Source for Latin passages to translate?

[Cosmos]

My ds11 is learning Latin with CAP's Latin for Children. We're partway through Primer B right now, and I feel the need for additional translation practice. My son enjoys the instruction of LFC, so I'm planning to keep the same program for now and supplement with some extra translating.

 

I don't care for the supplementary readers that CAP publishes, so I've been looking for another source of passages. I don't have any particular parameters except that they need to be fairly elementary.

 

I did find that the National Latin Exam publishes the exams from previous years. The Introduction to Latin level exam contains the perfect type of passage -- exactly what I'm looking for. So that's what we're using for now, but I'm on the look out for more.

 

Any suggestions for a book or website to try?

[Roxy Roller]

Laura Gibbs has translated Aesop's Fables into Latin. Here is her website - http://mythfolklore.net/?vm=r. If you look at the books published section, you can see the link to download Aesop's Fables for free.

 

I hope this helps!

[Sevilla]

Here is a Latin Cururriculum (free download - it's very comprehensive) that includes short readings with each chapter that follow a story format:

Via Latina I

 

Here is the author's website: http://www.pluteopleno.com/PluteoPleno/Home.html

 

It is more advanced than LFC and focuses on learning nouns the first year (verbs are the focus of second year). The author is helpful to email with if you have questions, he makes the workbook available for free which I appreciate. Its harder to teach if you dont havea Latin background, hereas LfC is easy to do with no Latin knowledge.

 

Edit: Its best for late grammar stage/early logic stage students in terms of difficulty.

Edited October 14, 2011 by Sevilla

[Cosmos]

Laura Gibbs has translated Aesop's Fables into Latin. Here is her website - http://mythfolklore.net/?vm=r. If you look at the books published section, you can see the link to download Aesop's Fables for free.

 

Here is a Latin Cururriculum (free download - it's very comprehensive) that includes short readings with each chapter that follow a story format:

Via Latina I

 

These both look very helpful. And they're both free! What could be better? Thanks for the suggestions!

[Kareni]

Coming late to this thread ....

 

Another fun possibility, particularly if your child is a Harry Potter fan, would be to obtain a copy of Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis. My daughter, now a Latin/Classics major at college, takes great delight in her copy. If you're not interested in purchasing a copy, you might see if your library has it or if you can borrow a copy through inter-library loan.

 

There are many other fun children's books in Latin:

 

Regulus (the Little Prince)

 

Winnie Ille Pu (Winnie the Pooh)

 

Ferdinandus Taurus (Ferdinand the Bull)

 

Cattus Petasatus: The Cat in the Hat in Latin

 

Olivia: The Essential Latin Edition

 

Here's an Amazon list with more and one more list.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Nomen Nescio]

Laura Gibbs has translated Aesop's Fables into Latin. Here is her website - http://mythfolklore.net/?vm=r. If you look at the books published section, you can see the link to download Aesop's Fables for free.

 

I hope this helps!

Specifically, what she's done is to gather all the Latin versions she can find in out-of-copyright sources and cataloged them and represented them in arrangements for different educational purposes. She's done much the same for Latin proverbs and has begun also gathering anecdotes she finds. You could do worse than to visit her blog every second day or so, because she presents part of her catalog in each category each day, so you can find a worthy translation exercise just handed to you on a regular basis.

 

Coming late to this thread ....

 

Another fun possibility, particularly if your child is a Harry Potter fan, would be to obtain a copy of Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis. My daughter, now a Latin/Classics major at college, takes great delight in her copy. If you're not interested in purchasing a copy, you might see if your library has it or if you can borrow a copy through inter-library loan.

 

There are many other fun children's books in Latin:

 

Regulus (the Little Prince)

 

Winnie Ille Pu (Winnie the Pooh)

 

Ferdinandus Taurus (Ferdinand the Bull)

 

Cattus Petasatus: The Cat in the Hat in Latin

 

Olivia: The Essential Latin Edition

 

Here's an Amazon list with more and one more list.

 

Regards,

Kareni

First of all, many of the things on the second list are a waste of money, including those items vanity-published and reviewed glowingly by the author B. Smith. I got suckered into buying Puer Zingerbri and I can just cry thinking of the money I wasted on the overpriced, badly translated crap accompanied by discolored printouts of blocky jpegs. Many of the other items on the list are sources available for free from sources like Google Books or Archive.org. Now, mind you they do seem to have at least OCRed the text rather than simply re-printed the freely available PDFs, so if you really need a bound hardcopy you might consider the price worth it, but I wouldn't assume the editing is a quality job, and editing mistakes can lead to tremendous frustration for a language learner.

 

Now, as a general comment I'd like to point out that children's books written in or translated into Latin are not necessarily easy for children to read or translate. At some point, I need to develop an FAQ about this to guide parents as to the stage at which the many sources available may be profitably used in Latin study. But here are some brief comments on some of the readily available children's books in Latin:

 

Winnie Ille Pū - Translatable, though I think you'll find that it needs the full-forty of Wheelock or equivalent before you tackle it. In any case, be sure and get the edition marked as revised, with notes and glossary.

