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What can I do about Latin ?

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neurosport
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 Message 1 of 17
30 January 2010 at 10:34am | IP Logged 
I enjoy using Rosetta Stone because of the fun factor but i was only able to get Version 2 Level 1 for Latin. I am finishing up that right as we speak, and i am not sure what to do next.

With live languages it seems easier, for example with German i listen to a lot of German music for which i can find translated lyrics online. I also joined a German political forum ( Politopia.de ). They let me post in English there meanwhile i read their posts in German and can use Google Translate to help me.

None of these methods are available to me in Latin !

What can i do ?
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datsunking1
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 Message 2 of 17
30 January 2010 at 1:54pm | IP Logged 
neurosport wrote:
I enjoy using Rosetta Stone because of the fun factor but i was only able to get Version 2 Level 1 for Latin. I am finishing up that right as we speak, and i am not sure what to do next.

With live languages it seems easier, for example with German i listen to a lot of German music for which i can find translated lyrics online. I also joined a German political forum ( Politopia.de ). They let me post in English there meanwhile i read their posts in German and can use Google Translate to help me.

None of these methods are available to me in Latin !

What can i do ?


Try a "Teach Yourself" course. I've seen them in bookstores for Latin and they are pretty thick. (300 pages) I'm not sure if there are many materials out there, but I would check your local bookstore and amazon.com. Most book stores always have a latin section. I found Green Eggs and Ham in Latin in Barnes and Noble once :D

Best of luck!
Jordan
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BartoG
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 Message 3 of 17
30 January 2010 at 7:26pm | IP Logged 
A great place to start is the Benediktbeuern book, a collection of medieval poems mostly in Latin. Running the gamut from love poems to drinking songs, they're in a clearer Latin than the Golden Age stuff. Orff set about two dozen of these poems to music as the Carmina Burana. There are at least a half dozen recordings, and in many of them the liner notes include the Latin text and English translation.

A number of composers have done Latin Requiems, most famously Mozart (but be aware that Brahms is in German, per the title). And about fifteen years ago, the world went nuts with Gregorian chant for a spell; some of those CDs are still out there.

While Gregorian chant can be a bit tedious, the polyphonic masses of Palestrina are gorgeous. And there are a number of motets that use the Canticum Canticorum (Solmon's Song of Songs) as the text and which have a lushness about them that made the church elders a bit nervous (again, the place to start is Palestrina).

Most of the music in Latin that I'm familiar with is religious in nature, excepting the Carmina Burana. That said, there are tens if not hundreds of hours of it, so it's a place to start.

And here's a Latin forum:
http://latinforum.org/viewforum.php?f=19
(the main page link seems not to work)

As for texts, I would check out the Lingva Latina series. You should be able to breeze through them but they will help you solidify your Latin vocabulary and structures without an intermediary language (the books are entirely in Latin).

Best of luck
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Johntm
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 Message 4 of 17
30 January 2010 at 9:26pm | IP Logged 
There are plenty of Latin resources out there, just use Google.
Good luck, I personally hate Latin. Public school ruined it for me.
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canada38
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 Message 5 of 17
31 January 2010 at 12:39am | IP Logged 
Try Wheelock's Latin by Frederic M. Wheelock. I used the 6th edition, revised by
Richard A. LaFleur, but I bet you could find a 5th edition for really cheap!

I think this is a great introductory text to Latin. Although I used it in a classroom
setting, I think it would still be great outside of class for self study. This
especially holds true if you are already familiar with the language. I think Amazon sells
it, but if not, check-out a local university book store and just buy it there. The back
of mine has the suggested prices USD 21.95 and CAD 25.95, which is an extremely good deal
for all the content you get (500 pages: about 300 is 40 lessons, 100 additional readings
of varying difficulty, and another 100 or so of conjugations, declensions and Latin-to-
English, English-to-Latin mini dictionary.)

Edited by canada38 on 31 January 2010 at 12:40am

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Johntm
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 Message 6 of 17
31 January 2010 at 1:10am | IP Logged 
canada38 wrote:
Try Wheelock's Latin by Frederic M. Wheelock. I used the 6th edition, revised by
Richard A. LaFleur, but I bet you could find a 5th edition for really cheap!

I think this is a great introductory text to Latin. Although I used it in a classroom
setting, I think it would still be great outside of class for self study. This
especially holds true if you are already familiar with the language. I think Amazon sells
it, but if not, check-out a local university book store and just buy it there. The back
of mine has the suggested prices USD 21.95 and CAD 25.95, which is an extremely good deal
for all the content you get (500 pages: about 300 is 40 lessons, 100 additional readings
of varying difficulty, and another 100 or so of conjugations, declensions and Latin-to-
English, English-to-Latin mini dictionary.)

In my Latin class we used some things from the Wheelock book, I didn't like it much, but I don't like the textbook approach to language learning.
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neurosport
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 Message 7 of 17
31 January 2010 at 2:16am | IP Logged 
Thanks for all the replies so far. Some good information.

I guess I botched my question.

Is there something like Pimsleur for Latin?

One time I tried studying Spanish using a book and never got past about 5 pages.

I guess pronunciation is irrelevant in Latin, yet I know my brain is simply not going to believe that the words I am studying are real unless it hears them. I just don't think it is possible (for me) to learn a language using a book.

As for music, I would need to have translated lyrics. All the online dictionaries are abysmal, I cannot find 9 out of 10 words in them.

Is there a good Latin dictionary that i can pick up? One that would be markedly better than wiktionary, which is what I am using now.

Edited by neurosport on 31 January 2010 at 2:17am

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IronFist
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 Message 8 of 17
31 January 2010 at 2:34am | IP Logged 
datsunking1 wrote:

Try a "Teach Yourself" course. I've seen them in bookstores for Latin and they are pretty thick. (300 pages) I'm not sure if there are many materials out there, but I would check your local bookstore and amazon.com. Most book stores always have a latin section. I found Green Eggs and Ham in Latin in Barnes and Noble once :D

Best of luck!
Jordan


For what it's worth, the "Teach Yourself" course for Korean was pretty bad.

I have no idea how they are for other languages, however. They might be brilliant. Most Korean courses tend to be pretty awful.

Check out amazon.com reviews, I guess.


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