I have a quick question. How much in miles is 20000 Roman paces?
Also, as far as my Latin learning goes, I took a long break because of school and I have been rather lazy these past two months (it is summer), but I am going to get back to it. And I came up with an idea on how to continue my Latin studies: I’m going to continue with D’Ooge, but I’m also going to translate Orberg, and that book titled Ad Alpes (I have to buy it first) all at the same time! It’s going to be a free-for-all! I’ll just pick up on whatever I feel like doing on that day. How does that idea sound to you all?
Also, I’m just realizing, since I’m almost done with D’Ooge, once I actually finish it, I was thinking of replacing it with Caesar’s works (I have the Loeb of his Gallic War). How does that sound to you all as well?
And also, I want to mention, the reason why I am suddenly having this passionate desire to learn so much Latin is because last night I was reading on Paracelsus and how he was such a learned man. The study of Latin seems to have been the beginning of it all for him, and he even wrote many of his works in Latin, so I thought that I should become well-versed in Latin as well since the learned men of the past are an inspiration to me.
P.S. Is my Latin in the title of this thread correct?
Oerberg wasn’t meant to be translated. Ad Alpes might have been, but I wouldn’t recommend translating that either. Just read them. Use Luke Ranieri’s audio recordings (free on YouTube) for Oerberg and Daniel Pettersson’s (at Latinitium, not free) for Ad Alpes. I’d provide the links, but I believe that is strictly verboten for new members.
You’ll learn better by focusing on learning to read and comprehend the Latin as Latin, rather than translating. As Dr.Seamus Macdonald points out, translation is a high-order skill, not a low-order one. That is, to translate well, you have to know the language well. Translation, to succeed and do justice to the original, needs skill in communication. Plus, it buys into the assumption that the Latin only can/should be understood in English (or another native language) terms. Better to learn to appreciate Latin on its own terms. Oberg is a good text. But instead of translating, I suggest things like asking and answering questions of the text in Latin, or taking notes on it in Latin. You could draft some of these efforts and then run them by folks here with questions.
That’s exactly what I was thinking! Because just like every Latin writer has his own style, every Latin learner has it’s own style as well, so I was thinking that the sooner I interact with different styles (with learners for now) once I am met with the different styles of Latin writers I won’t be so taken aback.
Also, I forgot to mention, I am currently reading the Bible on my free time, and what I have began to do is go to the Vulgate (online version for now but I must own a copy of one some day) and read verses in Latin that I enjoyed reading in English. I bet you all would agree that that’s a pretty good idea too.
I’m aware, but translating has really helped me retain in memory what words mean when translated to English, for it was a common occurrence when I was learning by just reading for me to forget what some words meant. I’m doing that now with Latin learners so that I won’t have to do it when I get to Latin writers, that is unless I plan on translating their works to try to get them published which I intend on doing with some writers.
So, what you’re saying is that translating is a hard skill to build? So, why not undertake it from the beginning then since it’s not as hard as say composition? I pretty much answered your question in my previous post.
I believe persequor’s point is rather that translation is a skill that doesn’t create but instead presupposes the ability to understand: to do it well, you need to have understood the text already. So starting by translating in order to understand is putting the cart before the horse. But if you’re already convinced that translation is the best way to learn, then we won’t get very far arguing about it here.
Well, translating demands skill in two languages. To do it well is an act of communication. The Latin author is also attempting communication with readers. To translate him/her well, you must understand him well. And when translating, the same principle applies. If you do not have a good grasp of your original, your translation will not be understandable or correct. As part of my job, I am a Spanish/English interpreter. I have to know both languages really well, to be at home in both, to succeed and help the Spanish speaker and the service representative speak to each other. When I was learning Spanish, we learned first to communicate in it, with spoken dialogues. We then started learning to read. When the time came to learn Spanish literature, we had several years of speaking Spanish and understanding spoken Spanish behind us. There was no need to translate to understand the text. Composition can help with this also. I had almost no translation exercises to do when learning Spanish. I did have a few in college, but in an advanced course, after five years of working to communicate in Spanish first.
While working with an ancient language like Latin is more challenging, it can be done with communication. Not to say that looking up vocab or grammar is bad. It can help sometimes. But treating the Latin as Latin will lead to better mastery of it and enjoyment in the long run.
As part of this approach, I recommend listening to the Latin source material if you can get audio files. Also, reading aloud. And if you have a chance, speak Latin with somebody. I did this for several years with a friend, after church services. We both enjoyed it and it helped our Latin. For the Vulgate, there is good audio available for the New Testament (complete), and Textkit’s own bedwere is recording it for the Old. See his page on Archive.org for downloads. For the NT ones, see my blog’s resources page for a link.
Learning Latin through communication would definitely be a hard thing to do! So, for now I think I’m going to stick to just translation, after which I’ll just move on to reading, and then I’ll practice composition. The order of how to learn Latin compared to Spanish or maybe any other modern language should definitely be approached differently in my opinion.
