Lingua Latina per se Illustrata, Pars I: Familia Romana (Latin Edition)

by Hans Henning Ørberg

Book Overview

Lingua Latina is a complete immersion course providing Latin that students read and understand immediately. Every sentence is intelligible per se because the meaning and function of all new word forms is clear from the context, illustrations, or marginal notes throughout this carefully graded text. Part 1 (Familia Romana) is the eventful and entertaining story of a Roman family, which also serves as an introduction to the life and culture of ancient...

• Format: Paperback
• ISBN: 8887637369
• ISBN13: 9788799701650
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co.
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.37 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 6.3" x 0.8"

Customer Reviews

Awesome

I am doing my MFA in English at UC Irvine, where I'm also taking a Latin reading course. Reading courses usually amount to, more or less, a student standing in place while an instructor tries to throw a grammar at the student's head, hoping for a direct hit. The student is then handed some passages to translate, along with a healthy pat on the back and some words of encouragement: "Figure it out! It's really hard, isn't it? Learning Latin can sure suck! Have a great weekend!" Okay, there's a little more academic structure than that and some courses are undoubtedly better than others. But the traditional approach to learning Latin has been, seemingly to me, a rough road. This book comes to the rescue. It's amazing. The only English in the entire book appears to be on the publisher's page and the back cover. The rest is all Latin -- you pick it up and start reading. You don't even have to pick it up. You could prop it up against something and start reading that way. The experience isn't quite magic. You need to pay careful attention to what is happening in each and every paragraph. Concepts in this book come at you fast, and while they are reinforced, it helps to pick them up clearly the first time around. For example, some distinctions of case are very subtle, as with the genitive which is, at times, indicated by a mere long vowel mark. Because Latin is inflected, it can be very compact. But if you're astute and not in a big rush, learning is accelerated by this text's approach. I am in love with this book. It's a revelation and a lot of fun. But I don't recommend it to anyone who prefers their learning to be painful, frustrating, or unpleasant. I also don't recommend it to anyone who believes that the acquisition of a language should exclusively be a slow, classroom process punctuated by nights of stressful cramming for the next morning's test. For those people, definitely go with Wheelock and enjoy the pain. But if you want to work toward reading Virgil and Cicero in the most pleasant way available today, this book is the way to go. I also recommend the supplementary materials, especially the grammar, the student's guide (which is very useful), and the Exercitia Latina (which really works concepts well).

A great learning technique. Dick and Jane for Latin.

Maybe it's me, but I have a hard time learning languages. I learned only one language as a child, rendering me totally and utterly monolinguistic. I've tried learning languages using various methods, but none struck me as particularly effective. So when I found the need to have some familiarity with Latin, I looked at Latin language books and courses, and rejected one after the other as being too similar to previous failed attempts. Lingua Latina, however, is different. I admit, I took a chance on this one without being able to preview or sample it (hint hint, Hans), but I am glad I did! (Note added 10 Mar 2009: there is now a preview available at http://www.lingua-latina.dk/index2.htm). It's Dick and Jane for Latin. Rather than memorize lists of words and their meanings in your native language, Lingua Latina contains only Latin, starts off with very simple sentences, makes you think about each word, and requires you to figure out what each word means by context. Here's a brief example from the very beginning of the book: "Roma in Italia est. Italia in Europa est. Graecia in Europa est. Italia et Graecia in Europa sunt." Since we bootstrap off words in English that should already be known to you, and that are the same or similar in Latin, it is obvious what these sentences mean. And once you get through those, it usually becomes obvious what new words mean, and what contexts to use them in. The cases and declinations of verbs and nouns are not given to you as in other language books: like a punch in the face using a table and a stern admonition to memorize the endings. Lingua Latina lets you thoroughly understand one case or declination before moving on to another. As the knowledge builds, the reading becomes easier and easier. Each chapter consists of a reading, marginal notes (in Latin) and pictures to explain concepts that may not necessarily be clear from the text, a grammatical summary (in Latin), and three types of tests at the end of each chapter: endings, vocabulary, and comprehension. Together these cement the knowledge gained through the reading. There is not a speck of non-Latin in this book except for the copyright page. My only beef with Lingua Latina is that some of the words are not so obvious from context. Because of this, I would recommend either a Latin dictionary, or, better yet, the program "Latin Words" (free from http://users.erols.com/whitaker/words.htm). The program allows you to type in a Latin word including its ending, and gives you back the meaning, plus case, number, gender, and so on. Also, a warning: unless your native language is Latin-derived (as English is), you will probably not get anything out of this book, since your language and Latin are probably alien to each other, and there would not be enough overlap for you to make sense out of the Latin. I'm extremely satisfied with Lingua Latina! Carpe Linguam Latinam!

Great Common Sense Approach

I have studied many Latin books and Hans Orberg has done a great job with his Lingua Latina program. His books are published and used in Denmark but specially prepared for use in North America. This little vocabulary book is just part of a whole program for learning Latin on your own or teaching it to your kids. It is such a good program that I am actually a little freaked out at how much Latin I can understand and read just by following this course. It is something I can really stick to and finish!

Perfect way to learn Latin!

For those studying independently or in a dedicated group, this book aims to make you fluent in Latin, in reading it at least, but also it helps for those wishing to speak it better. It's a complete course in the language and works great as review. I'm not sure I'd recommend it as the _only_ text for complete beginners, especially if those beginners have never studied a second language before, but it would work fine in conjunction with another text such as Wheelock's.

Adults are not children

The Natural Approach has a lot to say for it. But it makes a fatal assumption: adults learn the same way as children. Fact: Adults already have a lifetime of experiences children do not have. Fact: Anybody learning a second or third language as an adult will initially associate the new language with those languages already known. When I used this method in a university class, the first thing all of the students did was to go out to the bookstores and buy grammar texts and a Latin-English dictionary. This is not a textbook that makes a good primary text. However, this book would be an excellent second book for a Latin language class.