QUOMODO TE HABES

QUOMODO TE HABES

HOW ARE YOU?

Salve Domine

SALVE  DOMINE

HELLO, SIR.

Ora Maritima Chapter 1 - 16

Paedologia Petri Mosellani Protegensis. : Dialogi XXXVII Dialogi pueriles Christophori Hegendorphini, XII. By Petrus Mosellanus, Christoph Hegendorf

Paedologia Petri Mosellani Protegensis. : Dialogi XXXVII Dialogi pueriles Christophori Hegendorphini, XII. By Petrus Mosellanus, Christoph Hegendorff: ""

SCHOLA

SCHOLA (http://schola.ning.com/) est situs interretialis studiis Latinis
dicatus quem abhinc complures menses Londini condidit magister Britannicus
Evan der Millner. quamquam ipse minus biennium linguam Latinam discit,
maxima cum industria facultates in interreti praebuit per quas alii quoque
discere possint. ego ipse nomen meum in situm SCHOLAM mense Iunio dedi atque
semel in locutorio (Anglice `chatroom') cum conditore `collocutus' sum. in
situ illius mihi maxime placent videogrammata, inter quae invenies et
Terentii Tunberg orationes et partes fabulae Mozartianae c.t.`Apollo et
Hyacinthus'. sed cum ipse in rebus diversis occupatus sum, nunc situm illum
raro visito.

Magister ille alium situm quoque habet (http://latinum.mypodcast.com/

) ubi
lectiones Latinas in conmputatrum deponi possunt. fundamentum cursus illius
est liber in saeculo undevicesimo a Georgio Adler scripto, c.t. `A Practical
Grammar of the Latin Language.' Adler methodo `Latinitatis Vivae' favebat,
dialogos multos ad res cottidianos pertinentes praebuit.

Mnemonics for Latin

Mnemonics for Latin

Using the Method of Loci to Memorise the Verb Table.
by Evan Millner MA

The use of mnemonics can help speed up the learning of various elements of Latin Grammar. Methods like this were used successfully by Roman Orators, and studying how to apply mnemonics formed an important part of the curriculum, as one of the tools needed for rhetoric. The method comes down to us through a work in Latin by an unknown author. The piece, called Rhetorica ad Herennium, is estimated to have been written around 85 BC, though it is unlikely that it was original with this author. The author of this textbook of rhetoric examines each of the five parts of rhetoric, including as the fourth part memoria in which he explains the method of loci. It is the only complete source from the classical world to survive, although there are brief references to the method by others, including Cicero and Quintilian, the chief teachers of rhetoric in the ancient and medieval worlds, and later in the Renaissance.

A Verb Room using the Method of Loci.

The curious diagram you see here, is very useful, as it is a systematic method for the loci, developed by Feinagle in the early 1800's. When combined with Gouraud's perfection of the mnemonic system, (which Grey had attempted to base on the Ancient Hebrew mnemonic system of acrostics, known in Classical texts as 'Simanim'. ) we end up with a very powerful artificial memory system. All this sounds very arcane, but has a beautiful simplicity to it.


Step One:
Get comfortable. Sit with your back to the fireplace, or to a wall of your room.
Imagine the floor is divided into 9 squares, 3 squares per row.
Number them:
1-2-3
4-5-6
7-8-9

These 9 are represented in the diagram above, by the 9 squares in the middle.

On your left, is the first wall. Divide this, too into nine squares. Number them, starting from the top left
1-2-3
4-5-6
7-8-9

Now, compare your floor with your wall. None the consistency? This,however, is the FIRST wall, so each of the numbers has a ONE in front of it.
11-12-13
14-15-16
17-18-19

However, don't remember them like this, just as plain single digits.

Place the number TEN just above this wall, on the ceiling.

Then, do the same for the remaining two walls. The second wall will be the numbers 21,22,23 etc, and the third, 31,32,33, and the wall behind your back, 41,42,43 etc

Now, examine, the diagram above. If you cut it out, and folded it up, with the numbers on the INSIDE, you will have your room.

Take some time to get this pattern firmly into your head - I would spend a good 10 minutes, running over it in your mind's eye. The method for constructing this memory room is outlined very clearly is this little books by S.Sams
Ignore everything in the book, except for his very clear description of how to imagine the memory room.
You can put one of these memory rooms in every room and closet in your home. The first room would be for numbers 1 - 50, and the second for 50 -100 and so on.