 

Makita - An easy-reader, if you already have the full-forty under your belt. I particulary like the fact that the glossary in the back gives definitions in Latin.

Walter, Canis Īnflātus - Generally, I don't like having the English already given. But I think if your kid relies on it being the same as what the Latin says, he'll get caught out. Also, the subject matter is controversal in my household. It's not that we don't want to expose the child to the subject of farting, it's just that we don't think adults should be involved in children's discussions of such things.

 

Bella Illa Nox - Not available new, but not hard to find. The translation does not match well with the rhythm of the English original The Night Before Christmas, but it can be lilted in a sing-song way.

 

Vērē, Virginia, Sānctus Nicolaus est! - The Latin text is presented here twice: once in Latin, and once alongside the original English.

 

Dē Gallīnīs Ferōcibus - You can easily find this through Alibris or Abebooks, though it is published in Germany. It's a nicely dialogue-heavy story, with some neo-Latin vocabulary which unfortunately for us is glossed in German. It's not a transitional reader, but it's a light and fun story for about the same age group that the old Alvin Fernald books were written for.

Olīvia (The Essential Latin Edition) - There is not a lot of text here, but what there is should be translatable pretty early in a kid's Latin education. Just scanning here, it looks like there are no verbs given in the Perfect system. There is no vocabulary gloss, but I don't think finding the words or sussing them out in context will be a particular problem.

Ferdinandus Taurus - A pretty easy translation, once you are into the perfect system, and it would be an easy read if you had the vocabulary. Readily available cheap, I highly recommend it.

Trēs Mūrēs Caecī - An easy reader with short sentences in the present system with vocabulary in the back.

 

Lebusculōrum Schola - Another children's Latin book from Germany, but not hard to get your hands on in the internet age. I can't speak to the German text, but the Latin is in nicely rhythmic slant-rhymed couplets. Since you don't get a lot of complex sentences, it should serve well as a transitional translation exercise.

 

Fābulae Mīrābilēs - Readily available and absolutely not to be missed. It's marked as for "Intermediate and Advanced Students". I don't know what their criteria are, but it requires at least an understanding of the Latin perfect system.

 

Harrius Potter - People want this to be a fun way to practice Latin, but this is a full-forty level of Latin, and contains neo-Latin vocabulary that is not glossed anywhere in the book. There are also some editing mistakes that will prove a frustrating diversion from any fun your child might have trying to translate the text. But once you're at an advanced level of Latin, it is a delightful read.

 

Let me also just go ahead and deal with the Lexingtonian Latin translations in a bunch. In the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Terrence Tunberg, his wife Guenevera Tunberg and his colleague Milena Minkova. So far, they have produced among them Cattus Petasātus (The Cat in the Hat), Quōmodo Invidiōsulus Nōmine Grinchus Christī Nātālem Abrogāverit (How the Grinch Stole Christmas), Virent Ōva Viret Perna! (Green Eggs and Ham), Māter Ānserina (Mother Goose) and Abor Alma (The Giving Tree). In general, these are intermediate in terms of grammar, and so would make good translation exercises for students who have already gotten to the perfect system. Each of these books has vocabulary, and they are translated into Latin that matches the prosodic qualities of the original English, which I particularly like, but note the effect this has on the use of these texts for translation: the Latin doesn't say exactly what the English originals said, in many cases. Your kid can't expect his understanding of the English version to do all the work for him, but it will certainly help.

 

Of these, I particularly recommend getting a hold of Māter Ānserina early, because not only does it have glossed vocabulary on each page, and accent marks to help the reader bring out the poetics of the translations, it also comes with a CD of the rhymes being read and sung, which can allow a kid to learn the rhymes even before he's ready to translate them and can then serve as groundwork for a later understanding of points of grammar for which the child has already committed an example to memory.

[NittanyJen]

Wow! Thank you for the extended review!

[Emerald Stoker]

nm

Edited November 21, 2012 by Honoria Glossop

[Cosmos]

Thank you, everyone, for all the suggestions and detailed reviews. We will have no lack of Latin material to translate!

 

Here's another one I came across, for others looking. 38 Stories Designed to Accompany Wheelock's Latin. I'm not a judge of good or authentic Latin, but these are at a good level for my young beginner with sufficient hints on the page.

[MicheleinMN]

:lurk5:

[Halcyon]

Here is a Latin Cururriculum (free download - it's very comprehensive) that includes short readings with each chapter that follow a story format:

Via Latina I

 

Here is the author's website: http://www.pluteopleno.com/PluteoPleno/Home.html

 

It is more advanced than LFC and focuses on learning nouns the first year (verbs are the focus of second year). The author is helpful to email with if you have questions, he makes the workbook available for free which I appreciate. Its harder to teach if you dont havea Latin background, hereas LfC is easy to do with no Latin knowledge.

 

Edit: Its best for late grammar stage/early logic stage students in terms of difficulty.

 

This is great! Thanks.