How to learn Latin
Firstly, an admission. I’m no professor of Latin, neither am I linguist, nor am I a teacher and I have no experience of writing about learning Latin until now.
Luckily this means I’m ideally qualified to write about the subject.
Latin is not as difficult to learn as is sometimes believed. It uses the Roman alphabet, you don’t have to speak it, you don’t have to listen to it, instead all you have to do is learn to read. So while you could say it is harder to learn than French, Spanish, Italian etc (languages which all spring from Latin) you are only having to learn and practice one skill not many.
Reading Latin
To read Latin, as with any language, you have to acquire vocabulary but also you have to understand the grammar - more so than if you are learning a European language. This is because Latin word order is very different to English word order, and to make sense of a Latin sentence you have to parse it, by understanding the grammar and so put it into an order that makes sense - before translating.
The difficulty of any given Latin text depends on the vocabulary and the grammar, and due to the wide range of Latin text, just because you can read one piece of Latin doesn’t mean that you will be able to read another.
For example, I happen to have a great book entitled ‘Medical and Pharmaceutical Latin’ first printed in 1890. (I have a second edition with an up-to-date preface - 1914) with prescriptions as follows :-
Signetur. Lotio Crinalis Stimulans. Bis terve hebdomade fortiter infricanda.
Let it be labelled. The stimulating hair lotion. To be rubbed in vigorously two or three times a week.
How cool is that ? Very, but the vocabulary is very very specialized. (When I have time I’ll add some more of these prescriptions). The grammar is straight-forward but the vocabulary is specialized.
How to learn latin - where to start
Buy Teach Yourself Latin by Gavin Betts. This is a full on Latin course containing 31 short units each of which contains an element of grammar and more. It is a good book but intense (as in life is intense when you are a repo man ), and one that you can return to again and again.
Vocabulary acquisition
A major difficulty of learning to read any language well is that of acquiring sufficient vocabulary, and as already mentioned this difficulty is particularly acute in Latin because of the wide range and variety of Latin texts available.
Learning vocabulary in sentences helps, and Latin with its wide range of pithy expressions (veni, vidi, vici), handy mottoes and so on (dura lex sed lex) is particularly suitable for this. Also good for one-upmanship if you move in those circles. Posh dinner parties ?
Pick your area and learn the vocabulary that is appropriate. If pharmaceutical Latin is your thing there is no need to learn words like sword, citadel and storming. Non staining, mustard and at noon will be more useful.
Grammar
Latin grammar is reasonably consistent throughout the years but some styles are simpler than others and are written with less complex constructions. An example of Latin written in a simple style is the Vulgate, Saint Jerome’s translation of the bible and another is Winnie ille Pu (with large chunks written using simple grammatical constructions) as translated by Alexander Lenard
At the other end of the scale there is Classical Latin with complicated grammar ……
Quid faciendum. Whats to be done ?
It is very easy to become discouraged when learning Latin due to the large (overwhelming) amount of grammar and vocabulary you need to acquire. Don’t be discouraged, especially if you are learning for fun, but start simple and work your way up.
Also coming soon :- ten steps to reading Latin .
The aim of ten steps to reading Latin (coming soon to a website near you) is to teach the grammar needed to read the Vulgate and most of Winnie ille Pu.
Learn Latin words and phrases fast with Linguata Latin language software.
www.linguata.com