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Help with pronunciation

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 7:36 pm
by jmason52
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.

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 8:15 pm
by bellum paxque
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.

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 8:22 pm
by jmason52
Ahhh. Many thanks.

Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 5:30 pm
by Ciraric
I had also been puzzled by this.

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

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 3:27 pm
by bellum paxque
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

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:10 pm
by Doug Robelen
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.

Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 3:14 am
by bellum paxque
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