu” is vocative, genitive, dative, or ablative. The nominative is “Jesus”, and is the correct one for the Hail Mary, because He is being referred to. He is the subject of the clause.

Your second pronunciations are correct.
 
tee_eff_em said:
[Anyone with first-hand experience, positive or negative, please pipe up]
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I learned Latin using the high school series of Fr. Robert J. Henle, SJ. Though comprised of four textbooks and one grammar manual, only the grammar manual and the first two textbooks are required to learn the grammatical essentials of Latin. There is also an email list for those using Henle materials: HenleLatin-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Fr. Henle’s series are oriented to classical Latin although there is some ecclesiastical Latin sprinkled about. It is an excellent and very well organized presentation of Latin grammar. The biggest drawback of the series is its vocabulary: since the series is oriented to the classics and the first classic studied is Caesar, the vocabulary of the first two textbooks is largely military. However, this drawback is somewhat mitigated by the fact that Henle only introduces a limited number of words in favor of more concentration on grammatical essentials.

After I finished the first two textbooks, I started Scanlon and Scanlon’s Latin Grammar in order to gain a good ecclesiastical vocabulary. I chose it over Collins’s Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin because Latin Grammar’s vocabulary is more oriented to reading the Missal, Breviary, and Vulgate. Once enough vocabulary is learned to read the Vulgate without too much dictionary flipping, it is possible to gain ease in reading Latin through prolonged reading of the Vulgate each day.

For a pronunciation guide I recommend the Pronunciatus Latinus booklet and CD.

Maria
 
A Dictionary

It goes without saying (at least until now) that you should have a dictionary. Maybe more than one. Always handy of course is a good Latin-English / English-Latin reference – Many people recommend Cassell’s; I also have an Oxford that I rely on quite a bit. A particularly valuable resource for Ecclesiastical work is the more specialized Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin by Leo F Stelten – This work is a little different. In addition to giving the Church’s spin on certain words and usages it is also a strictly Latin-English work – There is no English-Latin section. But this hardly detracts from its usefulness, since in most of my experience, Ecclesiastical translation is done in that direction (In her indisputable wisdom, Holy Mother Church has never asked me to translate anything *into *Latin 😛 ).

I like having a nice paper dictionary, but there are, as you might imagine, resources on line as well. Some are searchable under the [post=1939994]Perseus Project[/post] linked above (those Classical dictionaries by Lewis and by Lewis & Short are great).

tee
 
**The Latinitas Foundation

Of the Vatican, home page in / Latin*Latine * vel in / English*Anglice *.

The Latinitas Foundation was established in 1976 by Pope Paul VI with the Pontifical Chirograph *Romani sermonis *and it has the following objectives:

  1. *]to promote the study of the Latin language, classical literature and Medieval Latin;
    *]to promote the increased use of the Latin language by publishing texts in Latin and other suitable means.

    Among other activities is the promotion of the Lexicon recentis Latinitatis, an Italian-Latin list of words for the modern age. For instance: *instrumentum computatorium *(computer), * radiophonium *(radio), *pasta vermiculata *(spaghetti), and * brevissimae bracae femineae *(hot pants).

    tee
 
tee_eff_em said:
OTHER RESOURCES

*PHONETICA LATINÆ *- How to pronounce Latin I haven’t investigated thoroughly, but seems to be a good source for Ecclesiastical pronunciation sound files.
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I have been sad that the above link seems to have fallen off the net. 😦

A less-than-perfect but better-than-nothing substitute can be GreekLatinAudio.com. You can listen to reading of the Vulgate bible – Not with a typical Eccelesiastical pronunciation, but decidedly neither the restored Classical. The speaker hails from Texas, and has a rather Spanish accent (whether by accident or design I do not know), but it *is *close to Ecclesiastical.

tee
 
This thread has some GREAT resources. Funny, I had just decided that I wanted to learn Latin the other day. I haven’t been to the forums in a long while, stopped in today, and voila’ The Lord really DOES work in mysterious ways and for that I am truly grateful.
:signofcross:
 
I just wanted to let everyone here know that I have a friend who teaches Latin and will be doing intensive courses for people who would like to learn over the summer.

It will be in the Phoenix, AZ (Scottsdale actually) area.

For all who are interested in more details, please PM me. 🙂
 
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