Your suggested materials for learning of the Latin language?

[Paulo]

I am still very new on this forum, I am also new to learning Latin .

I would like your opinion on the best learning options available in all forms, via Online, Programs, Apps, books, etc.

Here is my experiences so far in my personal searches - - - -

Programs: The most structured self-teaching I have at the moment is using Rosetta Stone’s Latin (not wasting any money, I’m using someone else’s) and it seems to be teaching me what I believe is correct, but when reading something of a “description” I have not noticed before I started a week ago, it said it is more aimed at ‘contemporary Latin’. Does this mean there will be noticeable differences between this and ancient Roman Latin?

Online: I have found a few guides , and even one suggested on this forum that I have looked to for help and understanding as well, and they are good for learning concepts of the language, and other rules.

Books: I downloaded the PDF for one of the books from this site called “Beginner’s Latin Book” by William C. Collar and M. Grant Daniell (although I haven’t gotten much into it, there are a few things that I don’t fully understand in the beginning explanations but I will manage), and also checked out The Gallic War (an edition with the original Latin on one side and translation on the other) from my schools library in hopes of learning by attempting to compare and read between the two halves.

Apps: All apps I have seen on the iOS store are pretty bad imo (at least the ones I have seen), and many others are paid for, but don’t seem good anyway

Pen-Pal / Language Sharing Chat sites: I don’t think I am ready for that yet

Thank you for suggestions

[bedwere]

Living Latin is a lot of fun, but it’s important to have a solid grammar foundation and learn the morphology and syntax. Find a book you like and stick to it. Some have also a key but in any case do post the answers to the exercises here.

PS

I found the Key to Collar and Daniell’s First Latin Book

[Nesrad]

What he said. Collar and Daniell is a proven method. Get the answer key, hunker down until you finish it.

[Paulo]

@bedwere

Living Latin is a lot of fun, but it’s important to have a solid grammar foundation and learn the morphology and syntax. Find a book you like and stick to it. Some have also a key but in any case do post the answers to the exercises here.

PS

I found the Key to Collar and Daniell’s First Latin Book

Thanks! I also afterwards downloaded the PDF for D’ooge’s book, as seeing there is a forum section just for it. Do you think one book is preferable to the other for any reason?

@Nesrad

What he said. Collar and Daniell is a proven method. Get the answer key, hunker down until you finish it.

I’m gonna check out that answer key right after I post this reply

[Nesrad]

Collar and Daniel wrote at least three different books:
Beginner’s Latin
First Latin Book
First Year Latin.

The key referred to by Bedwere is for the First Latin Book and only has the answers to the English to Latin exercises, if I remember correctly.

May I suggest Elements of Latin by D’Ooge, available here, here, and the key here.

[Paulo]

@Nesrad

May I suggest Elements of Latin by D’Ooge, available here, here, and the key here.

I am using the elements of Latin, but one thing that kept bugging me when I looked at Vowel pronunciation before was that it used “artist” and “artistic”, but to me the ‘a’ sound is the same in them. Do you know a better example of the pronunciation?

[scotistic]

1. Lingua Latina.

2. Lingua Latina.

3. Lingua Latina.

There’s no better way to get good at Latin. By all means use a grammar-translation primer of some sort to familiarize yourself with the outlines of the language, but Orberg’s course is the real deal. Get all of the supplemental readers too and read them many times.

[Paulo]

@scotistic

1. Lingua Latina.

2. Lingua Latina.

3. Lingua Latina.

There’s no better way to get good at Latin. By all means use a grammar-translation primer of some sort to familiarize yourself with the outlines of the language, but Orberg’s course is the real deal. Get all of the supplemental readers too and read them many times.

I found the books, and the pdf of one of the books I looked up after I found this site https://www.hackettpublishing.com/lingua-latina-per-se-illustrata-series but is this just Complete Latin Immersion but from a simple level up? If it isn’t, then I don’t know the different between it and a copy of the Gallic War I already have with the original Latin in it. What book are you suppose to start with?

Edit: My mistake. What I saw in a preview of the book didn’t have the illustration I saw from another PDF I found. This does look good, and I’ll start reading some of it tomorrow to try it out.

[Nesrad]

@scotistic

1. Lingua Latina…
   There’s no better way to get good at Latin.

And no better way to get discouraged and never make it past chap. 15. I’ve seen too many autodidacts fail using this method. Its reputation certainly justifies its use in a classroom, but I have yet to meet someone who has gotten through it on his own.

[pdenisowski]

@Nesrad

@scotistic

1. Lingua Latina…
   There’s no better way to get good at Latin.

Its reputation certainly justifies its use in a classroom, but I have yet to meet someone who has gotten through it on his own.

Well, I’ve gotten through it on my own, but in fairness it was hardly my first Latin textbook

I do agree that it’s not a good textbook for the raw beginner, but I think it’s an excellent (and dare I say it, fun) reader for someone who already has the basics of Latin. I also really, really like Orberg’s recordings of the text.

[Nesrad]

@Paulo

I am using the elements of Latin, but one thing that kept bugging me when I looked at Vowel pronunciation before was that it used “artist” and “artistic”, but to me the ‘a’ sound is the same in them. Do you know a better example of the pronunciation?

No, it’s as good an example as any. The difference between ā and a is just the duration. Ā is pronounced about twice as long. So, artist with the stress on the a is pronounced longer than the a in artistic with the stress on the second syllable.

[scotistic]

I’m in the same boat as pdenisowski - Lingua Latina was far from my first Latin book, but it catapulted me to a new level.

I’m not saying to pick up Familia Romana alone and pound away at it until you know all the grammar. As I already said, get another more traditional primer to explain things, or better yet, the College Companion or similar book for Orberg. That will smooth the way a bit.

N.B. I have no classroom experience with Latin, either as a student or a teacher.