Setting this system up in your head requires a small investment in time. Once you have it, you'll have it with you for life. Getting a large sheet of card, and drawing out the diagram above, and constructing the cube, can also be of assistance.


NOW, for memorising the verbs using the method of loci:


Turn to page 191 of Sam's Book, (i.e. the last 4 pages or so) where he sets out his system for using the memory cube for learning the Latin verbs. I used the system very successfully myself, so it appears to work for me. It might work for you as well. Sams does not give all forms in his example, you can supply the passive and deponents yourself on the remaining 2 walls of your first room, and place irregulars in another room - or put them alongside the regulars in the same boxes, once you have learned the regulars - remember to keep the tenses in the same loci, even in a new room.
IGNORE the number-word equivalent system given by Sams. If you want to play with this acrostic system, use the more advanced system developed by Gouraud:

Here is the floor of your room:

FIRSTLY, memorise the positions of these in their boxes. You may make up stories, visualise them. ( See the declension tower for examples of how to do this)

The first step is to be able to quickly recognise the forms. The second step, is to be able to give them over.

Here is a simplified set-up. We will learn it, then flesh it out with the full forms of the four paradigms for each tense. Aids to memory are in parentheses - feel free to make up your own ones)

1 I DO Am-o ( note how it resembles i do)	2 I DID am-abam (I did fall on my bum)	3 I HAVE am-avi (note the resemblance avi - have)
4 I HAD am-averam (I had Avraham over for dinner)	5 I WILL am-abo (I will be about to arrive)	6 I MAY am-em (am-em, I may)
7 I MIGHT OR COULD am-arem ( I might visit a hareem)	8 I SHOULD HAVE am-averim	9 I SHALL HAVE am-avero

Note - all forms on the diagonal ( in green) from amo, end in o - i.e. amo, amabo, amavero.

The form 'I should have' (red) is almost identical to the form of I shall have.

You can think of your won mnemonics for the forms I have not given.

So, sit in your armchair, and imagine these arrrayed on the floor, in their boxes. Be as vivid as you can, make your images as concrete as you can.

Once you know exactly where the words fall, and which words are in which box, add the rest of the forms of the paradigms of each verb to each box. I would draw up a plan of the floor, and write out the tables in each square, as per the instructions in S.Sam's book.

An hour or so of effort should have you remembering where the things are.

Remember, make use of the objects in your room that happen by chance to fall in the squares. For example, in my room, the top right corner had a table with a top hat on it, so I thought up the line ' I have a top hat', and so immediately recalled that that square was occupied by 'I have'

Now we leave the floor, and turn our imagination to the wall on our left, which we divide into nine squares:

1 I WOULD HAVE (I would have missed him) am-avissem	2 TO DO (the standard infinitives, amare, monere,regere etc) TO HAVE ...'D (To have missed the 'm; that fell off amavissem was really irresponsible!) amavisse ( with no final m)	3 TO BE ABOUT TO To be about to put a suppository up your recturum esse
4 DOING amandi IN DOING amando TO DO amandum (a giant eating almonds, while chanting fee fi fo fum)	5 TO DO (To do: to lose some weight from my tummy) amatum TO BE DONE ( To be done, now that its gone, to keep it off) amatu ( the tum has gone!)	6 DOING amans What am I doing? I'm eating almonds! (amans) What am I about to do? I'm about to give some almonds to this tourist! ABOUT TO DO amaturus
7 DO! ama!	8 SHALL DO! am-ato	9 DONE amatus TO BE DONE amandus (This is the last square and we're all done, but there is still more to be done)

If you have a reasonably good visual or spatial memory, you should be able to get all of this memorised in about one hour. Add all the other forms, as given in Sam's book at the very end. review it regularly...the first attempt will be really hard. Then it will get easier. You will find, even after one hour of this, that your comprehension of texts will jump, as you will recognise verb forms, and be able to relate them to their locations.

Phreno-mnemotechny, Or, The Art of Memory Or, The Art of Memory: the Series of Lectures, Explanatory of the Principles of the System, Delivered in New

Phreno-mnemotechny, Or, The Art of Memory Or, The Art of Memory: the Series of Lectures, Explanatory of the Principles of the System, Delivered in New York and Philadelphia, in the Beginning of 1844 By Francis Fauvel-Gouraud: ""

REBILII CRUSONIS ANNALIUM

REBILII CRUSONIS ANNALIUM
La primera, Robinson Crusoe, de Daniel DEFOE, la encontramos en la traducción de F.W. Newman.
Rebilii Crusonis Annalium. Id est liber cui titulus Robinson Crusoe a F.W. Newman in Latinum sermonem translatus,
y en la versión de F.J. Goffaux.
Latine scripsit F. J. GOFFAUX, Humaniorum Litterarum Professor in Lycoeo Imperiali. Editio nova, cui accedunt annotationes.
Podemos leer información en latín sobre la novela en este artículo de wikipedia.

