Learning to Pray in Latin

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I’m attempting to learn some of the basic prayers, such as Hail Mary, Our Father, and Glory Be, in Latin and am struggling. Does anyone have any advice?
 
what is it specifically?

If you are hav ng trouble committing them to memoryyour best to pray them daily or more frequently. Use a cheat sheet- you’ll eventually just learn them that way. Its how I did it.

If you’re having trouble with pronunciation, listen to them on youtube.

Or is it another problem?
 
Learn to sing the prayers, instead of just reciting it.

When I was in Latin class- in public school- we were taught the hymn “veni veni emmanuel” and it wasn’t that hard.

I think adding a musical tone to it, will help you memorize and remember the prayers based using the music as a clue.

Its the same thing with popular or patriotic music- its hard to remember the lyrics without the tune and with some of these crooners they might as well be singing in a different language.
 
Pronunciation and memorization are both issues. I will try to use YouTube. I did not even think of that
 
Yes. Find chant versions of these, that will help a lot.
There are youtube videos with just the Latin rosary playing, chanted, which may help you, especially if you follow along with the aforementioned ‘cheat sheet’
 
Yes I agree with this. Attending a monastery that uses Gregorian chant, and joining a schola myself, have helped me and now after 15 years I can read/pronounce it fluently (though understanding is somewhat less fluent, but it’s growing).

It helps too that my mother tongue is French, one of the Romance languages derived from Latin.
 
I know that if I tried memorizing an Our Father or a Hail Mary in Swahili (or Arabic or Thai or Mandarin), I would have a lot of trouble, because it would ultimately just be a string of sounds-- I don’t have the vocabulary to appreciate how a thought conveys in one language versus another.

So that might be something that will help you-- being able to catch on to “this phrase” equals “that thought”, and see how the words work together.

When we made the shift, for example, from “and also with you” to “and with your spirit”, it made perfect sense-- because I already knew the “et cum spiritu tuo” from attending some FSSP masses, and if there’s something the congregation is going to say out loud, it’s probably going to be “et cum spiritu tuo”. 😛 And, knowing the bits of Latin that I had, I knew et = and and cum=with and spiritu=spirit and tuo=your. So the shift was very easy and sensible. But for people who didn’t have Latin, and who didn’t have the experience with the Latin Mass, it was very random and arbitrary… because they didn’t have the grounding in either history or language that made it make sense.

So, if you’re not already at the point where you’re able to break down the parts where it goes, “Pater noster qui es in caelis” and know pater=father, noster=our, qui=who/whom/whose, es = you are/you exist, in = in, caelis = the skies/the heavens (plural indirect object), then it’s easier, because those sounds have meaning. Otherwise, it’s kind of like trying to memorize “Baba Yetu uliye mbinguni” or “Bapa kami yang di Surga”-- it’s much harder. 🙂
 
You do realize that God understands english and a prayer in an antiquated language doesn’t make it anymore sincere or acceptable to God.
 
1: learn to chant the prayer you’re trying to learn.
After you get the pronunciation down:
2: when you pray it, read it off of a “cheat sheet.”

3: write it out a bunch of times.

Some of these have been mentioned above already, but they really are the best ways to go about doing it.
 
It’s better to pray in Latin, because it’s the official language of the church and it promotes unity, and because it promotes unity, the devil hates it.
 
While Latin is beautiful, dont get hung up on it…God speaks and understands the lamguage of love, and not just Hebrrw, Aramaic, Greek, or Latin. Sometimes our infatuation with Latin in prayer ot liturgy is the Catholic equivelant to Protestant who claim the inly vslid scripture is the King James version.

Whatever the lamguage, or even if in silence, pray without ceasing.
 
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Why in heavens would you want to learn prayers in a language you probably don’t even understand ?? I’m reminded of my 5th grade experience memorizing the alter boy responses as a Mass server. I had no idea what I was saying. I just memorized all that Latin because the nun who taught it said that’s how it must be done.
 
The devil hates ecclesiastical Latin as its the language of the Church. It’s a tad different from normal Latin, too.
Compared to the vulgarities so often said in English…
Not to mention most older works are written in Latin, it was the language supposed to bring unity to the Church, etc. Of course you can pray in English, but why not Latin as well every now and again?
 
If you learn a whole new language, solely for prayer and God’s glory? Seems pretty sincere to me…

Also, there is a whole encyclical concerning the nature of Latin. It is a neutral, universal languae, suited for a universal church

 
For those asking why I want to do so, it is because I wish to learn. Simple as that. I have always wanted to learn Latin and this is my way of starting. I know it makes no difference to God which language I pray in. I believe it will help me focus on prayer since it is not my native tongue.

Also, why would anyone criticize someone for wanting to learn? Shame on anyone who shamed someone for learning.

Thanks to everyone for the advice.
 
Depending upon where you go to Mass there will be more or less or no Latin at all. My neighbouring parish has Kyrie (Greek of course) and then Gloria, Creed, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Pater Noster in Latin during most Sundays. Weekdays you never know if it is going to be spoken or sung or in which language until the priest starts. Sometimes it is a lovely mix and those not Catholic have a hard time knowing what is sung or said.

My parish has the Mass parts in Greek/Latin one Sunday per month and then sometimes during the weekdays. We always announce before Mass or have a board with the numbers on it so it is easier to follow along.

Latin is a good way to start if you are interested in learning other languages like French, Spanish and Italian.
 
Especially Italian - Italian is just Latin, kind of fermented and left to sit for a few millenia - they’re very similar.
 
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