I have decided that I likely need to do the Dowling method before delving in to LLPSI, as my reading comprehention slowed down chapter by chapter. I get the jist of memorizing and repeating all the tables for the core morphology, but where can I get these tables?
I see online a lot of references to the “back of Wheelock’s Latin”, but I’m not intending to buy a whole book just for the last two pages or so, so if there is some online overview of the grammatical tables I would love to know where to find them. All i find are different quizes to test you in the grammar but not any overview of the grammar.
I am personally quite sceptical of the Dowling Method; it seems to me to be the single best way to destroy motivation and deter someone from learning an otherwise very fun and exciting language. Another problem, I find, is that if you memorise a particular paradigm in a specific order every time, you may find yourself needing to cycle through the ordered list to find the right inflection.
Nonetheless, there is an undeniable value to memorisation, so what I would personally recommend is continuing with LLPSI, and every time you encounter a table (which is only really after chapter VII) do a Dowling-esque table memorisation—ad nauseam, I’d say, rather than specifically 200. Once you find it so boring you no longer have think and remember what to write, you’ve probably understood it. This means that you can employ Dowling’s brute memorisation techniques but not in a vacuum; you’ll have already understood the context in which the words are given those inflections.
More on the topic of where to find good tables, LLPSI does have tables at the back that I feel are definitely adequate, although Wheelock’s are more extensive (or redundant…?). There is also something called Dowling’s wheel that has the same sort of thing, but almost any respectable Latin textbook and all Latin Grammar books should have the tables too.
Saint Louis University in the U.S.A. has some helpful charts on their Latin Teaching Materials pages (they work for teaching yourself also). Link: https://slupe.org/pavur/tchmat/path/tchmat.html
Looking at the first result online for the Dowling method, I found a document which gives as its first example for the use of ablatives:
Magister librum in mensa ponit
which I am fairly certain is incorrect - it should be in mensam (accusative - motion towards). This essentially defeats the whole purpose of that section. EDIT - it is indeed correct, but clearly not a good example to use!
The way I learnt the ablative I think is much better - learn that it is usually translated by by/with/from, and then expand on the grammatical terms which these encompass (ablative of agent, ablative of manner, ablative of separation etc.) as one comes across more examples in text. When one comes to learn Greek this helps too - you can learn genitive of separation, dative of time when etc. rather than haphazardly guessing that a Latin ablative will be either a Greek genitive or dative.
This booklet explains the Ablative very well, although I found the list of examples rather daunting. Ablative Phrasebook: Mastering Latin’s Most Interesting Case
by Claude Pavur (Author, Translator), James Greenough (Translator)
Thanks for all the good advice and resources! I will be using the tables of LLPSI for now as I continue to read along the chapters. I will also be buying a simple introduction to Latin grammar like Gwynnes Latin, but will follow the advice of doing grammar work parralell to LLPSI - rather than holding off on reading.