ALICIA IN TERRA MIRABILI
Alice in Wonderland ('Alicia en el País de las Maravillas'), de Louis CARROLL, en la traducción de Clive Harcourt Carruthers.
Alicia in terra mirabili, ab auctore Ludovico Carroll. Latine redditus ab eius fautore vetere gratoque Clive Harcourt Carruthers.
Artículo en wikipedia latina.




INSULA THESAURARIA
Treasure Island ('La Isla del Tesoro'), de Robert L. STEVENSON, traducida por Arcadius Avellanus.
Insula Thesauraria, ab auctore Roberto Ludovico Stevenson. Latine interpretatus est Arcadius Avellanus, New York 1922.
Artículo sobre Stevenson en wikipedia latina.





Las cuatro siguientes obras han sido traducidas por Thomas Cotton, y están alojadas en la web http://www.phaselus.org.uk/

CARMEN AD FESTUM NATIVITATIS LIBER
A Christmas Carol ('Cuento de Navidad'), de Charles DICKENS, en la versión latina de Thomas Cotton.
Carmen ad Festum Nativitatis. Liber pernotus Carolo Dickens clarissimo primum A.D. MDCCCXLIII editus; persaepe scrinio vel cinematico vel televisorio visus, scaena quoque; radiophonice auditus; nunc in linguam Latinam conversus auctore Thomas Cotton.
En wikipedia latina.


CAPTIVUS ZENDAE
The Prisoner of Zenda ('El prisionero de Zenda'), de Anthony HOPE, traducida por Thomas Cotton.
Captivus Zendae. Liber inlustris Antonio Hope primum A.D. MCMVII editus; scrinio vel cinematico vel televisorio visus; nunc de Anglico sermone in Latinum conversus auctore Thomaso Cotton.





FUNDUS ANIMALIUM
Animal Farm ('Rebelión en la granja'), de George ORWELL, por Thomas Cotton.
Fundus Animalium. Liber celeberrimus Georgii Orwell primum A.D. MCMXLV editus; ubique per mundo notus; nunc de Anglico sermone in Latinum conversus auctore Thomaso Cotton.
En wikipedia latina.




AURAE INTER SALICES
The Wind In The Willows ('El viento en los sauces'), de Kenneth GRAHAME, por Thomas Cotton.
Aurae Inter Salices. Liber celeberrimus Kennethi Grahame primum A.D. MCMVII editus; ubique pernotus; nunc de Anglico sermone in Latinum conversus auctore Thomaso Cotton.

Brisbane on his Manesca Lessons

….Albert Brisbane pg 60

regarding what to bring, he mentioned only copybook and pencil. I asked if I should bring my grammar. "No!" said he, "you want no grammars. They are made by grown men who know nothing of the requirements of a child. Why, they are almost too complex for me" , he added.

On commencing my studies with Mr Manseca, I was at once impressed by the naturalness of his method, and I felt a thrill of pleasure at the idea of being able to comprehend what I had hitherto considered beyond my capacity. Seating me at a table, with a blank sheet of paper before me:” Draw a line through the middle” he said, On the left put the English and on the right the French. How write, “Have you?” The French, that is, avez vous? Below it put ‘I have’, in French J’ai. Now pronounce avez vous. I repeated it after him. J’ai, he continued. I followed him again. Avez-vous? He asked. J’ai, I answered. Now, he said, put down The bread – Le Pain. He spelled it for me, and said: the last consonant in French is not pronounced when not followed by a vowel. Then he asked, avez vous le pain. I answered, j’ai le pain. To this was added the salt, the wine, the butter, the sugar, and so forth, with the negative form of the verb and some adjectives, and we entered into at once quite a conversation of questions and answers on the common necessaries of life. After an hour of such exercise I had fifteen or twenty words at my tongue’s end. I remember that on returning to the French Boarding house, to dinner, I rather astonished the persons present by asking in a very confident manner, Avez vous le vin? Avez vous le bon vin?

