wheelock's latin 6th edition on order with workbook

[FrogFace]

it was hard to make the choice due to being blindsided by much ignorance in the area of learning a language but i have decided to take up studying Latin using Wheelock's and of course i shall read some of the free text provide here in this community.

my long range goal is to one day lead a Latin study group on a group list but first i must wait until another opens up and become a student myself.

1. reason i chose Wheelock's is because of the organized effort that is behind this curriculum in schools, internet, and colleges .. as far as i know my local community college does not offer Latin .

2. it has excellent materials available to assist in self study.

3. with the classical paradigm of study it is possible to read Latin works from ancient all the way to renaissance.


i've already read most of the threads here about beginning Latin but i'll post my reactions to getting started with Wheelock's since i'm a new student. maybe it will benefit someone else down the road who decides to take the wonderful journey of an amateur classicist.

-jay

[edonnelly]

Jay,
That's great. Wheelock's is a great book. A lot of colleges use it, and so, as you have discovered, there are lots of websites out there with stuff to help you through it. There is also an answer key available here at textkit which you may find useful as you go through the exercises (but it doesn't cover the workbook):

Benissimus' Wheelock's Answers

Good luck.

[FrogFace]

Jay,
That's great. Wheelock's is a great book. A lot of colleges use it, and so, as you have discovered, there are lots of websites out there with stuff to help you through it. There is also an answer key available here at textkit which you may find useful as you go through the exercises (but it doesn't cover the workbook):

Benissimus' Wheelock's Answers

Good luck.

thanks for the encouragement edonnelly.

i have decided to start another thread to sort of "blog" my defeats and victories while progressing thru the Wheelock's course. i wish more people would journal there progress and not just ask questions i think it would make this community more lively.

-jay

[acarrig]

Jay,

Hello! I'm new here, too. I have Wheelock's Latin. I worked through about half of it seven years ago and haven't looked at Latin again since. I'm starting at the beginning again and working through. I'm at chapter 3.

I'm new here, so you may already have these ideas, but you may like to get 38 Latin Stories by Groton and May. This is organized to work with Wheelock's and has little stories to translate for each chapter of Wheelock's. Another book that could be very useful, especially since you mention you have little experience with learning foreign languages, is English Grammar for Students of Latin by Goldman and Szymanski. These are both small, inexpensive books that could really pay off in individual study. Just some ideas.

I hope you enjoy learning Latin. I really loved taking it in college, but now I've decided I can start over and continue it on my own without a professor. This is something I am sorry to say didn't occur to me for some time. I'm really glad I found this website.

Angilee

[Turendil]

This is my advice. take it for what it's worth Work through wheelock's to get yourself familiar with the gramatical concepts and structure of the language. However, I would also buy Lingua Latina Pars I et II. Wheelocks will give you the structure you need the grammer. Lingua Latina provides the immersion needed to improve your latin assosiation. If you do decide to obtain Lingua Latina in addition to working through wheelock's here is my advice. Type out every chapter of lingua Latina in Microsoft word. Since the stories become progessivly harder as the chapters progress it will Improve your ability to read latin immensly. Also make sure you buy a dictionary.

[mozartpc27]

Hello All --- I'm a first time poster who just registered. This seems like a really neat idea for independent learners of ancient languages such as myself. Eventually, I'd like to teach myself ancient Greek as well as Latin, but for now I have to be satisified with the work I am doing on Latin. I am working through the revised sixth edition of Wheelock (I'm currently working on chapter 29). I started back in October, but have had to slow down due to the graduate work I need to do (namely studying for my Ph.D. exams, the first of which is in two weeks!).

At any rate, I am curious about a comment that was posted in this thread about Lingua Latina. Is that really helpful? I have that book, and at first when I was learning hte language I worked with it, but I found it unhelpful both in terms of explaining grammatical princples of any kind and in its general premise, which I thought a it juvenile (I don't really care about this family and their problems). However, if it really does improve on-sight reading comprehension, perhaps I should give it a second look.

[acarrig]

Hmm. I hope it helps, because I just ordered both books. I've heard good things from several other people, but they were using it as a main text. This seems strange to me, having learned a bit from Wheelock's. I can't imagine not learning the grammar first. But I hadn't thought about using it along with Wheelock's (yes, I'm a bit slow). I recently read about when Latin was learned in grammar schools that the students were expected to converse in Latin and write in Latin. This surprised me (yes, I'm ignorant, too). So when I read this post about Lingua Latina and remembered what I had heard before, I looked into it and ordered it. I was hoping it would be interesting reading, and I read that it provided seamless entry into original Latin texts. I'm sorry to hear you found it boring and juvenile. But since these are both terms that describe me rather accurately , perhaps it will work for me.

[mozartpc27]

Hmm. I hope it helps, because I just ordered both books. I've heard good things from several other people, but they were using it as a main text. This seems strange to me, having learned a bit from Wheelock's. I can't imagine not learning the grammar first. But I hadn't thought about using it along with Wheelock's (yes, I'm a bit slow). I recently read about when Latin was learned in grammar schools that the students were expected to converse in Latin and write in Latin. This surprised me (yes, I'm ignorant, too). So when I read this post about Lingua Latina and remembered what I had heard before, I looked into it and ordered it. I was hoping it would be interesting reading, and I read that it provided seamless entry into original Latin texts. I'm sorry to hear you found it boring and juvenile. But since these are both terms that describe me rather accurately , perhaps it will work for me.

Seemless entry into reading real Latin texts? Those are the magic words... If it truly works. Of course, I'm finding that I'm spending every minute I have to sepnd on Latin in just working through all Wheelock's exercises, both at the end of each chapter and the supplementary ones. Between that and vocab drilling (I've made my own flash cards), I don't have too much time left, but, if it is indeed that case that it improves reading speed & site translation, I really will have to look at it again.

[acarrig]

mozartpc27 - or anyone,

Do you already have a plan for post-Wheelock's? Can one jump straight into original Latin texts with a good dictionary right away? I'm just starting out studying Latin on my own, but so far it is fairly easy review, as I've done this years ago. I find I acutally have much of the sententiae antiquae memorized - a result no doubt of much sweat spent in translating them long ago. I'm sure I will slow down soon enough, but then what after I finish? I've heard about other texts being more comprehensive than Wheelock's, and I wonder whether Wheelock's will be enough - especially since I am studying alone. I guess I don't need to have this all figured out now, but it can't hurt, right? Is there a standard progression after Wheelock's?

Angilee