Tips on studying/re-teaching yourself Latin?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lead_Me_Home
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Lead_Me_Home

Guest
I asked this question on the Back Fence but, I recall that many people on this forum study Latin and attend/pray the Latin Mass.

I studied latin this year and did not learn as much as I would have liked. I am nearly fluent in spanish, so the class was very easy for me but I did not get much out of it. The class was for classical latin so there was not much mention of the latin mass, or Roman Catholic subjects or resources to keep me motivated. Over the summer I want to “re-teach” myself the course. My goal is to be able to to get to chapter 30 by august or at-least 25 by september. BTW I use Wheelock. I also want to be able to start reading and roughly understanding the Vulgate BIble. Any suggestions?👍
 
I’ve heard the Scanlon books (available from TAN) are most useful for Liturgical Latin. They are specifically designed for help with the Breviary, Missal, and Canon Law.
 
This thread: [thread=173658]Latin resources[/thread]

As well as others discoverable by a tag search for learn latin.

:tiphat:
tee
 
…BTW I use Wheelock. I also want to be able to start reading and roughly understanding the Vulgate BIble. Any suggestions?

…yes…skip Wheelock for now, and purchase A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin, by John F Collins, published by CUA Press, along with the companion answer key to the text’s exercises following each chapter. It is not easy, but teaching yourself Latin, as I am doing, is not meant to be…also, go to the William Whitaker Latin lexicon website, it is invaluable for enriching your word stock as you so the Collins exercises…wfhat I’ve done, which provides me a quick reference, is make spreadsheets of the nominal and verbal systems, so that confusing issues, such as -e or -i in certain tenses can be resolved quickly as you work through the self testing…and finally, good luck, you’ll need it, but it is truly rewarding…
 
Lead_Me_Home said:
I asked this question on the Back Fence but, I recall that many people on this forum study Latin and attend/pray the Latin Mass.

Over the summer I want to “re-teach” myself the course. My goal is to be able to to get to chapter 30 by august or at-least 25 by september. BTW I use Wheelock. I also want to be able to start reading and roughly understanding the Vulgate BIble. Any suggestions?👍
Click to expand...
I think I’m going to be the lone voice of “dissent” on this thread: I do not advocate going out and buying Collins simply because your aim is to read and understand the Vulgate.

Regardless of whether you aim to read classical Latin or the Vulgate, basic Latin grammar is basic Latin grammar: until you reach the late Middle Ages there is very little difference in the principles of grammar you must learn.

(Syntax will be a little different, but I think most students of the language can take the differences in stride. Further evidence of this, the quite solid Henle Latin series aims at having the student read first Caesar, then Cicero, then Virgil, but also gives the student some fairly hefty chunks of the Mass and Vulgate, as the grammar and even vocabulary taught applies to Church Latin as well.)

Consequently, the main difference between Latin texts is the order in which they introduce grammatical concepts and the texts they aim the students toward often determine the vocabulary. If I remember correctly, Collins aims for Augustine and Aquinas, and presupposes quite a bit of grammatical knowledge (even more than Wheelock.) My personal opinion is that Collins requires more work than is really necessary to gain basic grammar and is sometimes a bit of an obstacle to self-directed study, when the student has not worked through basic Latin grammar first. Others, I’m sure, will disagree.

If I were to undertake what you are undertaking (and I have in the past) I would stick with Wheelock. Given that your interest is in ecclesiastical Latin, I would skip the chapter exercises (except the readings: those I would do) and instead complete the Optional Self-Tutorial exercises (drills, really) for each chapter. You will find that the grammar you will learn this way applies to the Order of the Mass and the Vulgate as well; however, you will need a lexicon because Wheelock’s will not give you all the vocabulary you will want.

To supplement, I would get ahold of a copy of the Order of the Mass in Latin (can find for free online) and start by translating the Ordinary (with the exception of the Kyrie, obviously :D) after I had reached the chapter on the third conjugation. I would also get a copy of the Vulgate (it too, I think, is online) and a decent lexicon and start with the new Testament…

Good luck!
 
What do you think of this site?

geocities.com/brochazfsc/

I think having the mass, and having a Vulgate/Douay handy would be some material that would be memorable to work with. There are free etexts of all these online.

I like to work with Latin/English prayers.

I’m not sure what books would be good starters though, as Google Books and Archive.org get more prolific there becoming more available Latin and English versions of various ecclesiastical works to use.
 
.

If I were to undertake what you are undertaking (and I have in the past) I would stick with Wheelock.

…I had urged the OP to forget Wheelock, for now, and get a feel for ecclesiastical latin verbiage and its flow and sound…he/she will get none of that from Wheelock…and as you indicated, I for one have a disagreement with you on the value of Collins, as I am finding it excellent for the very purpose the OP posited…I might agree that Collins is somewhat tougher for someone without prior exposure (like myself), but for all of that, it addresses my wants more directly…I would agree with you that Wheelock’s self tutorials are good for grammatical and syntactical issues, and can be a good source for further study…
 
I just signed up for Latin 101 at the local community college and I’m wondering just what kind of differences I can expect, and if this class will make learning ecclesiastical Latin easier.

I know this is a broad question, so maybe someone can give an example?

Thanks.
 
damooster said:
I just signed up for Latin 101 at the local community college and I’m wondering just what kind of differences I can expect, and if this class will make learning ecclesiastical Latin easier.

I know this is a broad question, so maybe someone can give an example?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
In addition to the pedagogical differences noted by [user]peregrinator_it[/user] above, my opinion:

It should not hurt your learning and enjoyment of ecclesiastical Latin. The primary difference you will notice is likely to be pronunciation, eg:

  • *]V in classical Latin is a soft sound, like English W; in ecclesiastical Latin it has the same fricative consonantal sound familiar in English.
    *]C and G in classical Latin are always hard, like English hard-C (K) and hard-G; in ecclesiastical Latin they soften before E, I, and some diphthongs (AE, OE). *C *becomes like English CH in church; *G *like English J.

    It is kind of like speaking English, yet being able to understand and/or affect any and all of: a New England twang, a Brooklyn accent, a southern drawl, an Australian accent, et cetera.

    Other differences that may be less apparent:

    *]Differences in common vocabulary – Only to be expected (the Church uses specialize vocabulary in English too).
    *]Classical Latin has what seems to be a freer word-order, but is usually chosen for metrical or poetic reasons; Ecclesiastical Latin, while not always, is often in the more familiar to English speakers *subject-verb-object *order and tends to rely a bit more on prepositions (which are often “understood” in classical)

    I compare the difference between classical and ecclesiastical Latin as similar to that between the English of a Shakespeare play and that commonly spoken (anywhere) today. The man in the Elizabethan street *may *have spoken in iambic pentameter and rhymed couplets, but I doubt it. 😉

    tee
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top