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Curriculum recommendations for adult just starting Latin?


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Latin is next on my to-do list for self-education.

 

I'm planning to use Wheelock's text and the workbook and this workbook: http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/Wheelock-Latin/

 

I was never taught grammar at school and I feel like the study guide could help a lot with that since Wheelock's seems to assume you already have that background.

 

It might be something you want to look at.

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I only got about 1/2 way through Wheelock's -- I realized I wasn't really getting much out of it, even with the study group:

http://www.quasillum.com/study/latinstudy.php

but it's easy to join the group and see if it helps you.  I thought it was more helpful in the beginning, so it's probably worth signing up to do a few chapters with them if you already have Wheelock's.  They also do other books these days too.  So you may find your chosen book has a group.

 

I eventually gravitated over to Cambridge Latin, with Wheelock as a reference.  Wheelock was just too tricky.  As a result, a lot of the sentences looked like they could have meant just about anything and I found I was only copying the answers without really getting it.  In Cambridge though, there's a lot of natural review because it's mostly reading.  If you read a sentence wrong, the context will eventually catch up with you.

 

I've heard Ecce Romani is similar.

 

Oxford Latin wasn't bad either, although my kids balked at the amount of exercises.  I thought the exercises were nice review, but try telling that to a teenager.  (The artwork is awful, though.)  Course, you don't have to do them all, if you feel they're overkill.

 

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I'll put in a vote for Artes Latinae, as recommended in the original Well Trained Mind.

 

It's ideal for self-instruction; it worked very well for me as an adult with no previous Latin background. The full program (two levels) contains textbooks, CDs/DVDs or cassette tapes (which go along with the text & also help with pronunciation), grammar reference manual, teacher's guide, graded reader, and exam package.

 

AL starts out gently, but builds up over the course of the program and completes the entire Latin grammar along with a hearty introduction into reading real Latin authors (a lot of Caesar and bits of Martial, Phaedrus, Juvenal, etc) before you're finished. It gets you to the same point as Wheelock's Latin (with extra readings), but it was much easier for me to work through as a self learner. Lots of fun, too!

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I would recommend Lingua Latina and Visual Latin (DVD program). I'm friends with the producer, and have started watching the DVDs myself. I did Latin in college, but I can tell I'm going to learn Latin much better with this!! My alma mater fairly recently switched to Lingua Latina themselves (after I left....)

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I personally, need a grammar-based explanation to make sense of Latin sentences.

The Beginner's Latin Tutorial from the UK National Archives was immensely helpful. It gave me a good overview of Latin grammar.

 

Getting Started With Latin is the simplest and easiest intro I have seen.

 

Another grammar-based book I am trying to read now, is James McKeown's Classical Latin. It looks more interesting to me than Wheelock. I would love to read reviews of this book if anyone has used it.

 

Of course, too much of grammar-based Latin gets boring after a while. So, to mix it up with a bit of easy reading practice, Cambridge Latin and/or Minimus Latin are good to have on hand.

 

Latin Book 1 has a great yahoo group, it's free and one of my favorites.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Latinbk1/

 

I have this, too. Downloaded, printed and ring-bound. Have you used it for yourself or your dc? Please share more details of what you liked about it over other popular books. Thanks!

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Cambridge also has grammar.

 

The first couple readings might not have a huge amount of it.  That may be why there's this misperception that there's no grammar in Cambridge.  Wheelock blindsides you with tables in the first chapter, so everyone figures that's how all Latin books should be?

 

The Cambridge books I have also have tables of grammar for reference.  However, I think the writers of the Cambridge Latin series recognize that simply memorizing tables or translating sample sentences isn't learning a language.

 

There's a yahoo group for teachers of Cambridge Latin:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CambridgeLatin/?yguid=333082698

 

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