<p>My son has really struggled with his foreign language this past year and wants to work hard on it this summer. Can anyone suggest a good computer program for learning Latin? How about any books that would be good to study on his own?</p>
<p>At what level? I don’t know of any good programs (I am extremely disinclined to recommend Rosetta Stone for anything, let alone Latin…as a Computer Science-Classicist, though, it’s good to know that someone would be interested in such a program). For vocabulary, the website Wordchamp might be good. As far as I remember, one doesn’t pay unless one’s signed up for a formal course on it.</p>
<p>Books are another matter. Since he struggled with foreign language (was the language studied last year Latin as well?), I assume that his goal is to succeed in his classes, rather than prepare to major in Latin. At the beginner level, many classes use the Cambridge Latin class. I’ve found Ecce Romani to be unhelpful, and Jenney’s First (and Second) Year Latin is good but challenging. I’ll assume he’s not at a higher level, though. If he’s just starting Latin and struggles with foreign language, learning by book on his own might not be the best choice. Compared to the majority of commonly taught high school languages, Latin is challenging grammatically. If he’s trying to review, though, a good textbook with exercises like Jenney’s First Year Latin might be the best option.</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me with further questions/dialog - I am exceedingly interested in Classical Pedagogy.</p>
<p>Thanks for those recommendations. He is a college undergrad with two semesters of Latin under his belt. He has one semester left to take. Foreign language study is definitely his weak link academically. If he were better at it, I’m sure he would be majoring in something Classics related.</p>
<p>He said last year he used Moreland and Fleischer and Aeneas to Augustus.</p>
<p>I’d also be interested in finding a good program for Latin. I did a search around the holidays in order to find a gift for my D, but was unsuccessful. By the way, she’s using Ecce Romani in school!</p>
<p>I’ve heard good things about Rosetta Stone…I’m assuming it’s available in Latin.</p>
<p>If I had a student in this spot, I’d suggest:
Latin for Americans, Book 3, by Ullman and Suskin–3rd year of high school, but easier than Cambridge, Jenney, or Wheelock, in my opinion.
Then from the Loeb Classical Library: Sallust, Cicero, Caesar’s Gallic Wars, Ovid (particularly Metamorphoses), and Tacitus. These come in versions with the Latin and the English on facing pages. Take it slowly and work out the grammar that yields the translation given.
Don’t know of any very useful computer programs, though.</p>
<p>3rd semester in college would likely start reading actual Latin, perhaps with some grammar review.</p>
<p>The Loeb collection is very useful, though it does suffer from a couple issues - the lack of commentary is, for me, the biggest. For a student without much practice in Latin, the Loeb series won’t help identifying the stranger forms and constructions. My other concern is that having the English translation that readily accessible makes it tempting to give up on working through the text too soon and to go to the translation before trying one’s best to understand the Latin. However, it is a bit of a confidence booster, so I wouldn’t let that stop you from considering these (relatively inexpensive) options. Of these, I agree, for the most part, with the above suggestions. Caesar (military history) may be a bit dull but is, for better or worse, often a fixture in low level Latin classes. Cicero (I’d recommend some of his oratory rather than his philosophy, letters, or poetry) is tough at first, but he follows the rules your son has learned exceptionally well. Ovid’s Metamorphoses are some of the easiest poetry in the language. I find Livy to be much better for a low level student than Sallust (whose forms are often archaic, and so not what your son will have learned) or Tacitus (who has a rather…unique…writing style), but I will admit that I find Livy the least interesting.</p>
<p>Also possible is the purchase of a Loeb (they run about $20 each, and likely provide more Latin than your son would be able to read in the summer) and the corresponding Bryn Mawr commentary. The Bryn Mawr series provides a copy of the Latin with some comments to help understand the text. These often are at a lower level than many other commentaries, aimed to helping beginners understand the language and the literature. These are inexpensive too.</p>
