Ahh Latin

You know, every now and then I take a step back from the stress of academic demands and actually look at what I have been doing. For some reason it always comes back to Latin for me. I mean we, as in all of us who contribute to this blog, are learning and translating a language that is more than 2,000 years old. That is AMAZING. Truly amazing. We are reading the actual words written by Caesar or Cicero. How cool is that?

Anne

Latin in the New York Times...

Lovely little op-ed piece that might be just a little depressing, in light of what has been happening with the economy lately, but it also reports the very exciting news that Latin enrollment is up (in New York at least) and interest in the Classics is growing. And there's Latin in it. Lots of Latin. And some fake Latin too. (And also it's very liberally political and more than a little unflattering to certain people the author opposes - just to warn y'all... It is, after all, an op-ed...)

Are We Rome? Tu Betchus!

I'm tempted to say that this is my favorite part: But now we’ve learned the hard way that greed is bad — avaritia mala est — and the classics have staged a comeback. Except, that I think the whole thing is actually my favorite part.

Also, there's an actual article (that's not an op-ed, but is at least just as cool) about enrollment in Latin classes in schools in New York and across the country.


~Rachael

"Silly Latin"

So, I was trying to remember from yester years how to translate 'visne'...so I googled 'visne latin' and I found this cute web page entitled, "silly latin." Please take a look at it. Its basically cute Latin phrases. For the extreme Latin students out there, I'm sure you'll find it wonderful. For us Intermediates who just learned subjunctives, take a look at the Useful Curses section...I found it hilarious! I hope you like it : )

http://www.ealasaid.com/quotes/latinsil.html

Semper, C.Danielle G.

Rosetta Stone

I'm not going to lie - latin 1 has been tough so far. Of course, it doesn't help matters when I've had to miss quite a few classes due to a family emergency and car troubles. On top of that, I'm an older student who hasn't even THOUGHT about English grammar for over 10 years. LOL. But I've been working very hard on my own to try to keep up, and I'm happy to report that I made a 99 on first major test!

The reason for my post is to recommend to anyone else who may be struggling (or who just wants to improve their latin) the Rosetta Stone program. I have found it to be extremely helpful and informative, although it doesn't follow the book at all. I actually prefer this method to the book. It sorta breaks everything down and teaches you as if you were a kid learning a language for the first time. The "sesame street" approach as I like to call it, really helps with word associations and such. It doesn't delve into the grammar rules, but that comes fairly quickly. If you think about it, kids know how to speak fairly proper grammar long before they even know what a verb is. The program is somewhat expensive (you can get it online for around $250) but is well worth it. I wish that I had gotten this program before I took this class and then I would have been more prepared. I may be alone here, but I find the books approach to be very overwhelming and confusing. As soon as I think I've got something down, something else is thrown at us that changes everything. But I'm doing my best and just waiting for that lightbulb to click on (which will hopefully be soon!).

-Jamie

2nd and 3rd verbs

I want to thank you the advice. I'm doing better in developing a understanding

Shequera

Memorizing Vocabulary

I'm in Latin I and love it. The grammar intrigues me but the vocabulary is killing me! Any tips on getting all these vocabulary words to stick in my head? I made flash cards (probably don’t use them as much as I should) but I get board with them. Any other types of exercises that has worked for any of you?

Knitting in Latin...

Hey y'all! Sorry I've been MIA for the last several weeks.

I found a knit lace Christening blanket that has Latin words knit into the lace. You can see pictures and read about it here.

Also, I'm hoping to start on a knitting project just as soon as I can get my hands on the yarn. A friend on the "Veni Vidi Nodavi" group in the Ravelry knitting community helped me out when I said that my dream Latin-Knitting project would be to make a bathmat based on the "Bene Lava" mosaic from Pompeii.



This friend has a computer program which will take images, such as this, and transforms them into knitting patterns. So that's what she did! She wants to make two of them, one for herself and one for her daughter who is learning Latin in high school. :D I'll be happy if I can just manage one, and I can't wait to start knitting it...


~Rachael

Confused looking for help

This is my first semester taking Lain and I'm a little confused about how to tell the 2nd conjugation of verbs from the 3rd. Please help I thought I had this down

Shequera