This first lesson was a revelation to me. I was overjoyed to find a method that I could understand, something at which I could work intelligently; and in my joyous energy I wrote out four foolscap pages of composition. When I returned to Manesca the next day, he was astonished at my voluminous exercises, for he rarely got over half a page from his pupils, he told me. The French lessons, thus started, went on very rapidly. He explained to me afterwards that the secret was in the quantity of compositions that I wrote. “Writing” he said, is the most important part of study. With me you have verbal instruction, with yourself, you have sight and touch.

I gave so much diligence to the subject, and mastered so perfectly all he gave me to do, that finally he said: There is no use in my looking over your compositions, I find no faults.” Set up by this flattering appreciation, and desirous of knowing many things at once, I suggested one day that such and such words should be given me, offering my advice with the characteristic freedom of an American boy accustomed to rely a good deal on his own judgment, and with a strong tendency to follow out his own will. Manesca looked at me with astonishment at first, then came an expression of indignation, that a pupil should presume to dictate to him the course he should follow. What! You wish to direct your won course? Then go and do it! I will not give you any more lessons, young man; you can find another teacher.” With this, he turned away from me. I sat a while confused, and considering what was to be done. Presently, he turned around and said “Why don’t you go?” I replied, “Mr Manesca, I am not going. I know your method is the only one by which I can learn French, and I am going to stay with you.” “I won’t teach you! I would not be troubled with your suggestions and dictations for any consideration” He resumed his position, waiting for me to leave. I, however, stuck to my seat, thinking and pondering how I could mend matters. Soon, he turned again and repeated, “Why don’t you go?” I repeated in turn, “I am not going I am going to stay here and study French with you”. Another pause, when to my great relief he wheeled suddenly round, and, facing me, exclaimed: Well! Well! Go on” That was the end of suggestions on the part of the pupil. I 120 lessons I had acquired such knowledge of French that I was able to carry on a free conversation on any ordinary subject, and to write a letter with ease and fluency.

After I had completed my French, I studied Spanish and Latin on the same system. At the schools in Batavia I had studied Latin some three or four years with very little result. By the new method, I saw my way clear. As it was the difficulty of the verbs that bothered me, I traced out in big characters on a large sheet of paper the conjugations of the different classes of verbs, and pinned them up on my bedroom wall. They were constantly before my eyes, and when not engaged in other studies I would look at them. Usually in the morning, before getting up, I would run over my Latin verbs.

An encounter with the Ollendorff Method

Adler's Practical grammar is an Ollendorff.

This means, it follows exactly the methodology for aquiring a language developed by Henri Ollendorff. In the following excerpt, basil Hall describes his experience of studying German using this method. Once can satisfactorily substitute Latin for German in what follows, as Adler's textbook is in effect a Latin translation of his own English-German edition of Ollendorff's German textbook.

Skimmings, or “A winter at Schloss Hainfeld” by Basil Hall. Pg 80

"By good fortune however I fell in with a truly philosophical professor of German at Paris M Ollendorff author of a new and most luminous method of teaching that language He soon satisfied me of what I had indeed myself begun to suspect that German to be understood properly must be attacked exactly like mathematics and that as there is no royal road to knowledge in the one case so is there none in the other I gave a sigh or two over the ten months labour I had almost entirely thrown away and commenced the study anew through he medium of M Ollendorff's method which well deserves the title of the Euclid of German After six months close application I can venture to pronounce that by his method alone so far as I have been able to understand the subject can this very difficult but very charming language be taught without confusion To those who like me have none of that readiness by which instinctively as it were foreign tongues are breathed in by some people and are made use of seemingly without effort such a method is quite invaluable By it the scholar advances step by step understands clearly and thoroughly every thing he reads and as he goes on he becomes sensible that all he learns he retains and all that he retains is useful and practically applicable At the same time he scarcely knows how he has got hold of it so slightly marked are the shades of daily progression and sq gentle is the rise that he feels no unpleasant fatigue on the journey Of course the student is called upon to exert no small degree of patient application and he must consent to devote a considerable portion of his time to this pursuit but he will have the encouraging conviction that every of effort is well bestowed I wish I could persuade this admirable teacher to publish his work in English and in England and to fix himself in London where his abilities his knowledge and his skill in teaching so difficult a language in the most agreeable and patient manner I ever witnessed would soon earn for him the distinction he deserves I write in these strong terms of M Ollendorff's method because I feel convinced that a familiarity with it would go far to spread the knowledge of this delightful language in England where of all countries in the world it is most likely to be duly appreciated The almost matchless beauties of German not only from their own excellence but from their analogy to those of our own literature and the great similarity of character between the two people are calculated to produce a much greater effect with us than elsewhere Independently also of the wholesome pleasure which belongs to an elegant pursuit the study of German may do much good not only by the generous cultivation of the national taste and the vigorous exercise of individual thought which it requires but by its placing within our reach an immense store of mental merchandize in exchange for which the labour of six months is the cheapest possible payment"

