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How did you learn Latin?

 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
12 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
vexx
Groupie
Australia
Joined 4977 days ago

81 posts - 82 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Latin

 
 Message 1 of 12
21 August 2010 at 4:13pm | IP Logged 
Hi,

I have decided on how i'm going to be learning latin and the approximate time frame, and all that. But i'm curious
as to what everyone else did to learn Latin. This will quite helpful not only for me to perhaps change my plan, but
for others who find this forum or are curious like me:

- Did you learn to Read, Speak or Write?
- What programs did you use and what order where they in?
- How effective where they? And would you recomend any?
- How long did it take to do? How many hours per day was spent?
- What level have you achieved by doing the above?

Much appreciated,

Vexx.
1 person has voted this message useful





Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6462 days ago

9078 posts - 16473 votes 
Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan
Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 2 of 12
22 August 2010 at 9:49pm | IP Logged 
I first learnt Latin in the late 60s with the good ol' grammar-translation method in its purest form, i.e. translation both ways + grammar with no intention of teaching people to speak or write the language. As soon as I stopped dealing with Latin my purely passive skills crumbled, and soon I could hardly read simple inscriptions. At that point I wasn't too impresed with my Latin courses. It wasn't until I decided to relearn it that I found out that the old courses in fact had given me a very solid, although completely hidden foundation.

I took the decision when I accidentally found my very first Latin text book at the local library: "Mikkelsens lærebog" (in Danish). I got through it in a few weeks because all the old inflections came back to me almost in a flash, and after some initial fumbling I could even read the text examples. I gave the book back to the library after one month and procedeed to other materials, partly genuine texts, and this included a search for suitable dictionaries which also referred to modern ideas and objects. Right now I can write in Latin and also think in the language (although not at a very high level), and I regularly read sources on the internet - including Neolatin sources which are not as difficult to find as you might think.


Edited by Iversen on 22 August 2010 at 9:50pm

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tracker465
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5111 days ago

355 posts - 496 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch

 
 Message 3 of 12
22 August 2010 at 11:00pm | IP Logged 
Latin was the first foreing language that I ever learned. I took a class at my high school for three years. Five days a week, for one hour a day, I had Latin class. In addition to this time, the teacher also gave us lots of vocabulary words and assignments to do.

Since Latin is studied more so for reading, we did not worry about speaking the language. The students learned pronounce the words correctly and we would read our answers to the class (or the teacher would read the sentences), but this was the extent of our speaking and listening. Also, the books we used were pretty old, as they were the same ones that my mother used when she studied Latin, at the same high school (with the same teacher), so many years ago.

We did learn the grammar though, and as many Latin students, we had to read and translate so many of the great works, such as Caesar's Gallic Wars and the Aneid. At the time I felt that I was not very good at Latin or the grammar, but now since I have been away from it for about ten years, I really wish I had kept up with it. I realize that I knew a lot more than I thought ;)
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Dragonsheep
Groupie
United States
Joined 5029 days ago

46 posts - 63 votes 
Studies: Tagalog, English*
Studies: Japanese, Latin

 
 Message 4 of 12
23 August 2010 at 2:28am | IP Logged 
Latin is one of the harder languages to learn due to the lack of materials (although materials wise its easier, than, say, Tagalog.)

For this reason I opted to take it in highschool over Chinese. My first class starts in less than a week. We're using the Cambridge Latin Course for the first year.
1 person has voted this message useful



Lakkhamu
Diglot
Groupie
Turkey
Joined 5003 days ago

63 posts - 65 votes 
Speaks: English, Turkish*
Studies: Latin, German, Russian

 
 Message 5 of 12
23 August 2010 at 8:50am | IP Logged 
Cambridge Latin Course is optimal if you want to just read (The reason most people learn it). I advise you supllement it with Wheelock's Latin textbook and workbook although they're much more slow paced than CLC, so you might have troubles following up. By the way, buy the North American edition. However, for most people, even beginning Latin is very perplexing; it has quite a grammar and lives up her name as "difficult". If you feel you're going to have troubles with the grammar, begin with "Getting Started With Latin" by William E. Linney. This is a slow paced but steady course for introduction only. Other critically acclaimed sources are Lingua Latina and Reclam (It's German). Hope I helped.
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Gina1992
Newbie
United States
Joined 4965 days ago

2 posts - 3 votes
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 6 of 12
24 August 2010 at 8:10am | IP Logged 
Are you intending to speak it? An admirable goal, although obviously your conversation partners would be
limited...Unfortunatley (in my mind, at least) the focus in academia is always reading and translating literature. I
was more into the linguistic aspect, so I quit.

But I would recommend Wheelock's. It's a pretty solid intro to grammar, and although its somewhat corny humor
can be obnoxious at times, it's not as intimidating and stuffy as some other courses.

Pax!
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vexx
Groupie
Australia
Joined 4977 days ago

81 posts - 82 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Latin

 
 Message 7 of 12
25 August 2010 at 3:18pm | IP Logged 
Thanks for these replies !
It's interesting to know how people are learning it.
I'm just going to be learning to read, maybe go further later, but at the moment purely reading.
1 person has voted this message useful



Elexi
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5324 days ago

938 posts - 1839 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French, German, Latin

 
 Message 8 of 12
25 August 2010 at 3:51pm | IP Logged 
Do you know of Evan Milner's vast Latinum online course:

http://latinum.mypodcast.com/


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