I’ve endeavored to teach myself Latin. My only previous experience in learning a new language was in the repeatedly failed attempt at Spanish (both Latin American and Castillno varieties). It’s not a lack of intelligence, it’s just the lack of followthrough, like any project. I’m not even going to try to say that it will be different this time, though I have enjoyed what little I’ve learned. From my username, it should be clear that I quite enjoy ancient Roman history (though I’m an eager first to admit and elaborate on their many failures and hubris). My favorite show of all time was HBO’s Rome[/] and my favorite book (or serious of books as it boasts six volumes) is Edward Gibbon’s masterpiece, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire[i/] - it condenses most of the Republic, my favorite part of the history of Rome, into a few chapters and a couple parenthetical and focuses on the reigns of the Emperors, primarily starting with Hadrian. Latin was the language of Rome, and they were damned proud of it. It is one of their greatest gifts to the world, and unlike that of neighboring Greece, one of their only intellectual champions. Part of my self education involves reading an interlinear translation of Julius Caesar’s, [i[Gallico Bello[i/] (diary of Caesar’s conquests in Gaul). An interlinear translation is where the translations of the foreign language sentence is written underneath said foreign language sentence. So for example, the first sentence in the interlinear translation of [i[Gallico Bello[i/] is as follows: Omnis Gallia est divisa in tres partes. All Gaul is divided into three parts. What is not retained or properly translated is grammar, but Latin is flexible with grammar anyway. It does this to read an original Latin text (or any language for that matter) and attempt to give a word for word translation so the reader can make a direct correlation with the foreign word and their native language. It does break down at a certain point, and often the translator needs to insert additional translated words to make the sentence coherent, but when this happens it’s noted. It is a very fun way to learn a new language. The second method is with online Latin lessons. These can be found on a variety of web sources. I use these lessons to try to drill in and memorize the many noun and verb declinations and inflections and the many rules to conjugate the words. This has been my Achilles heal in language learning in the past, but to my defense, I’ve never put a determined foot forward in setting the rules to memory. The final way is with the use of Rosetta Stone software. The problem with Rosetta Stone, as anyone who has used it will tell you, is they never give you translations, just foreign language words and phrases (the language you’re studying) pared with a picture. For example, one of the words I learned in Rosetta Stone, and as any first language learning curriculum would, is woman. Well, I think it’s woman; it could very well be lady or female. You can’t know for sure unless you exit the course and do outside research. For example, the Latin word for woman is femina but the word for lady is domina. But the software doesn’t make that distinction as they just show a picture of a woman. Rosetta Stone was designed to quickly teach people conversation language, and it that way it succeeds, but not necessarily for reading and certainly not for academia. It has helped in teaching me common Latin phrases, but I doubt I’ll ever be in a situation where a lost, distressed, vivacious and sex-crazed model comes running up to me in NYC, and only able to speak the words of Latin...and you bet your ass I’m prepared! I can can say sandwich, damnit! - paniculos fartos - yea, the lesson took a screeching halt after that one. If anything, it’s a wonderful way to get through the day in a job that sometimes causes me a frustration so high that I regularly curse under my breath when certain bosses and one particular co-worker walks by. So what’s everyone’s experience with learning a new language - and what language? What methods have you used, which worked and which failed?
