Well, How important to have correct pronunciation when you are learnig latin? I am just starting out and have read the first chapter of D’OOGE and was wondering how important it is.
If it is important what would be the best way to do it?
Thanx.
It is fairly important. You don’t want to try to come up with anything like a Roman accent, whatever that would sound like, but you do want to get vowel quantities correct (distinguishing for example between the a as in father and the a sound in but), and pronounce the consonants properly (I want to hear Kikero rather than sisero). This will prevent you getting into any bad habits which might marr your enjoyment of poetry later, or which might mark you as an ignoramus* when you speak to others who know Latin and were taught correct pronunciation.
When you read Vergil, Horace, Propertius, Lucretius, Catullus or Martial** you want to have some sense of the rhythm of the verses.
*(Is one ignoramus an ignoro?)
** Maybe not these last two or three…you are after all a pastor.
Turpissimus
Maybe not these last two or three…you are after all a pastor.
Thanks for the thought. But maybe I can read some of it to my wife. 
Ok, then I am one of those people if I hear the word pronunced and see it at the same time I can probably get it. Is there something available where I can do this?
Thanx.
Interesting question. Here is what OED has to say:
- An ignorant person.
[In reference to the origin of this, cf. Ruggle’s Ignoramus (acted 1615) ‘written to expose the ignorance and arrogance of the common lawyers’, in which ‘Ignoramus’ is the name of a lawyer. The word occurs also in the following title, evidently in legal connexion: ‘The Case and Arguments against Sir Ignoramus, of Cambridge, in his Readings at Staple’s Inn’, by R. Callis, Serjeant at Law (1648). See also quot. 1634 below.]
I suppose, ignoramus is singular.
My head falls off when I hear people say ignorami… 
I think pronunciation is an expected part of learning any language. When students learn French, Spanish, or German in high school, they are expected to know how to pronounce it, even if they never plan on going to France, Spain, or Germany; the same is true of Latin. The ignoramus argument is true too… of course there are some people who are skilled in Latin and don’t care about pronunciation, but bad pronunciation certainly gives a bad first impression to others.
A question still remains for me:
Ok, then I am one of those people if I hear the word pronunced and see it at the same time I can probably get it. Is there something available where I can do this?
Heh heh. Threads tend to get very easily derailed on all the internet forums I visit.
Ok, then I am one of those people if I hear the word pronunced and see it at the same time I can probably get it. Is there something available where I can do this?
I’m not aware of any. Certainly none that goes through the 2000 odd words that make reading Latin a comfortable and enjoyable experience.
Nevermind though. As I say there is no such thing as a “Roman accent”, so, if you are paying attention to vowel quantity and your consonants, you should wind up pronouncing it correctly.
Frankly, some of the reviews for that book make me shudder.
this is a brilliant programme if you want to learn latin, i’ve had it for a month and i can say loads of small phrases (still learning to spell them though!)
You learn Latin to read Latin!
Maybe you should make yourself up a tape (do they still manufacture tape recorders?) and listen to that on your way to work.
It seems to me that since Latin words change their stress as they change their endings (and, ut scis, they change their endings a great deal), without a thorough grasp of the rules (or rather rule) that determines where stress falls, you are likely to make a mistake.
One last thing, make sure you know the vowel quantities of all the words you learn. The first Latin textbook I had didn’t mark vowel quantities, and I’ve been a bit shakey on them ever since.
Turpissimus
Heh heh. Threads tend to get very easily derailed on all the internet forums I visit.
Yeah, me too that’s why I put it back to the front. 
You learn Latin to read Latin!
I thought so, but I do have to converse with others eventially, don’t want to be a ignoramus
Thanx for the help. I will take it seriously, but not so much that I don’t move on soon.