Hi, I am new to the list. I am a homeschooling mom and have downloaded the two beginning latin books. I am preparing to use the D’Ooge book with my 10 yo and since I am unfamiliar with latin myself I am a little worried about correct pronounciation. The book itself suggests hearing it, but do you all just learn by sounding out??? I am not having success in finding any audio for pronounciation aside from buying other programs. I did a search of this list and so far only came up with to web sites that did not pronounce well. My daughter most likely will not go on to be a latin scholar, yet you never know, but I feel that all we learn should be done well and proper. Any suggestions? And if it needs to be bought is there anything inexpensive that is really good and not include a text book?
Thanks, Michelle
I haven’t heard these recordings, but I have heard of them. The site is bestlatin.net and the woman who runs it has some downloadable audio for sale (from $4 - $10).
The reason it may be worth looking into is that she has all of the text posted free on her website, and she has free audio samples, so you can at least see if it might interest you.
This is a good link: http://dekart.f.bg.ac.yu/~vnedeljk/VV/ Although sometimes you have to raise the volume to hear Nedeljkovic’s soft voice. There’s a (very) small section of Christian (ecclesiastical) latin. You might want to check that out, just to keep an open mind about how others (like me) pronounce latin.
Vale!
As Amadeus suggests, there are different ways to pronounce Latin.
There is the classical pronunciation, which is our best guess at the way the Romans actually spoke.
There is also the ecclesiastical pronunciation, which reflects the linguistic changes of 2,000 years and shows some significant differences from the classical method (especially in v, j, and c).
Here are some interesting thoughts on the pronunciation of Latin.
Here’s a good comparison and explanation of the two styles of pronunciation.
There’s also this discussion of the relative merits of the classical and ecclesiastical pronunciations.
David
I should hasten to mention, however, that ecclesiastical latin varies slightly from country to country, that is, there is no set standard. In Mexico, for instance, the J in Julius Caesar, is pronounced like a double “i” (ee, in English); while in Italy, so I’ve heard, it is pronounced “g” like Giuseppe. When a “t” is followed by two vowels (e.g. gratia), some pronounce it like a soft “c”, others like “ts”. The v is pronounced “v” in some regions, in others as a germanic “w”, etc.
Vale!
Greetings, Michelle!
One of my fondest hobbies has been the study of Latin pronunciation. Do you know Skype? If you have it, I can show you whenever you want all I know about Latin pronunciation.
Care Luci,
I found an articlethat you are guaranteed not to like. I think you ought to read it, as it states just about the opposite of your position on pronunciation.
David
PS - Also, it’s about 100 years old.
I know it well, David, but thank you for pointing it out to me again. Horrid stuff … totally idiotic … no true sense of language at all … sounds more like the ramblings of an engineer who repairs a picture frame with duct tape.
Thanks for sharing that link. I have a couple of Bennett’s books, which I happen to like, and I repect his opinion. I do find the reasoning of this article a little hard to swallow, though. Basically he says we should abandon attempts at pronouncing latin “correctly,” not because we don’t know how to (the usual argument we seem to hear), but rather because it is too difficult. It sounds like Bennett may have been well ahead of his time when it comes to “dumbing down” our school curriculum.
I just read the article, thanks for the link. Yes, it’s pretty dreadful, particularly to those of us with a taste for quantitative meter. While he does raise some interesting points I must agree with the assessment that his approach is essentially a “dumbing down” of the matter. It’s weird, Bennett obviously knows his stuff, but his conclusions head off in a strange direction. It’s as though he said that since most students are so bad at Latin pronunciation let’s allow them to decide how it’s spoken.
Me, I’ve looked at the various guides to the phonology and listened to various readings, and my own reading is based on the “classical” pronunciation. I’ll post some audio files soon, I’m curious to know how the Textkittens will react. 
cantator, edonnelly, Luci., et. al:
glad you liked the article! cantator, I’m looking forward to hearing your audio files. (Or would it be “listening forward”? 
)
David
Salve, bellumpaxque! I thank you for that link; I hadn’t seen it before. It has a lot of good articles, especially one from Mortimer J. Adler “How to read a book”, which everybody should read.
