Latin for toddlers

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cb
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Latin for toddlers

Post by cb »

Hi all, a "teaching classics to kids" discussion is ongoing in the grk forum, but it's just as relevant to this latin forum and so I'm linking to it here in case anyone has any useful input for teaching latin to kids, thanks!

http://textkit.com/greek-latin-forum/vi ... =2&t=60804

RXLA54
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Re: Latin for toddlers

Post by RXLA54 »

[color=#333333]This[/color] wrote:
Hi all, a "teaching classics to kids" discussion is ongoing in the grk forum, but it's just as relevant to this latin forum and so I'm linking to it here in case anyone has any useful input for teaching latin to kids, thanks!

http://textkit.com/greek-latin-forum/vi ... =2&t=60804
does anyone have a recommended age for beginning teaching Latin? Obviously children learn better the younger they are, but wasn't sure if there was a recommendation. Thanks!
Last edited by RXLA54 on Sun Dec 29, 2013 10:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

A.A.I
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Re: Latin for toddlers

Post by A.A.I »

There's no minimum age. A fetus can remember sounds, after all.

Also, it's not at all obvious that children learn better or that younger people learn better. It's that most adults are rather insane when it comes to learning languages and the way they approach it (attitude and techniques) are what lead to failure.

reptilia5
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Re: Latin for toddlers

Post by reptilia5 »

My son is Mongolian-American. His mother,my wife speaks both Russian and Mongolian fluently.Both languages are inflected just like Latin. My son picked up both languages very well since they are the main languages of our home. I speak passable Russian and Mongolian myself. No age is too young to begin learning a language,my son is proof of this fact. As for any advice...patience and lots of it.

mwh
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Re: Latin for toddlers

Post by mwh »

Problem. Kids readily pick up languages spoken constantly by native or quasi-native speakers. How many can speak Latin like a native speaker? No-one. Without that, you can't create even a simulacrum of a natural language-learning environment.

That's not to say you can't start teaching kids Latin at an early age. Kids are much better at rote learning than adults, for one thing, and tire less of repetition. Just take care you don't put them off it for life.

A.A.I
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Re: Latin for toddlers

Post by A.A.I »

Something important to note is that language transmission is always imperfect. If the argument is against passing on an imperfect Latin: we couldn't easily avoid that being even if we were native speakers. Of course, it could be much worse if one tries to pass on Latin which is of a poor level. That's why I think that getting a good knowledge of a certain core of the language is what will bring quickest results.

If it were the only language that the child were to acquire, leaving them without any real means of outside communication, then I'd find it unethical. But that doesn't seem to be the case for anyone here talking about it, so I feel that we can safely discard any worry about that.

Our concern should be about getting things as good as we can. If all we achieve is being able to communicate in an imperfect Latin with family, there's no harm done. In fact, a lot of fun will likely be had instead. There are enough amazing materials (pedagogical or original) and techniques to bring us to a rather decent level.

Another thing is that we shouldn't equate rote learning with repetition. Repetition isn't only achieved by rote learning style activities.

P.S. I'll add that I've seen some language revival projects and have seen what even just a small amount of language does for communities and families. This has, in my case, been for languages for which we have far less information. Those passing on Latin are in a much better position.
Last edited by A.A.I on Tue Dec 31, 2013 12:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

anphph
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Re: Latin for toddlers

Post by anphph »

This is wrong. Except in extremely rare circumstances, native speakers speak their language perfectly. You might be thinking of what careful language would call 'imperfections' (saying, for instance, 'I didn't do no wrong'), but those are cases when what's being passed on is a modified version of the language that's accepted within the speaker's circle, and so (linguistically) both counts and is correct.

Using Latin imperfectly has nothing to do with this, and falls rather within the range of mistakes that a toddler himself would commit, only to be later corrected by the other speakers. ('Cuna est bona!' 'Ah, puerulle, cunae sunt bonae? En ita sunt!') If an adult can't go beyong toddler-level in teaching, well.

I agree with having fun with it. I also agree with teaching some small elements (numbers, names, and so on), and so I'm not trying to bring you down, but this shouldn't by any means be equated with a revival of the language from infancy. For that, much more than 'decent level' would be required. But insofar as you'll both learn, and that you take utmost care not to mislead the child and pass wrong information, I don't see what harm could come out of it.

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