good latin books?

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Anonymous

Guest

what are some good latin books out there?
ive heard that the cambridge latin course is fun but i havent found any of their books. anyone know where i can find one or another good latin book?
 

deudeditus

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

Location:
California
lingua latina by hans orberg. moreland & fleischer's latin an intensive course. wheelocks is ok. there're tons.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest

If you're reading Wheelock

make sure to also get Dale A. Grote's book, "A Comprehensive Guide to Wheelock's Latin". He fleshs-out all of the details.
 

Solange

New Member

Location:
Melbourne, Australia
Cambridge Latin Course

The small class I'm in is using the Cambridge Latin Course. I'm not very impressed. It's obviously written for school-students and my class is a group of mature-agers! For example, as at Chapter 10 of Book 1, we are still stuck with the present tense only. The content is all based on history, which is fair enough but it would be good to be able to spread our wings a bit further than that. I am quietly dipping into Teach Yourself Latin in my spare time to augment the class. :roll:
 

Solange

New Member

Location:
Melbourne, Australia
P.S. Re Cambridge Latin Course

I bought mine second-hand from good old Amazon!
 

Solange

New Member

Location:
Melbourne, Australia
Oops!

I am an idiot: we are using the OXFORD Latin Course, not Cambridge. I apologise for the error. However, the leader of our group is of the opinion that the Oxford Course is an improvement on the Cambridge one. Be interested to hear others' opinions on that.
 
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Anonymous

Guest

I've been dipping into two book;

Peter Jones' Learn Latin which is probably the best starting place i've come across.

and

Teach yourself Latin; beginner's guide (which is very good once you've grasped the basics of conjugation and declension which is better explained in the first chapters of the Jones book).
 
I'm using "First Year Latin" 1958 revised edition, by Minnie L. Smith and Harold G. Thompson. I'm not very far into it, and cannot give any comparisons, as it is the only book I have ever used. Consising of LXXV lessons, it divides subjects clearly. Every multiple of 5 is a review of the previous four lessons, as well as a refresher on all previous lessons. Each lesson contains an explanation of the sunject at hand, helpful hints, 15-20 vocabulary words, examples of words from the lesson in the english language, Translation excersises, and a reading excercise. At the end of a the book, a small latin-english and english-latin dictionary is provided, along with a grammatical index, and charts explaining all declensions, conjugations, etc, etc. I seriously don't know where it can be found, as it was a gift from my spanish teacher, but if searching for it, it may be helpful to know that it was published by Allyn and Bacon, INC.
 

Delichon

New Member

Location:
Lancaster, England
I'm using a variety of books, which I like to do because I have a butterfly mind. ( There must be a great Latin phrase for that!) I'm now on The Cambridge Latin Course Bk 3, and I'm also enjoying Ecce Romani. I am also ploughing through Reading Latin, and a book of Fairy Tales in Latin, plus bits and bobs from Winnie Ille Pu, Teach Yourself Latin ( dry but thorough). The variety keeps me motivated and I'm always looking out for new books to read. Amazon is great for getting all of these cheaply.
I have also just made myself a latin scrabble set ( instructions online)and you can play latin scrabble on the net but I haven't tried it. In addition,I have made my own tapes of grammar tables and the like to listen to in the car. I have Wheelock but it is too much like school!
It seems there is a great divide in Latin instruction books. Wheelock, Teach Yourself and the one I used at school ( The Approach to Latin...ha!)
work on the "drip-feed chunks of grammar, read a few disjointed sentences "approach. The other, which I find much more fun, is the "here's a story, we will hang some learning on it as we go" type, like Ecce and CLC. These are so good I can't understand why I can't find a French course written in the same way. If you know one, tell me. Presumably, sometime after I left school ( 1960's) this big change took place, but I missed it.
 

The Disc

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

Location:
London
This may seem like a strange one but I have found "Learning Latin Through Mythology" very helpful. Takes popular myths of anicent Rome & Greece & works with you on those. Different.

Oh & of course "Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Latin". :mrgreen:
 

QMF

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

Location:
Virginia, US
Re: Cambridge Latin Course

Solange dixit:
The small class I'm in is using the Cambridge Latin Course. I'm not very impressed. It's obviously written for school-students and my class is a group of mature-agers! For example, as at Chapter 10 of Book 1, we are still stuck with the present tense only. The content is all based on history, which is fair enough but it would be good to be able to spread our wings a bit further than that. I am quietly dipping into Teach Yourself Latin in my spare time to augment the class. :roll:
I did the opposite. We used the Cambridge course but I breezed through it in my spare time. I took Latin I and then took Latin IV the next year and got a 4 on the AP test at the end :)
 

semperubisububi

New Member

Location:
Colorado
I really like the Latin For Americans series. Each chapter has a small story that introduces new words and tenses. Some stories is historical and some are fictional, but they're all about half a page in length. For each chapter there is a vocabulary list and exercises (translating sentences into English, traslating sentences in Latin, conjugating verbs, declining nouns). Every four chapters there is a review chapter that includes a two page section intitled "Glimpses in Roman Life".

There is also a glossary of Latin to English words and then English to Latin words, and an index of grammer charts.
This series also includes a workbook for each book that gives you further practice.

I also really love the Ecce Romani series. I used some of them in high school and they were really helpful to me. There are also workbooks for the series.

Also, a good place to buy the books (if you don't mind them being used) is half.com.
 

eggshen

New Member

Hi, I also am wondering about latin books. I was going to buy the small 8 dollar peter jones book because I heard it was a good start. But what course and study book should I buy? Theres one by peter jones but i am also considering wheelocks.
 
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Anonymous

Guest

My school has had some issues with straightening out the Latin curriculum but last year in 8th grade I used the first Ecce Romani book. It was okay but this year in 9th grade we are using OLC and we are about to move into the third book. I like the Oxford books. I find the story is more interesting and I perfer the overall layout.
 

Amabimus

New Member

I use the Ecce Romani books but dont recommend them. They give nothing of cases, tenses or any of that. Our teacher has to explain them. However they do have some stories that help but most of them are about stupid Cornelia.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest

Servus Nostri Domini dixit:
I'm using "First Year Latin" 1958 revised edition, by Minnie L. Smith and Harold G. Thompson.
is this the same as Jenney's First Year Latin? i do not have the book in front of me to compare publications or authors (though i could have sworn the author's name was Jenney). but, your description of the contents sounded very familiar.

Jenney's First Year Latin was my textbook all throughout high school (even though after four years we only made it halfway through) and i happened upon a copy a few years ago. i love the layout of this book even though i grant it took awhile for me to grasp the format. it starts out quite basic and builds as concepts are introduced.

i would recommend this book to anyone since concepts & grammar are well explained. i do not have much experience with any of the other books, but i have flipped through a friend's copy of wheelock's. i personally did not care much for wheelock's approach.
 

Delichon

New Member

Location:
Lancaster, England
I have recently looked at a book, Parvi Sagaci, which teaches latin through the medium of sample sentences. Has anyone had experience of this? There is a modern dictionary ( Collins?) I have seen with a grammar section in the back, each point illustrated with sample sentences. That looks v. good actually.
 
Apollonius dixit:
I've been dipping into two book;

Peter Jones' Learn Latin which is probably the best starting place i've come across.
I'd second that recommendation -- In fact, I did. :agree2:

Peter Jones is da man!

tee
 

HRG01

New Member

Does Learn Latin: A Lively Introduction to Reading the Language include culture and history? Also, how far does the grammar go upto? Does it cover like two or three years of latin? Or like 2 Ecce Romani books?
 
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