Latin Book- just translations

[Classic Mom]

I am looking for a Latin Book with just practice translations- no grammar, lessons, etc.  I am looking for something more challenging than Ecce Romani level but easier than translating Caesar or Cicero.   

 

I have Henle and may just pull translations from there, but I am hoping for another option.

 

 

This kind of book is what used to be called a "Reader".  I don't know of any keyed to Henle, but there's a book keyed to Wheelock called "38 Latin stories", which are progressively more difficult, and "Scribblers, Sculpters and Scribe", which is all original Latin, though much of it is pretty easy.  I'd also recommend "Lingua Latin, per se Illustrata, Familia Romana", which is entirely in Latin, and again, progressively more difficult.  Lots of reading there.

 

There are many, many readers published in the 1900s which are now freely available for download from google books and elsewhere, though often the scan quality is a bit low. One of the most charming of these is Nutting's "de America", a short American history written entirely in short snippets of Latin in 1913: You can download it for free or read online at: http://archive.org/details/afirstlatinread00nuttgoog

[Cosmos]

Have you looked at Bolchazy? They have Latin materials of all sorts.

[Classic Mom]

Thank you! Just placed an order for the Lingua Latin...I'll look at the others later, but that one was just what I needed.

[Tranquility7]

Another resounding vote for Lingua Latina here.  We LOVE it!  DS and I went through GSWL first, then we started Latin Alive and Lingua Latina at the same time (I trade off because they are just very different but IMHO complement each other well).

 

Depending on how much your kids enjoy Latin and what Latin you have done before, Lingua Latina may be a great fit.  Be warned that it includes lots of vocabulary, but it is often easy to figure out from context *if* they know a little vocab and grammar to start with (with the exception, in my opinion, of quirky things like the many forms of pronouns - those can be very confusing in LL and might require some explicit explaining).  We also find the vocab fairly easy to remember since it has been learned in context.

 

We generally read about a chapter a month (we are now in chapter 6 or 7 I think).  YMMV esp if you have older/more experienced kids.  We read the new chapter a little at a time, both looking at the book together.  We trade off reading aloud by sentence, and later by paragraph.  There are questions at the end of the chapter which are fun to ask and answer.  We also think up our own questions (variations on theirs, usually).  We impress DH quite a lot when he overhears us, LOL!  We also often review previous chapters because we get better at understanding everything said in them and have more fun with the questions.  That said, DS has gotten pretty bored with chapters 1-3 now, so I rarely revisit those anymore.  I've heard it ramps up pretty steeply, but so far in Ch 7 we are still getting a lot out of it and really enjoying it.

 

I also sometimes discuss the grammar explicitly with DS when we are having trouble understanding something (such as the aforementioned pesky pronouns).  I highly recommend the College Companion that explicitly explains some grammar concepts and translates vocabulary in case you find you need a little reference for yourself once you get started.

 

We adore our Latin studies, and I think Lingua Latina is one reason why.  I'll never forget when we first picked it up and DS's eyes got huge and he thought we'd NEVER understand it.  But we read the first couple of paragraphs and he totally got it and was so excited he didn't want to stop reading :001_smile:  I hope you have fun with it like we do!

 

[Classic Mom]

Have you looked at Bolchazy? They have Latin materials of all sorts.

Thanks- this is a great resource!

[MomOfOneFunOne]

AMDG

 

I didn't think of Lingua Latina as a book for translation at all. I loved using that book but it is definitely a controlled vocabulary reader. And for learning latin, I do strongly suggest learning the grammar. LL has grammar supplements.

 

To answer the question, though, some things my daughter has enjoyed translating that she felt were straight Latin but easier than Caesar:

 

Vulgate - much easier than Caesar and familiarity aids understanding. Even if you aren't Christian a lot of cultural information will help.

 

Grave stones - you can find collelctions around. Limited space makes for concise writing . . . Unless u get a poet. Yikes!

 

Riddles - there is a famous collection of riddles that I cant remember the name of. My copy has the translation so we can ck. The hard part is that the riddles are hard to understand.

[EndOfOrdinary]

Jenney's Latin books 3rd year and 4th year are all translations.  These books are also often cheaper since most people only do 2 years.  They are considered early college level/late honors high school.