Latin, do your dc actually learn to speak it?

[mothergooseof4]

We are in Texas and Spanish would be useful. I have studied Spanish in the past and remember un poco, but it seems to come back easily when I start looking through curricula to teach. However, I keep looking at Latin and think it would be really fun to learn. I am curious if any dc actually learn to speak Latin. Do you speak it at home to practice? If you actually teach them to speak it, what curricula do you use?

 

I would love to learn it, but just think Spanish would really be more practical and most likely to be used in our area. My ds has also chosen Spanish when given the choice. But, Latin keeps calling to me and doing both just isn't going to happen here.

[Amy Jo]

You could try "I Speak Latin", but no, I don't plan to speak Latin much, even though I would like to conduct Latin class time in Latin, and I think games are great. I'm also a person that needs to be able to pronounce a word in order to memorize it. (I'm assuming you mean conversational speech - most programs will have you recite grammar & vocabulary aloud, some have you do greetings & commands in Latin, so it's not going to be all reading!)

 

How old is your ds? Could you do a light Spanish course: a video like SALSA, learn some songs, etc. that wouldn't take much time.

 

But since you are the teacher, I think you need to want to teach! So if you want to do Latin, you should. After all, in Latin no one will care if you pronounce the word 'wrong'. And Spanish shares a LOT of vocabulary with Latin: Spanish and Italian through Latin - I hope that link works, it's a PDF.

Edited June 19, 2012 by mtcougar832
trying to make link work

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, not yet, but it is our goal! Ever since Mo has started to figure out Pig Latin, Miss P is looking for a new "secret" language for the two of us, and is convinced Latin is it! :D

 

We're really enjoying Latin, and hope to achieve reading fluency, and some speaking ability. But I do think that she needs to learn Spanish. I speak some Spanish and it is by far the most useful language in our area - most of our neighbors speak it, and people need it for many many jobs in our area. I tell her that eventually she should consider switching or adding Spanish but so far she's not interested. I figure that all this time spent on Latin will make learning Spanish much easier, though.

[angela in ohio]

No, they read and write it. They know how to pronounce it enough to read their translations or discuss their work.

 

There is a big trend in schools right now to teach it more like a modern language. If you google, you should find plenty of public school resources for that.

 

I have taught Latin with Spanish as a secondary language. But if I lived in Texas, it would be the other way around! If you start early, there really is time for both. :001_smile:

[Nestof3]

I don't understand. Do you mean, you teach the word, for example, navigo, but don't actually say it audibly?

 

Or do you mean you don't require the students of Latin to speak it as part of their exercises.

 

For example, we don't aim to dialogue in Latin, but my boys read their answers aloud to me while we are doing Latin (we all three do it together), and when I teach them, I say the words aloud.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

For my ds, he learned to read it and apply vocabulary knowledge to other vocabulary words. He did learn Latin grammar also to help with his reading. Along the way he did pick up how to pronounce words and can put sentences together. Learning to speak it was not our goal. When he finishes translating a reader he will have earned his 2 high school credits in Latin.

[Nestof3]

For my ds, he learned to read it and apply vocabulary knowledge to other vocabulary words. He did learn Latin grammar also to help with his reading. Along the way he did pick up how to pronounce words and can put sentences together. Learning to speak it was not our goal. When he finishes translating a reader he will have earned his 2 high school credits in Latin.

 

That would be a lot easier. It never crossed my mind not to have them speak the words. I wonder what is done in schools. If I remember correctly, I wasn't required to speak Latin in college. Hmmmm

[Heather in VA]

I think it depends on what you mean by 'speak it'. I don't see any benefit to it being taught like a modern language so that you can converse in it. But my Latin studier (currently going to be a senior in her 5th year of high school level Latin) does know how to pronounce and read aloud. She griped at first about the usefulness of being able to pronounce it but then she took two year of Latin with a teacher from Veritas Press. He would read them Latin poetry and prayers and it was just so beautiful she understood that studying the pronunciation wasn't about speaking a dead language, it was about hearing the beauty of the literature written in that language.

 

Heather

[2_girls_mommy]

Sure we speak it. We have used Prima Latina and Latina Christiana I so far. Next year we move up to First Form 1. All teach prayers and songs in latin. We pray every day in latin at some point. We do some conversational latin just like I did in Spanish classes as a kid. "What is your name?" "How are you?" " I am ..." etc are fun ways for the kids to open the class time. Then we speak our recitations of noun declensions and verb conjugations each period.

 

We will never probably have full conversations like with a modern language. But the kids enjoy learning another language and speaking it.

[luvnlattes]

I don't see any benefit to it being taught like a modern language so that you can converse in it. But my Latin studier (currently going to be a senior in her 5th year of high school level Latin) does know how to pronounce and read aloud.

 

This is similar to how the Latin teacher at our co-op teaches. The kids don't talk to each other in Latin but she corrects their pronunciation when they read aloud their exercises. My son also corrects me if I use an incorrect pronunciation :D so I know it's drilled into them.

[trishalinn]

Yes! We aim even at this young age to speak, read, and write Latin. I have become convinced that Latin is so useful (just published a blog post on this yesterday http://intoxicatedonlife.com/2012/06/18/7-reasons-why-im-learning-latin-and-teaching-my-kids-too/ ). I'm excited to be learning Latin with my son and I'm planning on introducing another language, maybe Spanish in a couple of years when we have a more firm grasp on Latin. FYI, this past year we used visual Latin and supplemented with I speak Latin. Really enjoyed both programs.

[angela in ohio]

I don't understand. Do you mean, you teach the word, for example, navigo, but don't actually say it audibly?

 

Or do you mean you don't require the students of Latin to speak it as part of their exercises.

 

For example, we don't aim to dialogue in Latin, but my boys read their answers aloud to me while we are doing Latin (we all three do it together), and when I teach them, I say the words aloud.

 

I think this is what the OP was talking about: dialogue, like with a modern language.

 

But that's not what other posters seem to mean. Commonly, refering to spoken Latin means teaching dc to carry on conversations, teaching them household words, colors, numbers, etc. first (instead of sailor, soldier, poet :D.) The grammar will not be front-loaded (as with most classical Latin programs,) but will be taught later.

 

Most people in the course of teaching it will chant declensions and conjugations and say the words out loud, even reading passages out loud. That is different than treating it like a modern language.

[2_girls_mommy]

I see what you mean. So then no, we don't necessarily teach it to speak that way, besides the few latin phrases we learn for fun to open the sessions. Memoria Press is definitely a grammar first program. This became a problem for us when dd9 was going to take the Elementary Latin Exam. She bombed the practice test because it is based on everday vocabulary like colors, body parts, family members, etc. MP doesn't work that way. So my dd had to study lists of those things in her free time to take the actual exam. Those things come up in her vocab lists when they fit in the declension we are studying, not in a list of related vocab things.

 

So yes we speak it aloud, but our classical program actually teaches grammar, not conversational as a general rule.

[Nestof3]

Thank you very much! This helps. No, I don't intend for my kids to carry on conversations in Latin, but we do learn how to speak each word, and we speak the words when we read, let's say the Latin sentence and then our English translation.

 

I think this is what the OP was talking about: dialogue, like with a modern language.

 

But that's not what other posters seem to mean. Commonly, refering to spoken Latin means teaching dc to carry on conversations, teaching them household words, colors, numbers, etc. first (instead of sailor, soldier, poet :D.) The grammar will not be front-loaded (as with most classical Latin programs,) but will be taught later.

 

Most people in the course of teaching it will chant declensions and conjugations and say the words out loud, even reading passages out loud. That is different than treating it like a modern language.