Understanding oral Latin
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Understanding oral Latin
One of many difficulties with the Latin language is translating the sentences immediately when you hear (thus oral) them. You haven't got the time to translate them simultaneously in your head (eg. "is that they are going to", "or is it they did?") before another sentence gives you a hard time, even if you have certain reading practice.
It's logical that by listning to a lot of Latin you will understand more and more, but is there something such as a secret recipe on how to understand Latin easily by word of mouth? (even though it's a SOV language, six cases, etc.)
It's logical that by listning to a lot of Latin you will understand more and more, but is there something such as a secret recipe on how to understand Latin easily by word of mouth? (even though it's a SOV language, six cases, etc.)
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Re: Understanding oral Latin
I think the real problem is overcoming our own habits. SOV may seem hard to someone who is used to SVO, but I suspect an anchient Roman, learning English, might be saying to himself "how can they be telling me the verb right now when I don't even know the direct object?"Ioannes wrote:It's logical that by listning to a lot of Latin you will understand more and more, but is there something such as a secret recipe on how to understand Latin easily by word of mouth? (even though it's a SOV language, six cases, etc.)
I don't have much opportunity at all to hear Latin, but I think practicing with easy sentences to get your brain used to the process of hearing and understanding (without going through the conversion to your native tongue) is the best way to improve. Alas, it is much easier said than done.
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example of spoken latin
It is my understanding that the Latin quarter in Paris derives its name from the university students who inhabited it during the medieval period. Since these students came from widely separated regions in France and abroad, the only common language that many of them possessed was Latin.
Back when the bulk of education was simply learning Latin, producing and comprehending spoken Latin fluently was not only desired but also required.
(If what I heard about the Latin quarter is apocryphal, please be so good as to correct me.)
David
Back when the bulk of education was simply learning Latin, producing and comprehending spoken Latin fluently was not only desired but also required.
(If what I heard about the Latin quarter is apocryphal, please be so good as to correct me.)
David
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i remember reading that when University College (which I think was the first college at Oxford around the early 1200s) was set up, it had about 12 or so residents who were only allowed to speak greek or latin while in residence.
on a directly related point, while randomly reading a few years ago letters from the earliest students of oxford and cambridge, i read that one college had a fresher initiation where one of the seniors (who had intentionally grown his thumbnail long all year) would scratch a bleeding line from each fresher's lower lip to his chin, and then each fresher would have to scull a glass of saltwater (i.e. dribbling as he did it). one year (so a fresher proudly wrote home to his father) the freshers rebelled and beat up the seniors. to reinforce the relevance of this story, that rebellion appears to have had no lasting impact on subsequent fresher-senior power relations as far as i am aware.
on a directly related point, while randomly reading a few years ago letters from the earliest students of oxford and cambridge, i read that one college had a fresher initiation where one of the seniors (who had intentionally grown his thumbnail long all year) would scratch a bleeding line from each fresher's lower lip to his chin, and then each fresher would have to scull a glass of saltwater (i.e. dribbling as he did it). one year (so a fresher proudly wrote home to his father) the freshers rebelled and beat up the seniors. to reinforce the relevance of this story, that rebellion appears to have had no lasting impact on subsequent fresher-senior power relations as far as i am aware.
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Re: Understanding oral Latin
The "secret recipe" is actually doing it, actually communicating with other real live people, using the target language. There is no substitute for this experience. I say this based on experience with modern languages.Ioannes wrote:It's logical that by listning to a lot of Latin you will understand more and more, but is there something such as a secret recipe on how to understand Latin easily by word of mouth? (even though it's a SOV language, six cases, etc.)
As you do this, you start to develop memories of speaking and hearing the language, in an immediate "real-life" context. Over time it starts to sink in and you develop linguistic reflexes. It's very difficult to do this in any other way. Not impossible, but difficult.
As someone already posted, it's just a question of practise. In the case of Latin, getting the right kind of practise is very difficult. Not impossible, but difficult.
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German is as natural as English as the order is strict (it can however be nasty with j'aurais du faire equivalents after subordinating conjunctions - da...machen sollen hätte) but the freedom in Latin would pose many difficulties. However, it's not asif this order is just random (see whiteoctave's point on barbam brevem habet/barbam (eius!) habet brevem) so I do not see why one couldn't become accustomed to this over time. I saw the Pope's funeral today and the Latin was comprehensible, but for the speed of delivery and italian pronunciation which admittedly threw me off a bit!