M&F for post-Wheelock's

[whalenburns]

I took Latin in grades 7-12 and was very good at it. A few days from now, I will be finishing Wheelock's for the third time (once for school, once for myself, and now again for myself in hopes of pursuing a degree in Classics or Latin). M&F is currently en route to my house from amazon.com. What can I expect from M&F? How much has not been covered by Wheelock's that will be covered, and to what extent? And, as someone with a preexisting background in Latin who has completed Wheelock's with relative ease, what kind of time frame and and difficulty of study should I expect?

[lauragibbs]

I've taught a one-semester intensive course with M&F for grad students who needed Latin in a hurry (the book was originally developed way back when as the textbook used at the 10-week summer intensive Latin taught at UC Berkeley). It's a very systematic book but INCREDIBLY boring, so make sure you get yourself something fun to read on the side. As a systematic review of Latin morphology and syntax it is excellent, plus it has this huge advantage over Wheelock: it presents the subjunctive very early, as it should be. Many people seem to finish Wheelock with a very hesitant understanding of the subjunctive. M&F introduces the subjunctive early, which makes sense because the subjunctive is vital to Latin. So, it's a very good antidote to Wheelock in that regard.

For some reading, you might browse around the free readers available at GoogleBooks to see if any of the old 19th-century Latin readers suits your study style and personal interests; I'm keeping a running list of Latin Readers that I find at GoogleBooks here - at an early stage of Latin, vocabulary is often the biggest stumbling block, and most of these old readers have comprehensive Latin-English vocabularies in the back; many of them also have notes for the readings:
http://ilovegooglebooks.blogspot.com/se ... tinReaders

[furrykef]

plus it has this huge advantage over Wheelock: it presents the subjunctive very early, as it should be. Many people seem to finish Wheelock with a very hesitant understanding of the subjunctive. M&F introduces the subjunctive early, which makes sense because the subjunctive is vital to Latin.

Well, everything Wheelock introduces before the subjunctive is vital to Latin too...

[Jeremy123]

Hi Laura,

I have been looking through your blog. What a great resource! Thanks for taking the time to link all of those texts. Is there a particular reader that you think might be particularly enjoyable to go along with MF? I'm about half way through.

Thanks!