Learning Latin - Question about Neo-Vulgate

[rubennunez]

Hi. I’m in the process of teaching myself Latin using the neo-vulgate bible. I’m currently using the biblium app (by the vatican press) that shows you the text and audio version. I really like it since I can get a feel for the pronunciation of church latin. Plus a lot of it is sung or dramatized, so it makes it really interesting. Its really good and I highly recommend it.

I’m curious though, what would you say would be a range of vocabulary one needs to have a good working knowledge of church latin texts (as well as the vulgate)? 500? 1000 words? more? Yes, I understand there is more to it than just understanding the words. Just looking for a ballpark for those that have a good working knowledge of the language. As a side note, I’m fully bilingual (spanish and english) so I already understand a lot of it just by sheer resemblance to both languages. I do want to actually know the language though, and be able to pray, read and possibly translate in it.

Also, does anyone have an idea who much different vocabulary the neo-vulgate bible has in total?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[ProVobis]

You’re probably looking for a word count similar to the one done on the EF?

gmr.sourceforge.net/html/nouns.html

I’ll see if there is one for the Nova Vulgata.

 

[rubennunez]

Yes, exactly.

 

[DaveBj]

I can’t answer your question, but I suspect that the count would be similar to the word count in the Hebrew OT lexicon (in the vicinity of 8,000 words) and the Greek word count in the Greek NT lexicon (5,000+ words).