have you ever tried to learn latin?

[dpopiz]

I want to learn latin, but there doesn't seem to be any live classroom course near me, so I'm thinking of learning online. Unlike most topics of study, there don't seem to be a lot of real "online courses" in latin (with an instructor). but there are a lot of sort of self study materials.

I'm just wondering if anybody's tried learning latin, how you learned and comments about it.


here are some sites that have free study materials:
http://www.textkit.com/latin_grammar.php
http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/latin/
http://www.wannalearn.com/Academic_Subjects/World_Languages/Latin/

 

[Zeeky Boogy Doog]

Spartacus was kick ass, i dont know what this has to do with latin but hes in a report im doing and im gettin info from the ancient history page, yeah, uhh, never tried to learn, they ahve it at my shcool, and i wanted to take it, but according to my parents i love spanish and wanted to take that again

 

[tweakmm]

I thought about learning Latin at one point then I realise that if I'm going to learn a language I want to learn one that people still speak.

 

[dpopiz]

people do still speak it. that's why I want to learn it. (English!)

I mean if you know latin, you can figure out what any english word means (or so I'm told).

 

[Corporate Thug]

not planning on becoming a priest

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: dpopiz
people do still speak it. that's why I want to learn it. (English!)

English != latin. Nobody speaks latin except for a few latin nerds in Italy, and some Catholic priests.

I mean if you know latin, you can figure out what any english word means (or so I'm told).

I guess if you know every word in latin you can deduce what a large portion of english words are, but why would you learn a language for that?
If you want help with your english learn german, english is like 75% romantic and 25% germanic. Plus, there is the benefit that a knowledge of german will be infinetly more useful to you unless you want to be a priest or have a thing with reading old latin works in latin.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Spanish is IMO the most useful language to learn around where I live.

More people speak it. Second only to English

 

[Orsorum]

I'm taking third quarter Latin currently, and if I don't get into the business school I'm going for a BA in Classical Studies as well (requires third year of Latin). I would say that you'll be much better off in a classroom environment, even if it's at a cc or an adult education center. I've found it to be infinitely fascinating so far, and useful in strange ways (sadly none of which I can think of right now).

But, if you're just taking it because you're bored, I wouldn't recommend it. It's more difficult than I thought it would be (though still easier than Japanese).

Cheers!
Nate

 

[dpopiz]

Originally posted by: tweakmm

Originally posted by: dpopiz
people do still speak it. that's why I want to learn it. (English!)

English != latin. Nobody speaks latin except for a few latin nerds in Italy, and some Catholic priests.

I mean if you know latin, you can figure out what any english word means (or so I'm told).

I guess if you know every word in latin you can deduce what a large portion of english words are, but why would you learn a language for that?
If you want help with your english learn german, english is like 75% romantic and 25% germanic. Plus, there is the benefit that a knowledge of german will be infinetly more usefull to you unless you want to be a priest or have a thing with reading old latin works in latin.

hmm that's different from what I've heard in the past, but I'm not doubting you. if english is 75% romantic, shouldn't I learn roman to better understand english? ....roman is a language right?

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: dpopiz

Originally posted by: tweakmm

Originally posted by: dpopiz
people do still speak it. that's why I want to learn it. (English!)

English != latin. Nobody speaks latin except for a few latin nerds in Italy, and some Catholic priests.

I mean if you know latin, you can figure out what any english word means (or so I'm told).

I guess if you know every word in latin you can deduce what a large portion of english words are, but why would you learn a language for that?
If you want help with your english learn german, english is like 75% romantic and 25% germanic. Plus, there is the benefit that a knowledge of german will be infinetly more usefull to you unless you want to be a priest or have a thing with reading old latin works in latin.

hmm that's different from what I've heard in the past, but I'm not doubting you. if english is 75% romantic, shouldn't I learn roman to better understand english? ....roman is a language right?

A romantic language is a language that is derived from latin. Spanish, french, italian and english are all romanic languages.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: dpopiz
people do still speak it. that's why I want to learn it. (English!)

I mean if you know latin, you can figure out what any english word means (or so I'm told).

not really... it'll help you with some words, but english derives from both germanic and romance languages, so it won't really help much for the germanic words.

oh yea and i took a year of latin in college (eq to 3 years in hs)

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: dpopiz

Originally posted by: tweakmm

Originally posted by: dpopiz
people do still speak it. that's why I want to learn it. (English!)

English != latin. Nobody speaks latin except for a few latin nerds in Italy, and some Catholic priests.

I mean if you know latin, you can figure out what any english word means (or so I'm told).

I guess if you know every word in latin you can deduce what a large portion of english words are, but why would you learn a language for that?
If you want help with your english learn german, english is like 75% romantic and 25% germanic. Plus, there is the benefit that a knowledge of german will be infinetly more usefull to you unless you want to be a priest or have a thing with reading old latin works in latin.

hmm that's different from what I've heard in the past, but I'm not doubting you. if english is 75% romantic, shouldn't I learn roman to better understand english? ....roman is a language right?

lol Latin was the language of the Roman empire, as far as I know. Throw in some Greek and I think you're covered.

 

[loup garou]

I took 4 years of latin in high school and 2 semesters in college. It's easy if you have a logical brain. Very structured and no real concerns about pronunciation.
Just grab yourself a 101 level latin book from a college bookstore and a copy of the Aeneid (in latin, duh ). If you're dedicated, you can learn most of what you need to know in a couple of months, I think, although I've never tried to learn a language outside of a classroom.

BTW, I also enjoyed studying latin. I found it much more interesting than modern languages.

 

[AvesPKS]

I took 4 years of Latin in high school.

