How many people speak Latin? (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

How many people speak Latin?
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26 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4 Next >>

Johntm
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Message 17 of 26

13 March 2010 at 4:22am | IP Logged

I would love to learn how to speak Latin if I knew some people that spoke it. That would be the ultimate secret language, you could talk about most anything and the average person would have no clue what you're talking about.
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Iversen
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Message 18 of 26

13 March 2010 at 6:43pm | IP Logged

Don't count on using Latin as a secret language - it has left too many loanwords in English to be a safe choice.
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Johntm
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Message 19 of 26

14 March 2010 at 5:30am | IP Logged

Iversen wrote:

Don't count on using Latin as a secret language - it has left too many loanwords in English to be a safe choice.

I wasn't counting on it, besides for having to find someone else who will bother to learn to speak it, we'd have to create many words for modern things. How would you say "I need to check my email" in Latin?
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mattvdm
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Message 20 of 26

14 March 2010 at 7:26pm | IP Logged

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqOFnYgyRr8

A great insight into the motivations behind teaching and learning Latin immersively.
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Iversen
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Message 21 of 26

15 March 2010 at 1:48am | IP Logged

The half-way official version might be something like...

Opus est capsam litterarum electronicarum mearum exquirere.

Or an alternative, which I have proposed without really expecting it to be adopted:
Opus est capsam e-pistularum mearum exquirere

Or even shorter:
Opus est e-pistulas meas exquirere

or even
Opus mihi est e-pistulas exquirere

vocabularium:
opus est: it is necessary (the task at hand is..)
capsa: box
exquirere: choose or check out
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Johntm
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Message 22 of 26

15 March 2010 at 4:57am | IP Logged

Iversen wrote:

Yeah, but you and the other speaker would have to agree on words. But if it was someone you'd be talking to a lot and you'd need (or want) a lot of privacy with them, it could be a worthy investment of your time.
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Iversen
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Message 23 of 26

15 March 2010 at 12:50pm | IP Logged

It is not really a question of agreement: somebody uses a new word on the internet. If it fills a void and seems a logical choice then others may notice it and start using it too. The number of modern Latin sources is so small that most of the that want to learn to speak/write it either consciously decide not to speak of modern phenomena, or they will have to use more or less the same sources. However I'm fairly sure that nobody will continue to use "litterae electronicae" forever if they are serious about learning Latin as an active living modern language. There will be some more concise expression, and I seriously hope that it won't be "e-mail".
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Iversen
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Message 24 of 26

19 August 2011 at 4:59pm | IP Logged

web.comhem.se/alatius/latin is still the best place to get an overview.

A one-man Latin project can be heard here: latinum.mypodcast.com. The same man who made this homepage has also put some things on Youtube, including a 43 minutes long reading of a text by Celsus (text shown).

Another one-man project by 'Scorpio Martianus' here, or listen to his news broadcasts at Youtube

While you are at Youtube you should also try to listen to some people who speak Latin freely (i.e. not just reading a text]. My personal favorite is a certain Aloisius Miraglia, and in this you can hear a conversation between Terence ('Terentius') Tunberg and Milena Minkowa, with links to other contributions from Kentucky..

And finally you can get the news in Latin from Yle Radio (Finnish)

Edited by Iversen on 19 August 2011 at 5:09pm

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