Hi there,
I seem to recall having come across a method for learning to read Spanish that is very similar to Orberg’s Latin method, Lingua Latina. Could someone kindly point me in the right direction?
Also, has anyone had a chance to look at the new book: Lingua Latina: A College Companion?
Thanks,
CharlesH
I have not seen the College Companion.
I own Lengua Española: Comprensión by Svetoslava Staykova, and it is quite good — though it still needed a lot of editing when I read it. It’s good though, more than sufficient.
The link I am about to give is for Intermediate to advanced students. It follows the lingua latina method in that everything is explained in the target language. This site has won a number of awards although it is hard to find by google. I was using this about a year ago. Very useful.
Highly recommended for persons who want to become fluent. Method is all audio.
Glorious! thanks, Ken!
Thanks everyone. Just what I was looking for.
CharlesH
Hi
I am using Lingua Latina on my study of Latin, and I’ve got very happy to see that there’s something like it to teach Spanish.
Is there something like it to teach English? I don’t know what else to do to help my wife to learn English.
Thanks
how cool! anything similar for German i wonder?
wow, I see the Lingua Latina method is very well accepted by everyone 
For learning ENGLISH BBC has a good program … just go to google and ask about “learn english BBC”, you will find it. Although they don’t use the LL method, I believe the BBC program is a good one.
There is a very professionally done site for intermediate English learners available at
eslpod does use the LL method in that all the instruction is in English only … but it is not a look alike program. For anyone living in a foreign country who desires to attain native like fluency without living in an english speaking country for years, eslpod is the way to go. So far they have produced nearly 400 lessons. Each lesson consists of 2 parts: a topical and idiomatic dialog in mp3 format and a pdf study guide for that lesson. Each lesson is read at two speads, slow and normal. The dialogs are free while there is a small charge for the study guides. Its probably a lot more effective than expensive university courses. Incidentally, as I understand it, the founder of the site, is a retired professor of linguistics from UCLA. The method used is LIVING LANGUAGE.
Now for Spanish, a very similar approach is taken at this site:
ssl4you stands for “spanish as a second language for you”. I have personally used the podcasts and can attest to their amazing efficacy. The site has even received awards from the government of spain, if I recall correctly. In each lesson there is a little essay written by the site’s creator which she reads at an almost normal speed. The host that slowly goes through in spanish the entire lessons explaining all the idioms. The approach is LL in that all the explanations are in Spanish that the learner presumably already knows. For each lesson there is a transcrip which makes dictionary consultation a snap, if that is necessary. There is NO Charge for anything on the site - although it is pretty professional in scope. What really is really amazing is that this is the best site in the world for learning spanish at the intermediate level. Yet, an amateur produced it. A volunteer has done more to further spanish study than all of the professional teachers and professors of spanish in the UNITED STATES, more than all
Now what can we do for latin. I wish I could convince some people who are actually fluent in latin to produce for the web some viva vox learning materials similiar say to the assimil course. Starting in september I should be semi-retired by then. I personally would like to collaborate in such a project but don’t think I have the expertise to be the director.
PS: Organizations like the American Classical League are apparently worthless when it comes to promoting learning Latin beyond whatever little schools the small minded members work in. Why don’t they form a committee to work up a curriculum to teach latin to anyone in the world with a connection - I don’t understand. Too bad they can’t be sued for malfeasance. Sorry for the rant. It just burns me up that there are no really good viva vox materials on the net for latin. Even the members of the grex have been negligent in this regard.
Well, to date over 600 000 audio files have been downloaded from Latinum, so some people are finding the oral material there useful.
Lingua Latina et Graeca, though still only at the beginning, is also worth a visit.
http://jeltzz.com/lingualatinaetgraeca.html
By the time I’m finished recording Adler’s book, I expect to be fluent, as will a thousand or so others who are downloading and listening to the lessons regularly. That will be a rather significant rise in the Latin speaking population.
Evan.
The sad fact is, many people are good at reading and writing Latin, of those, some use Restored Classical. Of those, only a tiny minority place much importance on correct pronunciation, or for that matter on spoken Latin at all.
That is, basically, why there is so little out there on the net in the way of spoken Latin, and believe you me, I have written to god knows how many university classics departments asking for contributions - be it just a single poem, a few lines of Cicero.
Latinum exists because I could not find what I wanted, an intensive , free of charge oral course for Latin using restored classical pronunciation. I have usually ( but not always, as you can see from Latinum’s archives) hit a blank when I tried to get people to record Latin for me. I have discussed this matter with a number of academics, and basically, the consensus is that the reason I was having so much trouble finding people to record in restored classical, is that very few can do it, without extensive preparation - i.e. marking up the text first , and even then, they are nervous about having their efforts published online.
I spoke to Nancy at Salvi, http://www.latin.org/ and she said that those people who get together to speak, don’t as a matter or course get their vowel quantities right, so recording those informal conversations would not be beneficial educationally if I was concerned about this matter - and she pointed out that the likes of Sonkowsky et al carefully mark up their texts before recording. ( As indeed do I, but when I have finished with Adler, I will no longer need to do this for the words that I have encountered along the way)
I decided that this was not what I wanted for myself, I wanted to learn to get the vowel quantities right, from the inception of learning Latin, so that when I pick up Catullus, Cicero or my beloved Lucretius when I eventually achieve my desired level of fluency, I will be able to read correctly and fluently without too much effort. I want the Romans to resonate and sound in my ears as they wanted to sound - or as close to it as I imagine I can get - and after all, all restored classical variants that have been reconstructed are only approximations - albeit I believe quite good approximations - of the pronunciation used by the aristocrats on the Palatine Hill.
So, I started Latinum. http://latinum.mypodcast.com I was fortunate to have Johannes Alatius http://eclassics.ning.com/video/video/show?id=727885%3AVideo%3A12846
listen to every single episode of the first 30 chapters of Latinum, and correct the vagaries in my pronunciation. I am much more fluent a reader now, a few months onward. I listen to far more Latin on an average day than I do English.
In recording Latinum, I also made a decision to use the full range of accents. http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/LatinBackground/Pronunciation.html
I am convinced that these were used in Roman Poetry, just as they were in Ancient Greek poetry, and possibly also in oratory. I give my reasoning about this here:
http://latinum.mypodcast.com/2007/05/Culture_Broadcast_Number_Two-39046.html
-Evan.
This is incredibly exciting to find! Could anyone point to similar resources for French, Italian, German, and Greek?
I know that Lingua Latina was part of a series that also had French, Italian, and English books, and the Spanish book looks incredibly similar. Any other monolingual methods would be greatly appreciated!
Good effort! Alas, I am still struggling with the trilled “r”. It breaked all my attempts to read the Latin aloud but not silently.