<p>A good intro book with explanations of grammatical concepts, vocabulary lists, and some exercises and passages to translate would be the best review of what he’s already done, certainly. Depending on what he struggled with, getting such a book may be more or less useful than trying to translate some easier Latin.</p>
<p>Here’s what my kid’s Latin teacher said about a program called Artes Latinae:</p>
<p>*After reading about the Artes Latinae and exploring their demo, I have
to say that I found it an interesting little program which I think he
might enjoy. It’s a different system that we use here at school, in
that it is an assimilation program which teaches grammar and vocabulary
in the context of sentences or passages–we use a grammar based program
where students learn concepts and forms and then apply that knowledge to
translation exercises. I prefer teaching from a grammar based program,
but that being said, I think there are things to be gained using an
assimilation method, particularly if it serves as an adjunct to the
grammar method. The primary drawback of assimilation is that it can be
scattered and confusing, but given the fact that he already has a solid
foundation, this won’t be a problem for him. Instead, he should gain in
oral and literary proficiency (the strengths of the method) and learn
some cultural tidbits along the way as well. *</p>
<p>He hasn’t actually used it yet, though. We also got him the Rosetta Stone Latin level 1 which I have actually used more than him, the Rosetta Stone method doesn’t teach any explicit grammar which makes it not as useful for Latin, I think. It was fun for me to pick up some vocab, though.</p>
<p>Hmm, if he’s only had two semesters of Latin, I think that jumping into a Loeb (even with a Bryn Mawr commentary) would be <em>hard</em>, especially if he’s working on his own this summer. And, frankly, the facing English is just too tempting. It’s better not to make your cheat-sheet quite so readily available, I think. Perhaps his time would be best-served by going through another grammar text, and solidifying his grammatical understanding. This is particularly true because Moreland and Fleischer can be a bit fast-paced, and tricky to absorb in one go.</p>
<p>The classic recommendation for such a text would be Wheelock’s Latin, which is a standard first-year text. This grammar review could, depending on how much time he’s devoting to this project, be paired with some golden age prose, like Cicero. Alternately, if his class next semester is poetry, he could get his feet wet practicing with Pharr’s text of the Aeneid. Feel free to PM if you have additional questions.</p>
<p>Wow, gracchi, I think Sallust is much easier than the Aeneid, even with Pharr’s gloss.</p>
<p>I’ve heard from a variety of professors that Sallust gets harder the more Latin (particularly Cicero) you’ve read, but I really think the archaic forms (like gerunds in -undum and strange superlatives) wouldn’t be the best idea for someone at this level.</p>
<p>Pharr is a rather nice introductory commentary. I don’t really like the placement of the vocabulary at the bottom of the page, but I found (and occasionally, find) it helpful in my 3rd year high school course. If reading the Aeneid is a goal or something that the 3rd semester course does, I do recommend Pharr at this level (the Bristol commentary would likely be overwhelming and not helpful enough).</p>
<p>One other thought that came to mind is Cupid and Psyche (the edition by Balme and Morwood). The text is based on real (and interesting) Latin, but the text has been simplified to be at an appropriate level, with chapters increasing in difficulty. Various grammar exercises are in the back, too. This text has been used for 2nd/3rd semester students at Grinnell, and I used it in my 2nd year high school course. There are a couple negatives worth mentioning, though. A couple of the typos are rather offputting (including a line of Latin that is clearly wrong towards the end), and the “comprehensive” vocabulary list in the back is far from comprehensive, so looking up words elsewhere is needed.</p>
<p>QuantMech- the Aeneid suggestion is because that is such a common third semester college subject, so it would make sense to get a jump-start on it. I love Sallust, but I agree with Uroogla that the archaic constructions would be a challenge for a beginner. The Sallust commentaries with which I am familiar are also more historical than grammatical in nature, which might be a problem for someone self-studying.</p>
