Speaking Latin

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Do you speak/understand Latin?

Just curious how many people do.

Anyone know of any good Latin programs on tape or CD?
 
My understanding of Latin is limited to the handful of ancient prayers I have tried to learn out of curiosity and respect for a bygone era:

In nomine Patris, et filii, et spiritus sancti. Amen

I don’t know if I even spelled those correctly. It is the Pater Noster (sign of the cross.)

I know more Greek than Latin, and more French than Greek. I consider this a mild shame, because I so enjoy the sound of prayers in Latin.
 
“Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua”

Sorry, my Latin doesn’t go past The Mass, which I understand perfectly because I have been listening to it for 12 years now! Deo gratias!

But I always recognize it as soon as I hear it - my head shoots up like a bullet!

“O salutaris hostia, Quae coeli pandiss ostium: Bella premunt hostilia, Da robur, fer auxilium. Amen”
 
Mike C:
Yes, I can read, write and speak Latin!
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hey Mike,

Where/how did you learn? Catholic school? College? Self-study?

I don’t know any outside of a few basic phrases and I’m looking for a good program.
 
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FDS:
Do you speak/understand Latin?

Just curious how many people do.

Anyone know of any good Latin programs on tape or CD?
Click to expand...
I was born in the year 1970. so I did not grow up with latin, but I did learn it out of interest on my own by reading. One great way I did was by ordering the Father Lassance Roman Missal for use in the Tridentine Latin Mass. I believe you can get it in the Daughters of St. Paul stores(Paulines). Just some helpful advice. That’s how I got started.
Yes, I do know latin, and I am young!!! By the way, it is good to learn Latin Hymns such as “Tantum Ergo”, O’ Salutaris Hostia, and Panis Angelicus among many others. Also, Sanctus of the Mass, and the Agnus Dei(still supposed to be said in mass=in the Modern Post vatican II Mass of Novus Ordo actually= IN LATIN.
 
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FDS:
Do you speak/understand Latin?

Just curious how many people do.

Anyone know of any good Latin programs on tape or CD?
Click to expand...
Oddly enough, I am trying to learn some Latin myself.
I know it may sound funny, but I just picked up the “Latin For Dummies” book on amazon.com! It won’t get you as knowledgable as if you were to take a class, but it is a VERY good start, so don’t let the title keep you from getting it. There is actually a chapter that explains Latin in the Church.
If anyting, it can spark your interest in it more because of the way it is written…it is not just a plain and dry textbook. I got it to be sort of a “gateway” before I started into something more complicated like a class or college textbook.
 
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johnnyjoe:
Ix-nay on the Atin-lay…
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Ha Ha! Good one! :clapping:

I have a little book calle Beginning Latin that I am trying to work through, its kinda fun.
 
I’m a dinosaur who had two years of Latin in high school but I don’t remember a lot of it. However, I have also studied French and Italian and I was surprised at how of much of it I understood when I saw “The Passion of the Christ”.

I have also read that the study of Latin is coming back in high schools across the country.

Good luck with your studies.
 
I think it’s great that you want to learn Latin.For centuries, knowledge of Latin has been the mark of an educated, cultured person. There is a publishing company in the Chicago area which offers a lot of Latin-related books, including those for beginners.
They’re the ones who have Cat in the Hat in Latin (Cattus Petasus.) : Bolchazy-Carducci Publishing
1000 Brown St., Unit 101, Wauconda, Illinois 60084
Web site www.bolchazy.com
Contact them and ask for their catalogue.
Habeas bonam fortunam!
 
The best text book for Latin is Wheelock’s Latin. It is Classical though, and a college textbook (so it is kind of dry, and the humor in it is a little strange, also, the pronuciation is Oxford Classical-not the Church pronuciation or the German (i learned) or the French pronuciation either). But it is very complete and gets to the nitties of the language (important if you want to read psot Renaissance Latin, since they went back to the Classical, and it will get you one very good footing for Mediaeval Latin, for which there is no textbook that i am aware).

In Christ,
Adam
 
I read and understand Latin, but have not much opportunity to speak it.

