Just started Latin

[Maver]

Hello, I've just started to learn Latin and decided to join your website, as I found 'Latin for Beginners' on the book list.

I've got a few simple questions I was thinking perhaps some of you could answer =]

I'm learning Latin(or attempting too ) by myself, I understand it'll be quite a bit harder doing it this way, but it isn't possible for me to get lessons With that in mind, is my book choice 'Latin for Beginners' by D'Ooge a good choice?

I realise it'll be awhile before I can read much, but is there a simple text I could work towards as a goal?

Also, I'd really like to learn Latin. However, is learning by ones self feasible?

Thanks, and a hello to all who read and hopefully post a response!

[metrodorus]

You might find the Latinum site useful if you are learning by yourself:

http://latinum.mypodcast.com

This uses Adler's textbook, available on Google Books, or as a reprint.

Evan.

[Maver]

Thanks very much for the link! I'm finding Latin for beginners pretty easy and quite well written. That being said, i'm not very far in and I kind of hit a bump.

I'm having a slight bit of trouble with declensions, so another source on it sounds wonderful!

Thanks very much,

Er, I've a question >.< I'm *attempting* to translate some things from english to Latin from the book. I've gotten all the words correct, but two are in the wrong order (The order from the key I dl'd from this side).

Does the exact order matter?

This is the text

"The Daughter of Latona does love th forests"
I had "Filiam latonae amat silvas", but in the key it's "... silvas amat"

[Eurysilas]

No, word order in Latin does not matter as much as in English. It DOES matter, though. My official position is this (I'm a newcomer to Latin as well): don't worry about wrong word order for now, but if, halfway through your Latin experience, you are still totally off-base on word order, start some heavy practice. I've been told when I raised the same concerns as you (in regards to word order) that it would sort of sink in by osmosis. So you have to give it time.

[Kasper]

"The Daughter of Latona does love th forests"
I had "Filiam latonae amat silvas", but in the key it's "... silvas amat"

It's probably just a typo, but it should be 'filia', not 'filiam'.

[Maver]

Thanks for the friendly replies!

Thanks Eurysilas, I was somewhat perplexed by it! I saw an example in the book that had the words in all possible orders, but I still wasn't sure.

Hopefully I'll pick it up quickly as I learn more words and can read more sentences.

I do have another question, but this one is more of just interest. How long did it take you to start reading Latin, not simply translating it?

With the words in this book, I've seen them enough to know what they mean without thinking, but I don't think that really counts

Kasper: Yep, a typo. Thanks for pointing it out. I type too fast sometimes, or think faster than I can type which leads to some errors You should see when I try and write code >.<