Over 30 years ago I studied classical Greek at university but not Latin. I’m now self-studying Latin.
I started with CLC Book I, and then got diverted with DuoLingo. DuoLingo was entertaining but not very rigorous. It only has two units and has come under fire for being very light on content compared to other languages which have up to eight units.
I’m back onto CLC Book I and the CD-ROM and I’ve also discovered Latinum for spoken lessons.
I think the CLC course is very good but not very rigorous. I’m happy to see Book I to the end as its all good fun.
Latinum seems to offer an incredible amount of learning resources so I’m hoping I can get my reading fluency and vocabulary up to a reasonably high standard using their courses.
I’m not quite sure how to tackle the memorisation of declensions and conjugations.
I’m aware of other methods and courses. I listened to the Latin Tutor podcast which is worth a listen - lot of interviews with other Latin tutors and textbook authors like Ed Clarke.
The tools you use will change depending on what you want to do. Do you wish to have a thorough command of ancient Latin, to be able to read Cicero and understand the complex wordplay in the Aeneid? Or do you want to be able to read the Medieval theologians? Perhaps just say you’ve got a good grasp of the grammar and vocabulary? How you learn it will dictate which tools to adopt.
Duo is fun and its strength is encouraging daily practice, but it also definitely has its shortcomings.
Chris is right that it’s important to consider your goals… but for the basics, I think that any of the popular/standard textbooks will probably suffice. There are lots to choose from if you look in our book section.
Unfortunately for the conjugations and declensions of any language, I don’t think we can avoid simply spending some time with rote memorization. (Maybe others will disagree with this?) But you can supplement that with more interesting things like simple, graduated readers. Mix it up and have fun.
