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Great Courses Latin Course | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| psy88 Senior Member United States Joined 5595 days ago 469 posts - 882 votes  Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French | Message 1 of 9 09 October 2014 at 3:19pm | IP Logged |
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I am interested in studying Latin. My last exposure to it was several decades ago when I had two years of high school Latin. I enjoyed it a lot. Now The Great Courses company is offering a Latin 101 course. Can anyone tell me if it is worthwhile? Has anyone used it? I thank you in advance for whatever help you can provide.
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| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 4056 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes Studies: German | Message 2 of 9 09 October 2014 at 6:08pm | IP Logged |
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Hello psy88,
While I have not listened to the Great Courses lectures Latin 101, I have had the pleasure of listening to other series on music, mathematics, and the sciences. My experiences lead me to believe that you will find the Latin 101 to be an interesting and entertaining overview of the language. However, while I could be wrong, I suspect that there will be no exercises, drills, or other practice material. Hence, the experience might prove to be pleasurable, but not particularly helpful if your goal is to actually use the language even at the most basic level. I have "played around with" Latin over the years. While I had no intention to master the language, I was surprised at how much "bad" material -- bad as in full of errors -- that is available in the marketplace, as compared to what is available for the living languages. So then, caveat emptor! Personally, if I were considering learning Latin, I would view the Great Courses Latin 101 lectures as an "amuse-gueule" and look elsewhere for the "plat principal". Here are a few suggestions: Beginner's Latin Tutorial (online) from the U.K. National Archives. Getting Started on Classical Latin from the Open University. Latin Online from the University of Texas. The Cambridge Latin Course which is highly regarded and for which supplementary textbooks are available. To work simultaneously on your Latin and your French, you could supplement your studies with the Assimil Latin course. While I am quite fond the Assimil method, I would use their method for Latin only after having tried some more conventional method. I would also have a Latin grammar and dictionnary close at hand. Bonus fortuna! (or something to that effect) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dmaddock1 Senior Member United States Joined 5437 days ago 174 posts - 426 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Esperanto, Latin, Ancient Greek | Message 3 of 9 09 October 2014 at 6:11pm | IP Logged |
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I have not used it, but I did look into it somewhat when I heard about its release. I've listened to a lot of Great Courses so I'm inclined to think it is at least decent with a good professor and production value. Judging from the course layout and the reviews on their website from folks who have used it, it appears to be a fairly typical grammar-translation style like you might get in most undergraduate Latin courses that use the Wheelock textbook. I saw a PDF of the guidebook which has readings and exercises for each lesson, reference tables, etc. but not as good as a full textbook would be.
Unlike other Great Courses that you can just listen to passively, you would really have to work at this one to absorb the material. Not sure there's much benefit over just buying Wheelock and doing that, unless you really like the lecture format. The audio/video is almost entirely grammar explanation in English, not Latin so you'd probably be exposed to more actual Latin with a full textbook with supplemental CDs. All that said, I'll probably buy this sooner or later because I'm a language course hoarder, but its target audience is probably monolingual English speakers with an interest in classics. Experienced language learners have better options, like Lingua Latina per se illustrata, JACT's Reading Latin, or Assimil. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5324 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 4 of 9 09 October 2014 at 7:29pm | IP Logged |
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I'd definitely recommend Hans Ørberg’s Lingua Latina per se Illustrata, Pars I: Familia Romana, which teaches Latin using the direct method. (The whole book is in Latin!)
Here's a link to the first 2 pages that demonstrates the method. It's also available as a software package for Windows and OSX. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5569 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 5 of 9 09 October 2014 at 7:32pm | IP Logged |
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I own the course, although I haven't used it.
The manual is 450 pages, it teaches 500 words (so comparable to Henle's First Year Latin) and as dmaddock1 said - it is in the grammar translation mode with lots of translation exercises. The lecturer is very competent at what he does, and if you like to hear a person teach a course, then it is a great help. One benefit is that the professor uses Restored Classical Pronunciation, so if that is what you want the lectures help set that down. It is certainly more substantial a course than an amuse-gueule - more substantial than, say, the much lauded Teach Yourself Beginners Latin. In fact, as said above, I would put it on a par with Henle 1, with a classical rather than a Jesuit content. I personally think that courses like LLPSI or Assimil are better tackled after a basic overview of Latin grammar has already been acquired. LLPSI has a massive ramp from around lesson 8 that can be frustrating to infer from the context and the Dessard version on Assimil's Latin introduces some oddly complex things right from the start. That is my own view - but learning Latin is one of those deeply partisan things that evokes the passions... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dmaddock1 Senior Member United States Joined 5437 days ago 174 posts - 426 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Esperanto, Latin, Ancient Greek | Message 6 of 9 09 October 2014 at 8:46pm | IP Logged |
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I just watched the first two lectures over my lunch break. The lecture delivery is quite good. Prof. Mueller is engaging and humorous. I partially retract what I said about passive listening. I think this would be fun to listen to as a review and I think I will do just that. I think this course would work well as Elexi suggests--a basic overview as preparation for another course.
My main criticism is that he has a heavy American accent to his Latin. Most notably, he can't roll his R's properly (and he explains this himself in lecture 1). But to be fair, that's pretty common. The audio for Teach Yourself Beginner's Latin, Orberg's LLPSI, and Assimil "Lingua Latina sine molesta" (as re-recorded by Assimil Italy) are all in restored classical pronunciation and are better models for pronunciation IMO. Also I should point out that Mueller introduces some oddly complex things early too. For instance, he introduces the subjunctive in lecture 3 and 3rd conjugation verbs, the anomalous one, are introduced before the other conjugations. More strangely, 3rd declension nouns are before 1st & 2nd declension. On sale this course is $99. For $87 total on Amazon US you can buy the Wheelock textbook and the workbook, and Lingua Latina Book 1 with audio, and Teach Yourself Beginner's Latin with audio. More bang for your buck ... unless you like lectures. (I do.) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5569 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 7 of 9 09 October 2014 at 9:12pm | IP Logged |
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Wheelock aside (which I have never used), you just set out what I would consider my
recommended progression for self teaching Latin - Teach Yourself Beginners Latin - LLPSI and Assimil - and then probably Adler's mammoth course with Evan der Millner's audio to keep one sharp. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dmaddock1 Senior Member United States Joined 5437 days ago 174 posts - 426 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Esperanto, Latin, Ancient Greek | Message 8 of 9 09 October 2014 at 9:30pm | IP Logged |
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An irrelevant aside: both Prof. Mueller and Evan der Millner use the moniker "Molendinarius"--the Latin version of their last names. :-)
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