Seeing some new members has made me think about the lack of Latin “easy readers” on the internet. I have managed to find one old textbook in a 2nd hand shop (not old enough to be out of copyright!) but most of the written stuff is a bit advanced for beginners. My reader also has some basic grammar info & wordlist for each story. Reading is certainly the best way to improve your understanding of a language.
Regards
Carola
There is a serious lack of “easy read” material in latin for the not-quite beginner. I have a 14 year old who has done three years Latin in school but trying to find anything he can read that is suitable is really difficult.
The syntax of real Latin makes the readers I have too difficult for him, while Medieval Latin like Gesta Romanorum uses some pretty odd vocabulary and syntax for a teenager studying the Classical language. The only halfway house I have found is a book called “Latin from Common Entrance to GCSE” which his school decided was so good, they decided to take it on mid term as the textbook!
Does anyone know of anything out there that lacks the syntactic difficulties of Cicero (or even Caesar), has accessible vocabulary and might just be a good read?
Vin, we seem to have been swamped with replies! Looks like preparing a textbook of easy Latin reading material might be a sure winner in the textbook market. I knew that Latin course I am doing at the moment would be useful one day!
Some sections of the Vulgate version of the Bible might be fairly easy for beginners to read. The syntax is simple, the vocabulary is not extensive, and most people are at least vaguely familar with many of the stories in the Bible. However, in these post-Vatican II days the Vulgate is not so easy to find. I have yet to find it in a used-book store. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in any book store, used or new. I have seen on-line versions of the Vulgate, but have yet to find it anywhere in a form that could be downloaded, such as an Adobe pdf or MS-Reader file. I am learning Latin now, so if anyone could tell me where to download the Vulgate, I would be grateful. Or maybe that could be a future project for this website? 
Yes, of course - that sounds like a good subject. We really listen to our visitors in terms of picking what books to convert. It’ll have to wait in line though, I’m up to my elbows in books that need to be put online 
Carola,
You know, you may be right. I just got back from Rome - bookshops full of cheap paperback editions of Latin texts with facing page Italian translations but nothing in the “syntactically easy” department. Maybe this could be an international bestseller!
Vin
Writing a best selling Latin book probably belongs in the same catagory as my “career” as a jazz saxophonist :
I notice that there is a Latin Reader that Jeff is going to scan - how about moving it up the queue Jeff?
Will do, I have been a little too Greeky lately… right now i’m working on 2 Latin Books, Livy Books 1 & 2 from Ginn’s CSOLA and Extracts from Cicero. The Latin Reader is from Harkness - sorta old. It’ll have to get in line behind all the books that have already been photocopied - 6 or 7.
[quote author=jeff link=board=3;threadid=35;start=0#122 date=1049152335]
Will do, I have been a little too Greeky lately…
[/quote]
One can never be too Greeky!
–
wm
pOs gar ou; as they say over in the Greek forum, alla ar men any simple Greek readers on the way; I’m de finding the Anabasis lacking in oomph what it has in participles.
Good public domain beginner level content is hard to find. Also difficult to find are public domain Keys.
I have just this week acquired two beginner level readers which introduce Xenophon. I’m not sure when I can post them however. I’m looking at stack of 30 books yet to be scanned.
I’m going to bang out some Latin content first and then move on to NT Greek.
Do you or anyone else have an opinion on those old time interlinears? I have one around but have not posted it because it seems there are much better places to spend my time and energy. I’m thinking I’ll post some brief selections from it and see how it goes…
For those looking for some easier classical Latin texts to begin with I can offer the following suggestions. These are not in any particular gradated ranking of difficulty. Just off the top of my head.
IN VERSE
Ovid, Ars Amatoria, BK I (a book on how to pick up chicks. To be fair
Ovid offers advice to the women in the 4th book);
Ovid, Metamorphoses BKs. I and VIII (epic poem containing many
mythical stories. Not only fun, but
beautiful writing. As all of Ovid.)
Seneca, Thyestes (a bloody gruesome tragedy, much fun to read)
Catullus (short poems, fickle, witty, naughty, funny and trivial; longer
ones which are loftier especially 64 which is a mini epic; all
of them finely crafted pieces.)
Vergil (once you get used to verse, Vergil is not so tough, and he is the
master.)
IN PROSE
Cornelius Nepos, the life of Atticus (very easy, very straightforward
biographical work on Cicero’s closest friend,
and written by a contemporary.)
Seneca, Apocolocyntosis (a hilarious satyrical slam at the emperor
Claudius. Has a mixture of prose and verse.)
Cicero, Brutus (This is a dialogue concerning the History of Oratory.
There are technical terms which are not easy to get a
hold of, but the Latin itself is very straightforward.)
Suetonius, life of the divine Julius (Another biographical work)
Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic wars
Every Latin work of course will have some difficult spots, and these will sometimes be different spots for different readers. I felt I should put that in as a disclaimer.
Have fun,
Sebastian
Hi! Carola/Jeff
I saw your April message inquiring about interlinears.
Are you still interested? I have gobs of info about them. I have a sizeable collection of them, and also make some. Very helpful stuff, I think, for purposes (at least) of restoring rusty Greek or Latin. Maybe even for learning up front (John Locke was one of the major promoters of them!).
Chuck