Learn Latin

[MiKelley_K]

I would like to learn Latin. I have no experience and I have no idea where to start. I’m not very intelligent. I would like something simple. I have plenty of free time and I’m committed. It will probably take me longer to learn a language than most, but I don’t mind. Also, I was homeschooled so I’m used to teaching myself,

 

[tee_eff_em]

I (and others) review many resources in this thread: [thread=121562]LATIN: Language Study Resources[/thread]

The list is by no means exhaustive, if anyone has other suggestions.

tee

 

[ServusHumilis]

Looking for an EF Mass might be a start. The first Latin I uttered was likely “Et cum spiritu tuo” and now just a year and a half later I’d like to think I’m well on my way to becoming a cantor.

Of course, I’ve also listened to opera for many years. I never much cared for the stories or watching videos of it. I haven’t even been to one; just listening to the amazing voices on older recordings has been all I’ve needed, and I’ve collected hundreds if not thousands of recordings. I often wonder if God had this in his plan for me so I’d be able to pronounce Latin properly one day as I believe taking in all that Italian has indeed helped me with that. It’s also likely the only reason I have any sense of musical pitch.

 

[rcuk]

There are some good books out there from the likes of ‘Cambridge Latin Course’ I think is the name.

There are short stories which you can read as a great way into the language.

 

[CountrySteve]

Would anyone be familiar with this book?

ewtnreligiouscatalogue.com/Home+Page/BOOKS/Bible+Study/LATIN+GRAMMAR.axd

 

[tee_eff_em]

Would anyone be familiar with this book?

ewtnreligiouscatalogue.com/Home+Page/BOOKS/Bible+Study/LATIN+GRAMMAR.axd

[post=4116202]Yes[/post]. (From a similar advice thread)

tee

 

[COPLAND_3]

I dabbled in Latin and Greek for a number of years, and if I had it all to do over again I would have spent much more time learning them in conversational use rather the excessive amounts of time in grammar books and focusing on parsing. The grammar books and parsing are important but I found that those approaches alone are very limited and dont give you the tools to think in those languages. Obviously finding the way to converse with others who can communicate in those languages would be somewhat challenging, but I imagine that with the internet it is highly likely that there are forums and chat rooms for it.

 

[SnowAngels]

I would like to learn Latin. I have no experience and I have no idea where to start. I’m not very intelligent. I would like something simple. I have plenty of free time and I’m committed. It will probably take me longer to learn a language than most, but I don’t mind. Also, I was homeschooled so I’m used to teaching myself,

Hi MiKelley! Welcome to CAF! I am also homeschooled and learning Latin! I use the books from Loyola Press. Depending on how much money you want to spend, there are a couple options. Rosetta Stone is awesome, though a bit pricey. I know my library has several tapes/books on learning languages, so you might want to check there! A third option is locating someone who speaks Latin, and can converse with you. My neighbor speaks fluent Spanish, and offers to teach me anytime.

God bless!

 

[ProVobis]

I dabbled in Latin and Greek for a number of years, and if I had it all to do over again I would have spent much more time learning them in conversational use rather the excessive amounts of time in grammar books and focusing on parsing. The grammar books and parsing are important but I found that those approaches alone are very limited and dont give you the tools to think in those languages. Obviously finding the way to converse with others who can communicate in those languages would be somewhat challenging, but I imagine that with the internet it is highly likely that there are forums and chat rooms for it.

There is also a Latin twitter account which has almost 300k subscribers to daily feeds.

@Pontifex_ln

And there is always the Latin Word for the Day which can be emailed to you.

transparent.com/word-of-the-day/today/latin.html

I’ve found that knowing even a little Latin is worth a lot.

 

[tower_of_babel]

i had to learn some latin and greek phrases and words for my classics course , i heard its very difficult compared to other languages. so good luck

just wondering , had anyone tried to learn hebrew for the OT? i’ve wanted to try it for a while.

 

[COPLAND_3]

I dabbled with Hebrew and Aramaic as well and it wasnt as hard as one might think. If i would have spent more time in Hebrew I think I could have been better at that than Greek or Latin. But ive been away from it so I lost a lot of what I learned of Hebrew and Aramaic. Istill retain some from Latin and Greek because I have hired translators to translate ancient commentaries, so I still have some exposure to it.

