Progression or Immersion

[dfaulkner100]

I finished Wheelock a few years ago, and took one class afterwards, but I have not done much latin since. I am faced with the decision to translate small, easy, yet progressivly difficult passages from the back of wheelock or from wheelock's reader OR to just start on Caesar( Gallic Wars) or Virgil (Eclogues) and go through them very, very slowly. How did everyone else transition from wheelock to real latin texts? What do you guys suggest?
-Daniel

[jowens]

Lingua Latina? Asterix comics in latin (much cheaper to order from Amazon.co.uk)? Ritchie's Fabulae Faciles? Puer Zingiberi Panis?

[modus.irrealis]

Looking back at my experience, I don't think I would've been prepared to go straight from just the lessons to Caesar, and I worked through both the passages at the back and some adapted school editions of Latin texts that I think really helped me. And I'd suggest getting an edition of Caesar that's annotated fairly heavily. I used the one co-authored by D'ooge (it's available I think on the perseus site), and I don't think I'd have been able to work through the beginning without it but I found it easy to eventually get used to Caesar's style and grammar. I have no experience with the the Wheelock reader but anything that fills the gap between the lessons and jumping into actual texts can only help.

I also had a fairly long break from when I first went through Wheelock's and when I picked up Latin again and I did a quick go-through of Wheelock's again and made sure I had the main paradigms down (mostly by writing them out a bunch of times). I found that really helpful.

[Smythe]

Lingua Latina? Asterix comics in latin (much cheaper to order from Amazon.co.uk)? Ritchie's Fabulae Faciles? Puer Zingiberi Panis?

Hmmm .. the Asterix option looks very cool. I didn't realize that they were published in Latin. Just how advanced is it (for instance, once I am done with the first book of Lingua Latina "Familia Romana", would I be able to negotiate it, or should I wait until I am done with the second book "Roma Aeterna")?

[adrianus]

I got two books thirty years ago, Asterix Gallus and Willie ille Pu, which sat on the shelf unread until I could find the energy to start studying some Latin in recent years. Still for me like eating winkles: some effort is required but delicious!

Olim duos libros acquisivi qui triginta annos inlecti in pluteo domi manserunt ante diem recentem cum vi initâ latinae discendae certum fuit: Asterix Gallus et Willie ille Pu. Adhùc mihi simile est cochleas edere: deliciosum at paucus impetus convertendus.

[Gaius Bonus:] "tolle hoc saxum porrectis manibus, Caligula Mine; cum gravius tibi erit, significabit effectus potionis diffundi..."

There isn't a magic potion but language isn't a stone and slowly over time the effort of reading lessens.
Potio magica caret at non saxum est lingua et per tempus impetus legendi sensim minuit.

[Smythe]

I also have Willie ille Pu. I bought it at the same time I bought the rest of my Latin textbooks last year thinking that it would be a nice easy juvenile reader as I got further along in Latin. They, perhaps, should have put a warning sticker on it somewheres.

[adrianus]

Oops, I meant Winnie ille Pu, Smythe. I don't know what Willie ille Pu is about.
Me paenitet, Winnie ille Pu dicere volui. Nescio de quo tractat Willie ille Pu.

[Smythe]

Oops, I meant Winnie ille Pu, Smythe. I don't know what Willie ille Pu is about.
Me paenitet, Winnie ille Pu dicere volui. Nescio de quo tractat Willie ille Pu.

That'll teach me to copy and paste mindlessly.

[adrianus]

"Credidi eum puerum esse!"
"Ego quoque", dixit Smythe.
"At non potes eum 'Willie' vocare!"

[adrianus]

Anyone know why Lenard doesn't say "illo" in "Amabo te, potesne Winnie ille Puo fabulam narrare?" apart from "...and I hope you do too, because it is all the explanation you are going to get."

Quis scit cur dicat Lenardus "ille" non "illo" in "Amabo te, potesne Winnie ille Puo fabulam narrare?" separatim hoc: "Num nescis, quid ille significet?...nullam nisi hanc explicationem accipietis."

[ericaceae]

I had a heavily annotated (and, I believe, abridged) edition of Cupid and Psyche from the Golden Ass that I worked through with painstaking slowness after I finished beginners textbooks (although I used a different textbook between my brief flirtation with Wheelock and Cupid & Psyche). I definitely appreciated reading an actual text with a good story rather than the Latin equivalent of "See Spot. See Spot run."

[cantator]

... I am faced with the decision to translate small, easy, yet progressivly difficult passages from the back of wheelock or from wheelock's reader OR to just start on Caesar( Gallic Wars) or Virgil (Eclogues) and go through them very, very slowly. How did everyone else transition from wheelock to real latin texts?

Original texts with glossary and notes/commentary have been most helpful for me. Many such texts are available for sale and for free via the net. Google Books is a treasure trove of useful material.

I memorize Latin songs and poems to help improve vocabulary and idiom recognition. I sing and recite while walking my dogs. They don't seem to mind.

I'm not a fast learner, nor do I have any professional interest in Latin, so it's taken years for me to acquire decent reading skills. Your skills will improve as you have the time and patience to devote to your studies. Have fun.