I know there was a thread rrecently about this but I can't find it! What programs were you all talking about that were good to use to learn Latin?


SV

You mean books?

LINGVA LATINA
and
Wheelocks Latins is usually highly recommended.

Well books but I thought someone had mentioned a audio type program?


SV

I don't know if an audio program would work well for Latin. Most people who learn it aren't learning to speak it at all. Probably the only place one would even hear spoken Latin is the Mass, and even there, reading is for most people a much more important component than listening and speaking. I think it's much preferable to have the grammar presented in written form. Though I do like the idea of getting people to speak Latin and listen to it, and Fr. Foster has been very fond of keeping Latin a living language.

If you learn to speak it,you will never forget how to read it, though you may forget how to speak.

As for audio. http://www.fshcm.com/ Do some real studying of Latin with Lingua Latina or Fr. Most's book, read familiar passages of the Vulgate, and then listen to some lectures....at first you will not get it right away, but after a while it starts clicking

I bought our children a set called Prima Latina. It comes with an exercise book and cd. We do a lesson and then listen to the cd. The cd is great for pronunciation and helping you to get it right.

It is starting with the basics but I have learnt a lot just from teaching them this book.

There is a follow on series called Latina Christiana. The first one is aimed at children that are still developing their vocab so may be a bit to basic for you although I have liked the basic approach.

We used this for a while, and it is good if you don't mind hearing Latin with a US Southern accent. The lady we know who used it didn't mind.

We ended up switching to Lingua Latina because most of my children were so old, and I really like that program I wish they had it for all languages! It is a great combination of immersion and grammar; however, it is not at all Catholic. Prima does have Latin prayers in it.

Not at all Catholic? It is at least Christian

Ooooooh, man, I messed up totally OH:

After PL, the first 6 chapters of LL have no religious overtones. We have the computer version and are printing the chapters out chapter by chapter and I haven't even seen the rest.

What was I thinking?!?!

Well, as long as we are all thinking about Latin, PED, I'm thinking about getting that audio version as a supplement. Do you like it? I asked them and they said they would send me extra books since we are a family

The really interesting thing about this is that my children's best friend is also studying Latin, and some of our completely secularized college-aged relatives are also! They are doing it because they want to know a language that their family doesn't know and they'll be able to talk with each other without the adults in their family understanding them. So they'll be able to talk with my children and the only adult who will be able to understand them is me I am happy because I will be able to send them Catholic literature under the guise of sending them things in Latin

Well -Lydia, amica Medi, est Christianus et oravit et gratias agit Domino Deo nostro, Jesu Christo. Puto Julium et Æmiliam habere mores Christianos quodammodo.

Listening and trying to speak is extremely helpful. Learning a language productively (speaking and hearing) is worlds better than just reading, because 20 years from now, you may not be able to speak it anymore without use, but you will be able to read it. If it gets into that part of your brain so that it is no longer memorisation of declensions and forms, but the language part, you will retain it far better

I would think, if you know a language like Spanish or Italian that would help you with the pronounciation of Latin and vice versa...?


SV

Vice versa, for sure. Latin pronunciation is very regular, either ecclesiastical or classical. If you know Spanish or Italian, the pronunciation of Latin won't be difficult, particularly with Italian. All the vowels would be pretty much the same, and if you know Italian, the same holds true of consonants. Spanish makes 'c' an 's'-sound before 'e' or 'i', IIRC, where Italian keeps the palatal 'ch' sound you would expect from ecclesiastical Latin, which also does so before 'ae' and 'oe'. 'G' is also much different in Spanish than Latin, but Italian uses the same palatal 'dj' sound before 'e', 'i', 'ae', or 'oe'. 'Gn' in Latin is like 'gn' in Italian, or 'ñ' in Spanish. Accentuation follows regular patterns too, and I know PED posted a run-down of some of the rules around here somewhere...

One of the other neat things about speaking Latin is that syntax is much freer than in English. "Canis hominem mordet", "mordet canis hominem", "hominem canis mordet" &c. all mean essentially the same thing, "The dog bites the man", but you can move words to the front of a sentence to emphasize them, where in English that'd produce weird stuff like "The man bites the dog". There are still rules, naturally, but there's a great freedom in Latin composition which you don't really find in as many modern languages.

Father Reginald Foster has been very sick for the past year. He was actually the reason why I decided to look at the Catholic Faith. I've heard wonderful things about his teaching methods, helped all the more by the fact that he's fluent in Latin.

Yea, I was sad to hear that. From what I've read, he is doing somewhat better, but he's still in very poor condition, IIRC. My Latin instructor studied under him and spoke very highly of him.