Spero ut valetudinem tuam in Korea cures diligenter!
BP&,
I too thank you for the link to the Bennett article. Great read! Even though I totally disagree with his conclusions.
It’s a mite more than fun to read the passionate struggle of a sincere soul to revise his own earlier revisions and expose the hypocricy of the current politically correct thinkers. After years of misplaced faith in an unworkable system, B. feels he has to speak out. The time has come to own up to his own implication in the dismal failure of the Dream Project that has brought misery to thousands and achieved nothing - and to put a stop to it.
Almost like a political utopian facing the void after the Fall of the Wall or the supporter of a Good Cause finally realizing that violence only engenders more of the same.
Of course, Prof. Bennett 100 years ago wasn’t to know what we know today:
- that Latin itself as a school subject was doomed to virtual extinction;
- that a globalized world of mass tourism would make foreign language learning an eBay commodity – and English pronunciation would no longer be of any help;
- that oral skills would become the prime indicator of competence in all language learning.
- that a fancied commitment to ‘historical authenticity’ would become even more firmly entrenched in Western culture.
- that England and Germany would soon join the Roman Pronunciation Club too.
Etc, etc
Moral of the tale: having the courage of one’s convictions is an admirable feature of humankind but doesn’t prevent one from being wrong.
Int
Here ya go:
http://linux-sound.org/latin-audio-examples
Consider them first attempts that I may or may not eventually get around to improving.
Grand, cantator! I love your pronunciation; very clean and thoughtful. The only thing that felt a little English was the ‘au’ — I’m used to pronouncing this with a stronger ‘u’ at the end, but that’s unbelievably minor. Your enthusiasm is not to be curbed! You deserve to be imitated.
Cantator,
Wow! Great voice! I wish I had a deep voice instead of this kiddy-nerd one I have right now. 
Or did you alter these recordings with a sound mixer (apart from the obvious echo)? Anyway, kudos, mi amice, your latin is very good. How long have you been studying the language?
Vale!
Cantator,
After an hour and a half, I finally got the .ogg files to speak to me (downloaded quendam (quamdam?) ‘Audacity’ software and a lame_enc.dll file). It was worth every gutta of sweat. Brill! Brill! Brill! More! More! More!
(…please…)
Int
Ah, fantastic - or, so I’m expecting, based on other reactions. I can’t listen to them here at work, but I’ll give them a figurative spin once I reach my home computer.
You’ve known the poems for 30 years? …wow. I can’t gaze that far into the future. I’ve been with Latin for two years only, and two years isn’t enough time to do much with Horace (for instance).
I’ll let you know my reaction as soon as I have it!
Best
David
PS - Interaxus (4th declension?), thanks for the thoughtful response to the article I linked to. Your reading was a little more sensitive than mine. All good readings draw out a moral, I think, and yours did so deftly.
Thank you all for listening to my audio efforts, I’m glad you enjoyed them.
Some remarks and answers to some questions:
Amadeus: The voice is unaltered, except for the addition of the reverb you noticed. I have a modest home studio based around Linux audio software, and the recordings were made with some of my favorite apps. Details can be found in my blog at http://www.linuxjournal.com (Confessions From Studio Dave). I’ve been studying Latin more or less intensely since I was in my early 20s, I’m 55 now. I’ve never taken a college course, but I did study privately for a while with Dr Richard Hebein at Bowlling Green State University (Ohio USA). After my initial studies I just kept at it. Btw, I learned metrics from Dr Hebein, but he is in no way responsible for my lapses.
Interaxus: More on the way. I’ll be posting some Propertius and some Medieval poetry, hopefully later today. I’ll post a notice when the files are on-line.
Lucus Eques: Thank you for your comments re: my pronunciation. It’s heavily influenced by Italian (my favorite modern language, of course), but I try to read as naturally as possible. I’m especially interested in the phenomenon of accent and its effect on intonation, and I’m not at all sure I have the right of it. You have no idea how hard it is for me to avoid pronouncing “miser” as “meezer”…
Again, my thanks for listening. I’ll notify this thread when I update the readings page, please feel free to comment, and I’m always open to suggestions regarding pronunciation.