Is Lingua Latina enough for fairy tales?

[Munchie33]

My homeschooled daughter is in year 3 and has asked to do Latin next semester or next year. I studied it myself throughout high school and while I learnt a lot about English and the structure of language while doing so, I initially found it tedious with all the reciting declensions and whatnot. I am hoping, while she is young anyway, to start it off in a more fun way and concentrate on rigorous grammar once she has a bit of ability built up.

Lingua Latina looks great for this purpose. It isn't a complete Latin course, from what I've read, because it does not address these grammar concerns, but that is fine at this stage of the game.

I plan to work through the first book, Lingua Latina: Familia Roma, and then move on to Latin fairy tales and other fun but easy reads. At least for the first year I don't want it to be full of rules about grammar and tenses, but more intuitive to build comfort and flow with the language.

Having not used the book before, is it realistic to think that after finishing Lingua Latina 1 she will be able to read Latin fairy tales, or even (fingers crossed) Harrius Potter? She has asked to learn Latin and I really want to foster her interest at this stage by making it fun and natural before looking at the more sophisticated aspects of the language.

I would be grateful for any advice, opinions, or personal experiences here!

[lauragibbs]

Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata is a great Latin course and not incomplete by any means. It is reading-based so hopefully your daughter will enjoy it!
As for Harrius Potter, the vocabulary is a nightmare - it's very very very slow-going. There are, however, all kinds of adapted Latin for beginners - the "Gradatim" books (various versions) are available at Google Books and they have folktales and legends of various kinds, and are intended for beginning and intermediate Latin students - http://ilovegooglebooks.blogspot.com/search?q=gradatim - and Thomas's First Latin Translation Book has some fun readings also: http://ilovegooglebooks.blogspot.com/20 ... -book.html - as does Spencer's Scalae Primae - http://ilovegooglebooks.blogspot.com/20 ... rimae.html
Have fun!

[Munchie33]

Thankyou Laura for your sound advice and resources. Lingua Latina arrived the other day, and wow, it looks even better than I had hoped. I had been under the impression that there was little if any explicit grammar, but that turned out to be completely incorrect, since there is a grammar section in every chapter. This and all the verb tables and so on at the back make this a fantastic looking course.

Thomas’ First Latin Translation Book looks spot on for fairy tales. It looks like we can begin it before completely finishing the first Lingua Latina book. Thanks very much for the suggestion!

I found your collection of Aesop’s Fables on your website also—for lack of better words, these are absolutely amazing. Not only to have collected them together, but the free availability of something of this standard is not often seen these days.

On their website, Lingua Latina 1 says that it introduces a vocabulary of 1400 words, which is apparently over 80% of the words used in Latin anyway (thanks Diederich!). My goal with my daughter is for her to be able to read Latin fairly freely, as opposed to the method I was taught at school, which was very much grammar- and translation-based which was great for understanding the subtleties of the language, but which made it nearly impossible to read something in a straightforward way without becoming distracted and bogged down with all the word endings. Hopefully after finishing Lingua Latina my daughter will be able to read things fairly smoothly.

Too bad about Harrius Potter. Maybe one day, I suppose, but not soon. Ah well.

[lauragibbs]

I am so glad you found the materials helpful! I used to be a Latin teacher (now I teach English), but I love Latin and it is my pleasure to keep finding materials to share with people. Aesop's fables have traditionally been an important part of how students learned Latin although they have been largely displaced from the curriculum nowadays with its obsessive interest in classical literature. I'm a folklorist, though - I far prefer fables and proverbs to literature.
Another great resource to check out - Evan Millner's abundant materials at the Latinum project he has going at YouTube. He uses all kinds of Latin materials there and does audio for them all!
http://www.youtube.com/user/evan1965?feature=watch
It sounds like you are doing a fantastic job of finding good Latin stuff to work with. Have fun!!!!!

[Munchie33]

We started working through the book already, and it's great!

Our schedule is this: listen to the Orberg read the chapter, then read it aloud ourselves, talking about what it means, then work through the questions. There's another sort of companion you can download from the Lingua Latina website, Fabellae Latinae, which we read once we've finished the chapter questions. At this rate it's about one chapter per week, working at about half an hour each weekday, but that might slow as we move on. For 35 chapters, it'll probably take a year to complete.

My daughter really loves the book. It's such a great way to teach the language to younger people, and I like how the grammar is introduced throughout it in little manageable pieces. Nearly all of the words she can figure out on her own, too. It's also nice how she can see how people lived in ancient days--a bit of extra history never hurts. The fact that a 7 year old can pick up a book and start understanding Latin immediately is a great motivator. I wish I'd been taught like this when I was at school!

I can't wait until we can start looking at the Aesop's fables. This is so much more enjoyable than I had expected!