I'm going to focus on Adler

I'm finding as I'm part way through a couple of grammars that I'm not doing a good job of pronouncing the vocabulary to myself in a consistent way. That's making me have to "relearn" words in a way as I'm hearing them spoken on the CD I got for Lingua Latina and hearing the Latinum podcasts. Though I realise they aren't use the same rules between them. Some of my internal attempts have been WAY off. Having then thought about it more I now realise that all my native pronunciation is probably based on "hearing" the words pronounced more than from deriving it correctly from seeing the words. So for me I think it will be a huge help to focus more on learning from sources that also have audio available than only working with a written text. So I think I'm going to focus on Adler and Lingua Latina and them come back to some of the other grammars later as additional practice once I feel I am pronouncing most of my vocabulary consistently. I think I'm going to try and stick to the way the words are pronounced on the Latinum podcasts. Now I hope I can find somewhere that has greek audio using the same approach that includes the tonal accents as I'd like to handle pronouncing accents consistently between both latin and greek to make it easier on myself. So as an aside, if anyone knows where I can find that type of greek audio samples I'd love to hear it. Back to the original topic, I'd be happy to do a combined adler/wheelock as that is sorta what I'm going to be doing anyway.

LOCŪTŌRIUM VIRTUĀLE SCHOLÆ

Si cyberpressōrium tuum super internexum qvī suprā appāret premis, qvadrātum vidēbis ubi "Screen Name" (Nōmen Cybernēticum) inscriptum est. Dēlē "Screen Name", in locum qvōrum verbōrum inscrībe deinceps in qvadrātō textuālī nōmen usōris tuum. Deinde preme cyberpressōrium tuum super spatíolum qvod iuxtā est, ubi verbum ánglicum "Log In" (Inscrībe hīc nōmen tuum ut intrēs) legitur.

Nec cryptographēma necesse est intrōdūcere nec inscriptiōnem ēlectrónicam.

In Locutōriō Virtuālī nostrō cum aliīs colloqviōrum participibus vel microphōnō vel machinā phōtographicā tēlārī vel símplice scriptiōne commūnicāre potes.

De Lingva Latina Recte Pronuntianda

De Lingva Latina Recte Pronuntianda



I found Mr. Whalen's public criticism of Evan Millner's pronunciation of Latin on the latter's website "Latinum" curious to say the least, all the more so because I am by profession a simultaneous interpreter (as well as a translator) practicing this vocation in a number of modern languages, including a few of Latin's granddaughters. Like other interpreters, I am obliged to improve continuously my language skills I have lived eight years in different foreign countries, working on one or another foreign language to gain the required vocabulary, fluency, and pronunciation. In this office I am compelled to pay due attention to the niceties of stress and intonation, especially in my non-native Spanish, French, Italian, German, Romanian, all of which I have interpreted in trials and court proceedings, lest my listeners be left scratching their heads in partial or total incomprehension.

In all this time I have not come upon one human language that does not exhibit both stress and tonality. Some languages, like English and its Germanic cousins, feature more stress than tonality, but the tones are still there and are easily heard in almost any utterance one can imagine, except perhaps from those emanating from an actor or comedian speaking in a monotone for comic or dramatic or anti-dramatic effect. Even our modern English speech, in its most atonal form, i.e., that heard from the relatively immobile mouths of U.S. Midwesterners and farmers and ranchers living on the Great Plains shows some small variation of pitch.



I cannot imagine the Latin of any period having been spoken in a monotone, especially in the Classical period. I speak to a greater or a lesser degree the five major Romance languages, and none of these offspring of Latin wants for tonal variations. Indeed, Italian, Romanian, and French have a very marked tonality in educated speech.



There may have been some backwaters in the Roman Republic or Empire where where farmers, dung-spreaders, and other locals spoke Latin with lock-jaw monotony. But I cannot believe that the philhellene optimates and litterati of Rome and other urban centers eschewed musical pitch in speaking a Latin which, of course, also featured stress. But both the abundance evidence cited by the great American linguist E. H. Sturtevant in his "The Pronunciation of Latin and Greek " and the marked musicality of Latin's children, esp. French, Italian, and Romanian convince me that Virgil did not compose his hexameters with a monotone buzzing in his ear.