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: werk
I took 4 years of latin in high school and 2 semesters in college. It's easy if you have a logical brain. Very structured and no real concerns about pronunciation.
Just grab yourself a 101 level latin book from a college bookstore and a copy of the Aeneid (in latin, duh ). If you're dedicated, you can learn most of what you need to know in a couple of months, I think, although I've never tried to learn a language outside of a classroom.

Indeed. Go for the newest edition of Wheelock, it has an entire section in the back devoted to self-tutorial exercises. Might be useful if you could find a study partner.

 

[nageov3t]

I was required to take 4 years of Latin in high school (in addition to two years of a modern language). Not worth learning, IMO.

The only use I've ever had for it was being able to read the inscriptions on the sides of monuments when I went to visit Italy, and even that was kinda difficult, since in the original Latin, they didn't use any spaces between words.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: Orsorum

Originally posted by: werk
I took 4 years of latin in high school and 2 semesters in college. It's easy if you have a logical brain. Very structured and no real concerns about pronunciation.
Just grab yourself a 101 level latin book from a college bookstore and a copy of the Aeneid (in latin, duh ). If you're dedicated, you can learn most of what you need to know in a couple of months, I think, although I've never tried to learn a language outside of a classroom.

Indeed. Go for the newest edition of Wheelock, it has an entire section in the back devoted to self-tutorial exercises. Might be useful if you could find a study partner.

Yep, Wheelock, that's the text I used in college I believe.

 

[tweakmm]

If you just want to better understand english, start reading more.

 

[dpopiz]

hm yeah a lot of the responses are reassuring me that I want to learn latin. IRT werk: yeah that's what I was thinking. I do think totally logically and from the little latin I have been exposed to, I love how it is very few exceptions to rules and the words each have so much meaning (are so precise)

 

[DaWhim]

latin only teaches in good high school. IIRC, only 1 public high school in the entire NYC teaches latin.

 

[Cyberian]

Originally posted by: tweakmm

Originally posted by: dpopiz

Originally posted by: tweakmm

Originally posted by: dpopiz
people do still speak it. that's why I want to learn it. (English!)

English != latin. Nobody speaks latin except for a few latin nerds in Italy, and some Catholic priests.

I mean if you know latin, you can figure out what any english word means (or so I'm told).

I guess if you know every word in latin you can deduce what a large portion of english words are, but why would you learn a language for that?
If you want help with your english learn german, english is like 75% romantic and 25% germanic. Plus, there is the benefit that a knowledge of german will be infinetly more usefull to you unless you want to be a priest or have a thing with reading old latin works in latin.

hmm that's different from what I've heard in the past, but I'm not doubting you. if english is 75% romantic, shouldn't I learn roman to better understand english? ....roman is a language right?

A romantic language is a language that is derived from latin. Spanish, french, italian and english are all romanic languages.

I thought English was in the Germanic group of languages?

 

[Whisper]

The reason that Latin has so few exceptions is because it's been dead for centuries. A language only develops oddities (and actually becomes more simplified) through constant use. Because it's only been studied in a classroom environment for so long, it's become high structured...most likely much moreso than it was originally.

But yeah, it's a pretty "logical" language in that respect. There are few exceptions to the rules, and a big part is memorizations of verb conjugation and inflectional endings. Hell, there technically isn't even any punctuation in Latin for the most part.

Then again, like other people have said, if what you're looking for is a better understanding of english, then try one of the modern romance languages (especially French), or German. English is a descendent of the Germanic branch of languages (and is actually very similar in structure to Dutch), but began borrowing from Latin, French, and Greek fairly early on.

 

[Whisper]

Originally posted by: Cyberian

Originally posted by: tweakmm

Originally posted by: dpopiz

Originally posted by: tweakmm

Originally posted by: dpopiz
people do still speak it. that's why I want to learn it. (English!)

English != latin. Nobody speaks latin except for a few latin nerds in Italy, and some Catholic priests.

I mean if you know latin, you can figure out what any english word means (or so I'm told).

I guess if you know every word in latin you can deduce what a large portion of english words are, but why would you learn a language for that?
If you want help with your english learn german, english is like 75% romantic and 25% germanic. Plus, there is the benefit that a knowledge of german will be infinetly more usefull to you unless you want to be a priest or have a thing with reading old latin works in latin.

hmm that's different from what I've heard in the past, but I'm not doubting you. if english is 75% romantic, shouldn't I learn roman to better understand english? ....roman is a language right?

A romantic language is a language that is derived from latin. Spanish, french, italian and english are all romanic languages.

I thought English was in the Germanic group of languages?

Correct. English is a Germanic language.

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: Whisper

Originally posted by: Cyberian

Originally posted by: tweakmm

Originally posted by: dpopiz

Originally posted by: tweakmm

Originally posted by: dpopiz

people do still speak it. that's why I want to learn it. (English!)

English != latin. Nobody speaks latin except for a few latin nerds in Italy, and some Catholic priests.

I mean if you know latin, you can figure out what any english word means (or so I'm told).

I guess if you know every word in latin you can deduce what a large portion of english words are, but why would you learn a language for that?

If you want help with your english learn german, english is like 75% romantic and 25% germanic. Plus, there is the benefit that a knowledge of german will be infinetly more usefull to you unless you want to be a priest or have a thing with reading old latin works in latin.

hmm that's different from what I've heard in the past, but I'm not doubting you. if english is 75% romantic, shouldn't I learn roman to better understand english? ....roman is a language right?

A romantic language is a language that is derived from latin. Spanish, french, italian and english are all romanic languages.

I thought English was in the Germanic group of languages?

Correct. English is a Germanic language.

Really? Damn, I could have sworn it was romantic.

 

[TitanDiddly]

I looked a few books. It's nice to know some general latin roots so that you can deduct the meaning of words.