<p>If the student isn’t going to be reading poetry next semester, I’d certainly not recommend the Aeneid. The Cupid and Psyche adaptation is a terrific suggestion, the story is great fun, and the text is quite ok.</p>
<p>My son is on the autism spectrum and his just horrible at foreign languages. However, he has a huge vocabulary. I keep regretting not having him take Latin in HS. I would love for him to take an introductory Latin class to see if he takes to it, but our community colleges don’t teach it. I’ve even thought of asking the HS if he could sit in on classes, but they probably wouldn’t allow it. This is a huge issue for us, because as is, he can’t pursue a degree at any university with a foreign language requirement.</p>
<p>Okay, this is really funny. I googled “Latin lessons” and found this site. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>ROFL. What country? The Vatican?</p>
<p>[Latin</a> Lessons Dallas, Learn Latin in Dallas](<a href=“http://www.listenandlearnusa.com/latin/dallas/]Latin”>Learn Latin Face-to-Face in Dallas | Listen & Learn USA & Canada)</p>
<p>Wheelock’s Latin is the only book I know to recommend.</p>
<p>also, lol @ business latin</p>
<p>I taught myself Latin out of Wheelock. It includes a lot of grammar but doesn’t give you many practice exercises.</p>
<p>After I finished Wheelock, I enjoyed reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The individual stories are short so you don’t need to spend a lot of time at one sitting, and they are constantly referred to in postclassical, esp. Renaissance, literature, so they provide useful cultural literacy. In the 16th/17th centuries kids learned Latin by memorizing big chunks of the Metamorphoses. </p>
<p>One way to use the Loebs: cover up the English and read/translate a page or so of Latin text. Then cover up the Latin and try to reconstruct it using the English translation. This is an adaptation of the “double translation” method recommended by Roger Ascham circa 1570.</p>
<p>I sent this thread to my daughter, who started Latin when she was 12 and majored in classics as an undergraduate. She asked me to post the following:</p>
<p>Since you say he wants to solidify his first-year Latin, what he needs are books that will review grammar and vocabulary and let him see how they work in connected Latin passages. I didn’t use Wheelock’s as a first- and second-year student, but it will probably cover the grammar very well. For connected prose passages, though, may I recommend this book? [Fabulae</a> Romanae, D. Perry](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Fabulae-Romanae-D-Perry/dp/0801309921/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308190187&sr=8-1]Fabulae”>http://www.amazon.com/Fabulae-Romanae-D-Perry/dp/0801309921/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308190187&sr=8-1). It’s tales out of Livy, simplified into a prose level that’s pitch-perfect for someone who’s had two semesters of Latin (that’s when I used it). They start out shorter and easier and get longer and harder, and they’re entertaining and teach Roman history as well. They give heavy vocabulary help and even have some grammar review, though as I said, if he’s shaky on grammar he’ll want to have a real systematic textbook to supplement (the ones he already has may well do the job). I think it will have the right blend of lessons and review he needs.</p>
<p>Please don’t go the Loeb + Bryn Mawr commentary route at this stage. Many of the Loebs have been only minimally revised since the early 1900s, with the result that the English is sometimes almost as difficult to understand as the Latin. The Bryn Mawr commentaries are likewise pitched at intermediate to advanced students.</p>
<p>I also saw you said he’d be majoring in classics if he were better at the language–does his school have a classical studies track, through either the languages or the history department? Some programs will allow you to focus on the humanities aspects of classical civilization, and require only reading proficiency (~4 semesters) in the language.</p>
<p>I generally disagree with that comment about the Bryn Mawr commentaries (it’s what my school uses at that level for both Latin and Greek, and I’ve found them to be much more basic and form-based than ones like the Cambridge Green and Yellows or Bristols).</p>
<p>I do second the Fabulae Romanae, though. My high school’s accelerated 1st year class uses Fabulae Graecae (fables rather than famous Romans, so more appealing to a 14-year-old audience) to great success. I think either would be an excellent choice.</p>