If, however it is the monotonous backwater speech that Mr. Whalen wishes to impart to his pedagogical charges, he is welcome to do so, clamping his jaw shut with surgical wire and avoiding arpeggios up and down the musical scale in favor of atonality.



I am not a Latin teacher, hence do not know with what ancient Roman professions today's students of Latin might identify. But I would wager that those of "cantor" and "musicus" at the court of Augustus would win hands-down over those of "agricola" or "stercorator" on the eastern edge of Dacia (Qvid diceret Ovidius?).



As for Latin's modern avatars, it is impossible to hear a native speaker of Italian uttering that at once ancient and modern Italic word "cantare" without noting the delightfully falling interval of a musical fifth, a characteristic of the Italian language that Verdi and Donizetti exploited to such great advantage and which did not simply appear out of nothing. It is also eerily similar to the Greek circumflex accent as described by Dionysius Halicarnassus and deftly reproduced by Mr. Millner on Latinum).



And "cantare" is what I would suggest that Mr. Whalen do a little more of, especially in his classes of Latin, lest whatever acoustic appreciation of Latin that his pedagogic charges have retained be completely obliterated by a stress-heavy or atonal pronunciation of Latin.
.
John Doublier

A BRIEF NOTE ON ACCENTS:

A BRIEF NOTE ON ACCENTS:

W.S. Allen, in his “Vox Latina”, dismisses the idea that Latin had a pitch accent, despite the description of this accent in great detail by a number of Roman grammarians writing prior to the fourth century AD. Allen states that the accent is “a minor detail of the Greek”. This would be like saying that the musical accent of Italian was “ a minor detail of Italian”. In fact, the survival of the pitch accent, albeit in modified form, in Italian, Catalan and Sardinian, provides evidence that educated Romans adopted it into their Latin. Cicero himself speaks of the musicality of Latin, likening Spoken Latin to a form of singing. Further evidence exists in the adoption of the tonal accent into Hebrew recitiation. Indeed, the Jews adopted the Greek system, including the method for manually marking the tones. (Manuum variis motibus altitudinem, depressionem, flexus vocis significabant) Talmudic texts were printed with accents for this tonal singing, until well into the mediaeval period. This accent has similarities to the Greek accent , and probably developed in imitation of the Greek recitation of the Laws to a chanted tune.

Bennet, along with David (see below), both of whom I regard as authoritative on this matter, come down in favour of the "Greek" accent. Herman and Wright in “Vulgar Latin” also hold the view that the accent in Classical times was a tone accent (pg 36).

One major plank of the argument regarding Classical Latin and tone versus stress, (Vulgar Latin, J Herman) is defeated by Hungarian, which “has a very strong stress accent involving intensity, while at the same time a whole operating system of vowels based on distinctions in length”.

In other words, a clear strong stress accent and a vowel system based on phonological length distinctions are not ipso facto incompatible. Yet one hears this recited again and again by Classicists, educated linguists and laymen alike, so often has this notion been repeated, that is has taken on authority simply by dint of repition. I am not sure with which linguists this canard arose – for canard it surely is. There is no empirical scientific evidence for this opinion, only evidence that weighs against.

Classical Latin had both a stress accent, with tonal differentiation, and vowel length distinctions. Earlier Roman Grammarians assert quite explicitly that Latin used a tonal accent, similar to the Greek, and only from the fourth century onward to Roman grammarians talk about relative loudness, as opposed to pitch. (pg 36 Vulgar Latin, J. Herman & R. Wright, 2000, Penn State Press.)

The question of the nature of the Classical Latin accent was initially argued for cogently in English by Abbott, in his paper “The Accent in Vulgar and Formal Latin” (Classical Philology, II ppp 444 ff). Abbott held the view that the accent of the common people continued to be one of stress, but educated Romans developed an accent in which pitch predominated. This view is reasonable enough, when we consider to what extend Roman literature is based on the Greek. Also, educated Romans spoke Greek, with its pitch accent. This view is also supported by R.G. Kent ( Transactions of the American Philological Association, LI, pp19 ff), and Turner (Classical Review, 1912, pp147 ff).

Kent writes “In the middle of the second century BC the Greek teachers of the Roman youth set a fashion of speaking Latin with a pitch accent, for as Greeks they kept this peculiarity of their mother tongue when they learned Latin. From that time on, Latin was spoken with a pitch accent by the highly educated class, while the general populace retained the stress accent” (quoted on pg 55 of “Accentual Change and Language Contact” J. Salmons, 1992, Routledge.

