It starts off easy to follow. It continues to be easy to read. I followed advice here and read the first few chapters several times. I’ve since been trying to learn without referencing other sources ie; using context and the little pictures and footnotes. Got as far as chapter 12 like that, pretty much without a hitch. Oh, and I’m doing the Exercitia and following the Colloquia. Now in chapter 13 and it’s gone crazy. New case usage without any explanation (that I’m aware of) and I’m in and out of the textbooks every 5 minutes. And we’re up to 5th declension already. I find myself constantly looking in the tables trying to figure out which declension applies.
Anyway, my advice to other beginners out there: don’t be in any hurry to get to chapter 13. It’s disheartening to say the least.
I shall carry on (forgotten how to spell persevere). If I hadn’t spent money, I’d probably have knocked it on the head by now.
So there shouldn’t be too much worrying about whether a noun is fifth declension or not. I appreciate that now you have covered all the declensions that there is a lot to take in. There are not that many fourth and fifth declension nouns. The first two declensions are pretty straightforward. Its really only the third that can cause problems.
When you it the wall, you can always start again. Start from Chapter 2, You’ll feel like this is so easy. Go really slowly (I went throuogh too quickly the first time, Isort of finished, but crashed like a house of cards). A Companion by Neumann is really helpful.. There is also Lingua Latina Exercitia Latina I z(answers available "Lingua Latina Teacher’s Materials) and also Nova Exercitia Latina * by Carfagni (answers avaliable Kindle). And Lingua Latina Colloquia Personarum. You want all the reading and exercises that you can get.
I’m up to Chapter 13 for the second go round, and is seems really good this time.
Hang in there.
Alternatively post your answers here and we can try to help.
I dont know that’s it is is necessary to go all the way back to chapter 2 when you encounter difficulties. But certainly re-reading the text (often) is valuable. As is re-doing the exercises.
I dont know that’s it is is necessary to go all the way back to chapter 2 when you encounter difficulties. But certainly re-reading the text (often) is valuable. As is re-doing the exercises.
I have recently re-read from page 1 as a refresher. I have realised that I misunderstood some stuff along the way.
I think I’ve seen a pdf of that. It was riddled with errors, if I remember correctly. Also the version that I saw looks like it may have been for a different edition of the other books as numbers didn’t tally. Mind you, there are numbering errors in my exercitia book.
I wouldn’t presume to point out factual errors in something that I know so little of. No, I’m talking about typographical errors, stuff missing etc. My work makes me notice when something lacks proofreading/copy editing.
That pdf was dreadful - maybe it had been edited. Who knows.
Some discrepancies appear to be due to different editions.
LLPSI Exercitia Latina I: Edicion espanola: CULTURA CLASICA, 2011
LLPSI Teacher’s Materials: Domus Latina, distributed by Hackett Publishing Co. Inc. 2005
both bought in the UK.
Just one example: CAP XXVIII – Exercitium 11 has 16 questions, but Teacher’s Materials has 19 answers. Answers 11 to 19 correspond to Questions 8 to 16, which was relatively easy to sort out. Other discrepancies were more baffling.
I am a native Spanish speaker, and have worked with FR with Wheelock and the Companion by Jeanne Marie Neumann to complement grammar and clarify things I don’t understand very well. I really have nothing but praise for LLPSI. After almost a year working alone with Wheelock, I couldn’t see any results. After finishing Familia Romana I went back and started again, from the first chapter, and I can declare that with the second reading everything became easier and clearer, together with the great help of Wheelock. I think it is very important to work with Wheelock on all the paradigms, over and over again, until they are well assimilated. The context is given by LLPSI. It seems incredible, but there is no Latin grammar in Spanish that has the high level that Wheelock has.
Before starting Roma Aeterna, I’m reading the recommended texts here in the forum, and I couldn’t be happier. I can read and understand them without difficulty, and I think it’s all due to working with that holy trinity .
I actually came here to scour the forum for information about the Cambridge Latin course, but this thread jumped out at me because I very strongly share the sentiment about 13 being difficult
I’ve never actually completely finished FR. Made it to Capitulum XXXIII the first time, Made it to about Cap. XXII the second time. Got distracted did some other things besides Latin.
Coincidentally, recently just made it to Cap XIII again and yeah, Chapter 13 is probably my least favorite chapter in the book. The content doesn’t interest me much and the calendar system is insane (reference chart on p312 helps a little but still ).
This is one of those cases where some tolerance for ambiguity might serve one well. Before going back into review mode, perhaps just try pushing onto the next several chapters which I feel are easier and more interesting than chap 13. Agree with the comments here about needing outside references such as the Companion to Familia Romana. Looked at Wheelock but just not my cup of tea.
One thing that has helped me firm up a lot of my basics is a little drill book, “Get Started” with Latin by William Linney. The digital version is not expensive and surprisingly may even get you into a position where you can produce some basic Latin. It’s sort of funny how much time a student can put into FR and still not end up with a firm grasp how to conjugate the be verb
Anyhow, I will go back to FR again, but I am getting a little bit of FR fatigue. Was looking for a change of pace and stumbled on the Cambridge Latin Course. The deciding factor to give FR a rest for a while is that all five of the Cambridge Latin Course books are currently free in their online forms.
As adults, I believe that we all discover with the passing of life, what works or doesn’t work for us. I do not believe that there is an “ideal method” to study and learn something. I believe that over time we sharpen our senses and we can intuit what will work or not, and commit ourselves to verifying it empirically. For that reason, generally, when I recommend something, I always clarify “this is what worked for me”. As Ortega y Gasset said, “I am me and my circumstance”.
My interest in studying Latin was to be able to read De Rerum Natura… from there other goals have been born. For me it was fascinating, in chapter XIII of FR, to understand the entire Roman calendar system. Who has never heard or read the phrase “ides of March”? If I am reading Cesar, what a great explanation in FR of how the Roman army is formed, with the exact terms in Latin. How many people were accommodated and how during a party? Reading the first chapters I understood why Spanish and colonial houses in Latin America have the shape they have… of course, all of this can be learned by other means.
I have finished FR, in a while I will continue with RA. I went through the latest Cambridge Latin Course book up to the last chapter online, and I can say that I understood everything without any problem. Maybe I didn’t recognize a word or two, nothing important. FR is a single textbook, the Cambridge Latin Course are 5. It’s all a matter of what pace we want.
I have just read chapter XIII and would be interested to know what you found difficult. The Roman way of naming days is perhaps unfamiliar but the Latin seemed very clear. The inclusive reckoning of the Romans is often a source of confusion. Am I right in thinking that the real difficulty lies in the substance ie, in the calendar system rather than the Latin?
I’ll have to give your question some thought. I know that before cap 13 I was feeling good about my learning, but when it came to the exercitia for that chapter, I just felt out of my depth. It just seemd to be an avalanche of “difficult stuff” and I found myself having to re-read the entire chapter several times and look up declensions in wheelock, dictionary etc.
I’ve just read cap 14 and am about to read the relevant colloquium. Then I’ll have a look at the exercitia. Just need to recover some of that earlier confidence to be able to enjoy it.
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