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How did people learn Latin in Europe? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| artemidora Super Polyglot Newbie Spain Joined 4997 days ago 27 posts - 39 votes Speaks: Spanish*, French, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Norwegian, Latin, Ancient Greek, Catalan, Hindi, Russian, Swedish, Danish Studies: Greek, Japanese, Welsh, Serbo-Croatian, Swahili, Persian, Ancient Egyptian, Romansh, Tatar, Sanskrit, Lithuanian, Kazakh, Basque, Hawaiian, Arabic (classical), Finnish, Czech, Turkish, Indonesian | Message 33 of 36 31 March 2011 at 2:40am | IP Logged | ||
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People used to pray a lot in Latin. They knew many prayers by heart.
Children started their Latin studying by repetition a long poem that contained all the rules of morfology. They were baptised, married and buried in latin. They sung their canonical hours in Latin. I guess much of the studying work was made orally, and then the use of personal slates to write and wipe and write again.Not that much reading was involved yet. When years later they were indeed able to read some Latin, they had to receive some kind of canonical order, otherwise they were not allowed to read the Bible. And so they had access to manuscripts and did write their own manuscripts. So, by the time the cathedral schools and universities started, they had to change and open their mentality and let laymen manuscript writers set up shop. But still to go to the cathedral university meant that you had to get a higher degree in some order so you were allowed to read Latin Philosophy by your own. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6273 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 34 of 36 17 June 2011 at 8:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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How accurate a portrayal of 14th century reality I do not know, but the Pardoner in
The Canterbury Tales makes a little use of Latin to flavour his speech, especially radix malorum est cupiditas - "Greed is the root of all evils". He is a minor church official. It is doubtful whether he is actually fluent in Latin, although his handling of English to manipulate people who listen to his sermons is quite brilliant. The odd bit of Latin is probably designed to make him seem more educated than he is, and to overawe his listeners. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4829 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 35 of 36 19 September 2011 at 2:16am | IP Logged | ||
I had been going to make a similar point. Before the Reformation, most of Europe was Catholic, and attendance at Mass was compulsory. As well as listening to the priest reciting the liturgy (and hearing the choir sing it at high mass), the altar servers would have had to learn the responses by heart (just as I did as a young altar server). I imagine that monks and priests would have been recruited from the ranks of the altar servers, or would at least have been servers at some point, and known the words of the mass and many hymns and psalms by heart, even if not knowing fully what they meant, which would have been a start. Edited by montmorency on 19 September 2011 at 2:37am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sipes23 Diglot Senior Member United States pluteopleno.com/wprs Joined 4871 days ago 134 posts - 235 votes Speaks: English*, Latin Studies: Spanish, Ancient Greek, Persian | Message 36 of 36 30 September 2011 at 9:55pm | IP Logged | ||
My understanding of Latin pedagogy in earlier centuries is this: grammar school was for learning Latin. Alfred's Colloquies are very interesting, and they provide a unique window into medieval schooling. Comenius published Orbis Pictus in 1658, and it was pretty revolutionary for the time. If I remember correctly, it was aimed at younger students. 8859-1&source=gbs_gdata#v=onepage&q&f=false">See a sample here. Older students continued their studies in Latin. As in, class was held in Latin. Something tells me the motivation worked a bit differently back in the day. Iversen's quote is fairly typical of late 19th Century Latin teacher laments. I've not seen that quote before, but there are more in that vein. I'd tell you how teaching of Latin has improved vastly, but all too many in the profession (myself most guilty at times--but I do try to make the spoken language available for students too) treat it like an intellectual puzzle for students. Even if we experience Latin in a wholly different and visceral way. Iversen, I'm glad you didn't have to endure floggings for your Latin. It is a natural language and benefits from such an approach. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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