 

[ServusHumilis]

Here’s a pretty simple Latin book I found online: Cornelia. Some of it makes sense to me.

 

[ProVobis]

i had to learn some latin and greek phrases and words for my classics course , i heard its very difficult compared to other languages. so good luck

Depends. If you read some of Cicero or the Church documents, which even in English very few can understand, you may be inclined to think it’s very hard. But it shouldn’t be a problem for a 5-yr old to respond with an “et cum spiritu tuo” when he hears “Dominus vobiscum” and know what it means.

BTW, like your moniker.

 

[MiKelley_K]

Thanks everyone for all the help.

 

[Tous_Logous]

I would like to learn Latin. I have no experience and I have no idea where to start. I’m not very intelligent. I would like something simple. I have plenty of free time and I’m committed. It will probably take me longer to learn a language than most, but I don’t mind. Also, I was homeschooled so I’m used to teaching myself,

I don’t know, what exactly do you want to get out of learning Latin? Are you looking to learn Latin as is used in the Extraordinary Form of Mass, the Breviary, etc.? If so learn Ecclesiastical Latin. If you want to read the writings of Roman authors, learn classical Latin. Take note that specific words have changed meaning from classical times to medieval times (“Church Latin” as we would call it); some classical Latin words later became “Christianized” (see for example, the etymology of our word “sacrament”).

If you are looking to learn Ecclesiastical Latin, “Latin Grammar” by Scanlon and Scanlon is your best bet. If you are looking to learn classical Latin, “Wheelock’s Latin” is fairly popular for college-level use. I am not sure if there really is any simple way to learn Latin.

I was self-teaching Koine Greek. Due to my work schedule I had to put that learning on hold. I later became curious, and am trying to work through Latin. Both Greek and Latin can be fairly difficult to learn. I always felt Greek was much easier (well, it doesn’t use the Ablative case compared to Latin) in terms of learning the alphabet, the declensions, the pronounceation (sic), and so forth. Latin I feel like is more difficult in terms of learning to pronounce words.

I’m still torn as to whether I should continue with Koine Greek or start learning Latin. Both are beautiful languages and generally if you can learn one of them, you can learn the other.

As of now I’m using “Latin Grammar” by the Scanlons. Be forewarned that this isn’t an “easy” textbook. Learning a language is never easy. Scanlon is very vocabulary-heavy in the first chapter alone (I only just completed transferring ALL the vocab words in the first chapter to index cards, and it took weeks of time!) and they are big into parsing. I suppose it gets the job done for those who want to learn the Latin of the Missal, Breviary, and TLM.

 

[ProVobis]

(I only just completed transferring ALL the vocab words in the first chapter to index cards, and it took weeks of time!) and they are big into parsing. I suppose it gets the job done for those who want to learn the Latin of the Missal, Breviary, and TLM.

That’s great. I use index cards myself. Have you also considered putting them out as flashcards for yourself and everyone else?

flashcardmachine.com/language-latin.html

quizlet.com/subject/latin/

quizlet.com/subject/scanlon-latin/

quizlet.com/subject/collins-ecclesiastical-latin/

studystack.com/Latin

 

[tee_eff_em]

I dabbled in Latin and Greek for a number of years…

i had to learn some latin and greek phrases and words for my classics course…

I was self-teaching Koine Greek. Due to my work schedule I had to put that learning on hold. I later became curious…

One of the Latin resources I recommend (indeed, it is among my favorite introductions to the language) is *Learn Latin: A Lively Introduction to Reading the Language *by Peter Jones.

I only mention this because the same author has written Learn Ancient Greek. I cannot recommend it as highly as the other work, it seemed to me to be more of a how-to-cheat-your-way-through-ancient-Greek. But I could be mistaken (I’ve never seriously studied Greek).

tee

 

[CountrySteve]

[post=4116202]Yes[/post]. (From a similar advice thread)

tee

Thanks!

Pax

 

[Trekker47]

The book I started with in secondary school, and apparently the one they start with in college here too, is Ecce Romani. Great way to start learning the language, you get something of a grasp of it almost immediately.