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Beginning Latin

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furyou_gaijin
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 6378 days ago

540 posts - 631 votes 
Speaks: Latin*

 
 Message 25 of 103
19 July 2007 at 9:38am | IP Logged 
Volte wrote:
I never said it sounded unrealistic. I've heard of a couple of other people claiming similar things, but I've never heard many details about how they'd go about it, so, naturally enough, I was curious. The restrictions you mention seem quite sensible.


I will make sure to post a detailed guide to the method I will have used and some sort of assessment of the results... Watch this space!


Volte wrote:
You could just leave out the 'tries to forget' ones, I suppose.


Which is exactly what I did. :-)
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Volte
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Switzerland
Joined 6431 days ago

4474 posts - 6726 votes 
Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian
Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 26 of 103
19 July 2007 at 9:58am | IP Logged 
furyou_gaijin wrote:
Volte wrote:
I never said it sounded unrealistic. I've heard of a couple of other people claiming similar things, but I've never heard many details about how they'd go about it, so, naturally enough, I was curious. The restrictions you mention seem quite sensible.


I will make sure to post a detailed guide to the method I will have used and some sort of assessment of the results... Watch this space!


Will do.

furyou_gaijin wrote:

Volte wrote:
You could just leave out the 'tries to forget' ones, I suppose.


Which is exactly what I did. :-)


All except Latin?

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furyou_gaijin
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 6378 days ago

540 posts - 631 votes 
Speaks: Latin*

 
 Message 27 of 103
19 July 2007 at 10:57am | IP Logged 
Volte wrote:
All except Latin?


...for truly is written: 'he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow'...
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JasonChoi
Diglot
Senior Member
Korea, South
Joined 6351 days ago

274 posts - 298 votes 
Speaks: English*, Korean
Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Latin

 
 Message 28 of 103
19 July 2007 at 10:58am | IP Logged 
LilleOSC wrote:
JasonChoi, so what do you think are the best courses your using right now?


I've been a bit busy lately, but the ones I like are Lingva Latina: Familia Romana for it's simplicity in understanding Latin (as the text is 100% in Latin). I happen to be somewhat of 'code-cracker', which means this particular method of learning grammar is quite fun for me. For example, here's some of the text from Lingva Latina: Familia Romana:

Quote:
Roma in Italia est. Italia in Europa est. Graecia in Europa est. Italia et Graecia in Europa sunt. Hispania in Europa est. Hispania et Italia et Graecia in Europa sunt. Aegyptus in Europa non est. Aegyptus in Africa est. Italia non in Africa est, Italia in Europa est.


For those of us who speak English and know enough European geography, the above text is comprehensible. Additionally, the context reveals the difference between "sunt" and "est". Basically, this type of text reveals the language itself! I think this is pure genius! It's almost important for me to stress the fact that the audio CD is VERY useful. However, the recording could have been better. It's too muffled, so I used Goldwave to edit the bass, so as to make it more reasonable to listen to. I frequenty listen to the tracks, so as to be accustomed to the pronunciation.

Similarly, bilingual texts (including the religious ones) allow the reader to pick up on subtle grammatical features as well as vocabulary. This is where John Traupman's book/cd looks to be very good (I haven't gone through it but I've listened to some of the audio). It has precisely what I want to focus on (i.e. bilingual texts, with audio).

Taking advantage of such bilingual texts gives me an understanding of the language very quickly, though I may not necessarily understand all the details.

By the way, I stumbled across a translation of the first chapter of Lord of the Rings in Latin and it looks like someone took the time to translate the transcript of Gladiator (the movie) in Latin.

By simply comparing it with the English transcript, I am learning vocabulary very quickly and recognizing grammar patterns that I've seen in other sources.

In short, Lingva Latina is the easiest for naturally understanding the grammar. Everything else I use is pretty much bilingual texts (with or without audio) which allows me to accomplish more-or-less the same thing.

However, the most important resource I should take advantage of is Fr. Reginald Foster's summer Latin Immersion program in Rome, which I'm told was free for the past years, though I wonder if things have changed since he was fired for admitting students tuition-free.

Edited by JasonChoi on 16 August 2007 at 11:31am

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JasonChoi
Diglot
Senior Member
Korea, South
Joined 6351 days ago

274 posts - 298 votes 
Speaks: English*, Korean
Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Latin

 
 Message 29 of 103
19 July 2007 at 11:05am | IP Logged 
furyou_gaijin wrote:
I can't see how it is possible to entirely avoid the classics if one wants to claim proficiency in Latin but starting off by reading later authors would probably be the most appropriate in your situation,


Actually, I'm convinced that I will eventually read some Classical literature. The more I learn about Latin, the more I'm somehow stepping into Roman culture. I don't fully understand how, nor can I explain it, but I'm developing a slight interest in the classics, without trying to. I think it's because I want to understand the culture in which Latin was prominent. By learning Latin, I just can't avoid the culture that influenced it ;)

Quote:
working your way back to the older texts as and when you are sufficiently comfortable with the language structure and have acquired a decent vocabulary.


You're reading my mind =)

Quote:
I wouldn't bother with any formal textbooks either, maybe just a good summary of the grammar, but that's just my personal attitude...


I agree! That's precisely what I'm doing!
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JasonChoi
Diglot
Senior Member
Korea, South
Joined 6351 days ago

274 posts - 298 votes 
Speaks: English*, Korean
Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Latin

 
 Message 30 of 103
19 July 2007 at 11:47am | IP Logged 
furyou_gaijin wrote:
Back to Latin... Church-Latin and any other kind of late Latin are actually no-brainers: the syntax, the word-usage and - most importantly - the Way of Thinking are close to those of modern languages.


I forgot to mention: One of the reasons why I'm learning this is because, once I gain a certain level of proficiency on my own, I'll be thoroughly convinced that I can learn a language on my own.

This is something that seemed impossible to me several months ago, but I believe it is possible. Also, seeing how virtually nobody speaks Latin, I'm literally forced to do it on my own ;)
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LilleOSC
Senior Member
United States
lille.theoffside.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6683 days ago

545 posts - 546 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: English*
Studies: French, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 31 of 103
20 July 2007 at 1:18pm | IP Logged 
JasonChoi, what do you think of Assimil's Latin Course? Do you think its a waste of time if you aren't fluent in French (supposely that course is only in French)?
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JasonChoi
Diglot
Senior Member
Korea, South
Joined 6351 days ago

274 posts - 298 votes 
Speaks: English*, Korean
Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Latin

 
 Message 32 of 103
20 July 2007 at 1:23pm | IP Logged 
LilleOSC wrote:
JasonChoi, what do you think of Assimil's Latin Course? Do you think its a waste of time if you aren't fluent in French (supposely that course is only in French)?


To be honest, I can't give any assessment because I haven't listened to it except once. The French accent turned me off (I don't want to develop a French pronunciation). I might consider listening to it at a later time, but right now I'm not interested at all.

I assume that it might be a waste of time, but perhaps it isn't. I'm just not interested in it, though I'll give it a listen again and I'll get back to you.

-Jason


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