I have used many resources over the years to recover my lost Latin. I recommend some of them in this post from [post=11336]I want to learn Latin[/post]

tee
 
I recognize many of the words and some of the prayers in Latin, having grown up in the pre-Vatican II church. And I can rattle off quite a few of the phrases I had to learn to be an altar boy. But I could never carry on a conversation in Latin, as I can in Spanish or a little in German.
I did not mourn its passage out of the Mass–the vernacular was the way to go to get people more into the Mass. But I thought the Church would have done better to have brought it in a little more gradually, so as not to offend the sensibilities of those who had only known Latin masses for many years.
 
My older son’s mother-in-law is a Winnie-the-Pooh freak; I just sent her a copy of Winnie Ille Pu (in Latin); found it on Amazon.com 😃 She’s baking me a choc-y cake next time we go down. 😃 😃 😃

DaveBj
 
I was studying Latin on my own until about two 1/2 years ago when I developed a passion for Eastern Christian spirituality.

I always thought I might take it up again after I was Chrismated, however I just haven’t got around to it yet. :o

But I will say that I picked up a lot of materials and “test drove” them (including “dummies” type books and audio tapes). I was particularly impressed with the Rosetta Stone, which was the absolute best format for me. I recommend it highly, it is the Classical Latin (which I would prefer anyway), but the teaching format would be best regardless of which Latin they were teaching.

I will get back to it this year I think. 😃 Try the Rosetta Stone!
 
I am probably the last living human who took 4 yrs of Latin in high school, it has been a huge help in my education and work, which has always involved writing in some way and academic research. But since I have no one to converse with, well, it goes, just like the French did. Now I am trying to learn Spanish since I live and serve the Church in SoTex. Latin definitely makes it easier to learn grammar & vocabulary, but pronunciation & sentence structure is different. I find myself using French words instead of the Spanish word, and pronouncing words in “Church” Latin instead of Mexican Spanish, but since everyone here speaks TexMex, I get along okay.

Most of my practical Latin involves chant, can you tell on CDs whether the monks are French or Spanish? Still remember the Mass prayers and responses, although I have not been to a Latin Mass in years. Still trying to learn to assist in Mass in 'Spanish.
 
I agree that Wheelock is a good resource; since the first texts appeared it has become a cottage industry with workbooks, tapes, and regular texts. Don’t listen to the critics who complain that he doesn’t teach “real” Latin. Latin differs so much from author to author, that it will be years before you have any idea what these lofty nay-sayers are talking about.

If you can get language-lab type tapes, that is excellent because Latin is complex and highly inflected, so that it is a good idea simply to absorb the patterns rather than trying to learn them by rote. Singing is great, too. Learn Latin chants and hymns along with the translations as another way of absorbing the patterns. Don’t throw yourself into a spasm of scholarship. Start with the Novus Ordo Mass (you already know the words!) – the Handbook of Prayers has it – look for it on the Internet. Then learn a couple of Psalms . . .

Latin is the most fun language of all! Gaudete!
 
I have just started to teach myself Latin. I’m starting with vocabulary and pronunciation and leaving all the grammar and declensions until later. When I was going into high school I was so excited to start Latin classes and all my enthusiasm was drained right out of me by all the memorization drills and the grammar rules, etc. right at the start of the class. It is a boring way to learn a language.

Right now, I know the rosary prayers in Latin and I pray them with the Pope and with Vatican radio. I also just got a book and tape called Let’s Read Latin: Introduction to the Language of the Church. So far, I’ve only flipped through it, but it looks terrific. He starts you off with the most common prayers and then gradually works his way towards more difficult texts – meshing vocabulary and the rules of grammar as you go – so that by the time you finish the book you should be able to read some passages from the Vulgate.

I’m also very interested in the Rosetta Stone system and glad to see someone here mentioned it. As soon as I finish this book I’m saving my money to buy the Rosetta Stone.
 
“O salutaris hostia, Quae coeli pandis ostium: Bella premunt hostilia, Da robur, fer auxilium”

I love that song! Would that the choir would surprise us one day!
Also the Tantum Ergo.
 
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