Another recent study in support of the Pitch accent, is “The Non-European and Semitic Languages”, Saul Levin, SUNY Press, pg 236 ff

“ The ancient grammarians say clearly that the accent of Latin is either acute or circumflex, and they describe it just like Greek. In many details the distributions of acute and circumflex [between the Latin and Greek] agrees remarkably.”.

Levin continues to say “ Some in modern times have wrongly doubted, or rejected altogether, the testimony of the Roman Grammarians about accent. But since Latin literature conforms to the syllabification and vowel quantity of Greek, the literary language of Rome can hardly have failed to employ a pitch accent compatible with such versification and prose rhythm.” He then says even more emphatically, “ It will not do to dismiss the Latin pitch accent as an artificial imitation of Greek. The most classical Latin, the kind most thoroughly described in our sources, is the most thoroughly Hellenized. If Latin was ever free from Greek influence in some prehistoric time, that Latin is unknown to us, and to reconstruct it, be peeling off what we may label the literary, Hellenizing features, is a fantasy……..Admitting that there was a raised pitch does not conflict with the stress which undoubtedly was present in early Latin.”

See also the seminal work of J. Vendryes, “recherches sur l’histoire et les effets de l’intensite initiale en latin” (Paris 1902), which is quoted by Bennett.

“New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin” Andrew Sihler 1995, OUP , pg 241 also argues in favour of the pitched accent.

“ Roman Grammarians, down to the 4^th C AD, describe the Latin accent in terms only appropriate for a pitch accent. Scholars have been wary as taking this as cogent, however, as not only is the terminology of Roman Grammarians taken over entire from Greek, their statements are often cribbed from Greek sources. Some scholars protest, however, that ancient authorities could hardly have thus identified Greek and Latin accent had there not been at least an appreciable element of pitch in the latter….The familiarity of educated Romans with Greek accent in both practice and theory probably would not have caused them to adopt an element of accent wholly irrelevant for their natural speech, but could have made them more aware of an existing element of pitch, and even to a studied enhancement of it – Latin with a Greek accent, if you will, in oratory or recitations of poetry”

Pulgram 1975, pg 116, quoted in “From Latin to Spanish”, Paul M Lloyd, Diane Publishing, 1987, argues that speakers of Classical Latin adopted the Greek pitch accent, and certainly made an effort to adopt it on formal occasions, if not in general speech.

“A New Theory of the Greek Accent” A.P. David, Oxford University Press, 2006 pg 76-7 is the most recent, and authoritative of the new school of scholars who promote the view that the original statements of Quintillian, etc, are accurate descriptions of Latin as it was spoken. Here is Davis' argument:

“It is also possible that Greek forms with an acute on the antepenult are a product of the reflex described in Vendryes’ Law, if the Latin penult in these words was heard to be pronounced with a circumflex.

Might there have been such a contonation in Latin? A simple synchronic picture, which accords with the traditional account, emerges if we assume a contonation. We are informed by a recent commentator that “ Roman Grammarians, down to the 4^th century, describe L[atin] accent in terms appropriate only for a pitch accent” (quoting A.Sihler, see above, pg 241).

Modern scholars, however, tend to see a sort of ‘Greek envy’ in this native description and to be dismissive. But if we frame the new rule for Latin in terms of a recessive contonation, where the voice was required where possible to rise two morae before the ultima – without, in the case of this language, any stipulation as to the quantity of the ultima – the traditional stress rules for polysyllabic words in Latin automatically follow, if the combination of pitch and quantity worked in the way that I have described for Greek. A long penult, with two morae, containing the rise combined with the Latin version of the svarita, would produce a circumflex on the penult (amIcus); [circumflex on the capitalised I] while a short penult (of one mora) would cause the rise to revert back to one mora to the antepenult, producing the Latin acute with a deemphasised svarita (facilis).

In making an authoritative correction, Quintillian actually points to this recessive rule. Discussing errors in accentuation, he cites CethEgus [circumflex on the capitalised E] as properly having a flex on the penult (Institutio Oratorio 1.5):the common error was to pronounce the penult grace in this word instead of circumflex, which apparently rendered the penult short. (A circumflex requires two morae). He implies that this change in the quantity of the penult necessitates an acute first syllable (Cethegus) [with acute on the first e] – an erroneous pronunciation, but one which conforms to the proposed rule. The Latin accent was a recessive contonation, a rise and fall, where the rise occurred, wherever possible, on the second mora before the ultima.”

