Help with pronunciation

jmason52 · Post by **jmason52** » Wed May 24, 2006 7:36 pm

Greetings all -

Am new to this site, and have been studying D'Ooge for a couple of weeks now. Also, on the advice of some here, bought the "Lingua Latina" to help as a reader. Am enjoying this challenge immensely, but have noticed its not nearly as easy learning a new language as it was 30 years ago in high school. lol

Anyway, the problem that bothers me the most is not being able to practice speaking with someone to work on pronunciation as I go along. My main concern today is with the "Q" words - Quis, Quae, Quid, Quot, -que, etc. Is the "Q" pronunced like "K" in "Key" or like "Q" in "Quick"? And I have absolutely no idea how one says "Quoque". Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also, are there any groups with XFire or similar software setups that get together occasionally to practice?

Thanks to all.

bellum paxque · Post by **bellum paxque** » Wed May 24, 2006 8:15 pm

Fortunately for the English learner of Latin (but less fortunately for the French, Spanish, etc), "qu" is pronounced exactly as it is in the English word "quick" (i.e., as "kw").

qui = kwee
quis = kwis
quae = kwy (as in fry)

etc

quoque = kwo-kweh

(the "o" in quoque is more the "o" in for without the "r" sound. But I wouldn't worry about details like that at this point.)

I hope you find your work with Latin fulfilling and stimulating! Two years since I started, I still love it.

-David

PS - There are some study groups, I think, but I don't know any details about them.

jmason52 · Post by **jmason52** » Wed May 24, 2006 8:22 pm

Ahhh. Many thanks.

Ciraric · Post by **Ciraric** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:30 pm

I had also been puzzled by this.

Thanks to everyone in this thread (especially the person with the courage to ask the question).

bellum paxque · Post by **bellum paxque** » Wed May 31, 2006 3:27 pm

You're welcome to the help!

By the way, sometimes "u" between certain consonants ("s" and "g") and a vowel becomes consonantal, that is, is pronounced like "w." Even texts that normally indicate the consonantal "u" with "v" will still write these as plain "u."

For example,

suavis is pronounced "swah-wis"
distinguo is pronounced "dis-ting-gwo"

If you tried to pronouce those syllables ("sua" and "guo") quickly, you'd probably come up with the same pronunciation anyway.

-David

Doug Robelen · Post by **Doug Robelen** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:10 pm

Am enjoying this challenge immensely, but have noticed its not nearly as easy learning a new language as it was 30 years ago in high school.

I am 23 years out of HS and it is very challenging, but I agree it is enjoyable. My wife just rolls her eyes whenever I mention it.

bellum paxque · Post by **bellum paxque** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 3:14 am

Sorry that your wife isn't supporting you! Tis a true challenge, learning a classical language, as you say. It's definitely nice to get some support.

You can find all the support and encouragement you need here at textkit.

BONAM FORTVNAM! - Good luck!

David