A new version of “Latin for Beginners” has been published. Like many people here on Textkit, this book started me down the road to learning Latin. I quickly realized that I wanted a hard copy to go with the electronic versions that populate the web. I finally found a copy of the 1911 edition but always thought it a shame that it wasn’t readily available.
I have spent the past couple of months revising and assembling a new edition. The Centurion Edition celebrates the 100th anniversary of the original date of publication of the Latin classic. This is not a scanned version. The text has been retypeset and formatted to a slightly larger size. All the original illustrations and plates have been included (in black and white).
While great effort has been made to remain faithful to the original published work, some formatting changes were intentional, if not necessary. Special vocabularies have been moved from the appendix and placed with their respective lessons. Exercises have been reformatted from paragraphs into numbered lists. A new index has been generated.
As a bonus for the Latin scholar, included after the reading material, is the ballad of Horatius from The Lays of Rome by Thomas Babbington Macaulay. In lessons L-LII there is a latin version of how Horatius held the bridge.
On a related note, I have finished entering almost all of the D’Ooge vocabulary, grammar, and lesson questions and answers into the BYKI format: http://rustymason.com/edu/lang/latin/LatinFC.html
I am still finding and fixing errors, but it’s coming along. I haven’t yet added grammar cards for Review Levels VI - IX. Mox.
Congratulations again on your new book, I can’t wait to see how it looks with the fresh type face and new arrangement. Are you going to have a preview available at Amazon?
Rusty,
Can you tell us a little about that? I looked at the BYKI website, but what is it you like about it that motivated you to use that format? I’ve not yet tried the software (I see they have a free version). Do you have their latin stuff, too?
Ed
The BYKI flashcard program lets me enter long sentences and paradigms with macrons, bolding, and italics, something some other programs couldn’t. It automatically creates matching and concentration-style games, as well as tests with multiple choice or write-in answers, and keeps test scores and histories for individual users. I am able select one, two or more lists at a time. There’s also a mesmerizing routine which creates a relaxing study session. Your Latin and/or English words swirl around on the screen, float on a cloud background, and swirl off.
It imports and exports in Excel and Word format, and (supposedly) imports HTML. I can print out cards in a couple or three different sizes, or print out a list with English on one side and Latin on the other, or in the case of the grammar cards, questions on one side and answers on the other.
BYKI’s lists are too basic; I just wanted the program itself. I needed an “engine” which would allow me to easily import D’Ooge to help my young children study the LfB vocabulary, grammar, and Latin-English sentences, and BYKI is one of the few I tried. There might be something better but I didn’t look much further; this does all I need for now. It could use a better editor but the Excel import is good enough for large batch work.
We also use it for our weekly class certamen. Discipuli id amant.
Thanks to Benissimus and others who gave us the D’Ooge file and answer key, they really helped me a lot with checking my own answers. I guess this is my way of “giving back” ut dicant. I’m still finding errors here and there and will correct and re-upload over the coming year.
It can take up to 15 days for the book to show on Amazon (gripe!). I definitely plan to investigate the “Look inside” feature. I rarely buy books myself that don’t have it. I probably should put together a PDF sample to post here.
Here is a sample PDF showing part of the inside of this new version. I wanted to include more pages (and images) but can only upload a file that is smaller than 256K.
Thank you Rusty for posting the info elsewhere. I noticed today on Amazon that the “Look Inside” feature has finally populated, allowing you to now see the inside of the book.
Over the last couple of months, following from a few requests both from textkitters and others who like this book, I have been recording Dooge’s text in audio, for release as a DVD - I expect it to be online in a few days from now.
My version refers to the pagination of the original edition, and has 107 episodes.
I have also just finished recording Underwood’s Latin Course for medical students - all the verb and noun paradigms, and all the examples, are tailored to the medical and pharmacology student. It makes for an interesting twist on the standard approach.
That looks like someone just took the google books scan and uploaded it to Lulu. There’s a huge difference between someone reprinting scanned pages and someone completely re-typesetting the book.
Eager to hear it. How are you going to pronounce words such as ii, inii, iissem and iens? Are you going to do a short i vowel sound as a complete syllable, or treat the first i as a y?
I just ordered a copy of this book from bookdepository.co.uk for €12.14 (and free postage to anywhere in the world).
A couple of years ago I worked through about two thirds of the book from the internet. It’ll be nice to have a printed copy and in due course I hope to complete my study of the book (I’m studying Oergberg’s Lingua Latina 1 at the moment).
I’m curious if you will make an e-book edition available. While I like the printed editions, I don’t like the weight, so e-books are better for transient study. Having a native PDF where you get crisp text and can change the font size is a real improvement over image scans
I LOVE Ørberg’s course! Am using it for self-study. Now on Chapter 6. It is by far the best textbook and set of materials I have ever seen for learning Latin WELL. I have the full set of books, including the Teacher’s Manual and Answer Key. I just took a look at Latin for Beginners. Definitely not my cup of tea, I’m afraid, as a textbook for learning Latin (yawn). For reference, I have Allen and Greenough, Gildersleeve, and the Oxford Latin Grammar. Also The Big Gold Book of Latin Verbs for quick verb form checking. And as a supplement to Ørberg: Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency, which is fun whenever you want to chat with someone in neo-Latin, and the two Scanlon books for church Latin. Anyway, if you want to talk about the Ørberg book, I’d love to do so!
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