The most recent writer to put forward a theory on this subject, is A.P. David, who gives sound reasoning for dismissing W.S. Allen’s ill-supported view.

“A New Theory of the Greek Accent” A.P. David, Oxford University Press, 2006 pg 76-7

“It is also possible that Greek forms with an acute on the antepenult are a product of the reflex described in Vendryes’ Law, if the Latin penult in these words was heard to be pronounced with a circumflex.

Might there have been such a contonation in Latin? A simple synchronic picture, which accords with the traditional account, emerges if we assume a contonation. We are informed by a recent commentator that “ Roman Grammarians, down to the 4^th century, describe L[atin] accent in terms appropriate only for a pitch accent” (quoting A.Sihler, see above, pg 241).

Modern scholars, however, tend to see a sort of ‘Greek envy’ in this native description and to be dismissive. But if we frame the new rule for Latin in terms of a recessive contonation, where the voice was required where possible to rise two morae before the ultima – without, in the case of this language, any stipulation as to the quantity of the ultima – the traditional stress rules for polysyllabic words in Latin automatically follow, if the combination of pitch and quantity worked in the way that I have described for Greek. A long penult, with two morae, containing the rise combined with the Latin version of the svarita, would produce a circumflex on the penult (amîcus); [circumflex on the capitalised I] while a short penult (of one mora) would cause the rise to revert back to one mora to the antepenult, producing the Latin acute with a deemphasised svarita (facilis).

In making an authoritative correction, Quintillian actually points to this recessive rule. Discussing errors in accentuation, he cites Cethêgus [circumflex on the capitalised E] as properly having a flex on the penult (Institutio Oratorio 1.5):the common error was to pronounce the penult grace in this word instead of circumflex, which apparently rendered the penult short. (A circumflex requires two morae). He implies that this change in the quantity of the penult necessitates an acute first syllable (Cethegus) [with acute on the first e] – an erroneous pronunciation, but one which conforms to the proposed rule. The Latin accent was a recessive contonation, a rise and fall, where the rise occurred, wherever possible, on the second mora before the ultima.”

As a final point, I would like to note, that one reason why one seldom hears Latin declaimed with this accent, is that one seldom hears Classical Greek spoken with it, even though there is not even a sliver of doubt that Classical Greek was spoken with a pitch accent. Current practice, however, is not necessarily a guide to good practice, and I would advocate the use of the tonal accent, for purely pedagogical reasons – it makes Latin more intelligible, and also makes clearer distinctions between stressed and unstressed, unaccented and accented syllables, and long and short vowels.

In monosyllables, vowels that are long take the circumflex, and vowels that are short take the acute.

árs	flôs
fáx	spês
párs	môns

Polysyllables take the circumflex accent when the penult is long by nature (This simply means that it has a long vowel, see above), and the final vowel is short. A circumflex can only appear over a syllable with a long vowel.

jûrĭs lûcĕ mûsă spînă

The circumflex accent is thought to have has a slight up-down tone, the acute a straightforward upwards tone. Final unaccented syllables had a slight falling tone. (This is called the grave accent, but this is not written, it is simply understood to be there.)

These accents were applied by the Romans in imitation of the Greeks, and may have been used when reciting poetry and during orations.

Learning Latin

Learning Latin

by Alex Sheremet

"Wheelock's Latin" is perhaps the best conservative book of its type -- that is, it's the best of grammar-before-understanding Latin textbooks, and it shows. It thoroughly explains the grammar in ways most college textbooks don't, and it has plenty of selections from the original authors, which, if quickly understood, helps build enthusiasm: "Look, Mom! After 1/2 an hour of sweating, I finally understand these three sentences!" Moreover, there are additional readings in the back, in case you'd like to test (or brush up on) your knowledge of mechanical decoding.

But, that's where the fun ends. I used this book in a summer intensive course, and loved it. We finished most of in 8 weeks, and I, too, was pretty confident like the hypothetical student above. Soon, though, I noticed that learning Latin felt unnatural. After a semester of prose, we moved on to Ovid, and something became clear: I wasn't "reading," but decoding.. Wheelock and subsequent instruction trained me to do exactly that.

Decoding -- it's when a student looks at a sentence, and hunts: there's a noun, there's the adjective, but, they're in different cases; oh, the adjective probably goes with this noun, then. Verb, adverb, subject.. and, ECCE! Puzzle solved.

Is this reading? Why are students of German, or Russian (a more difficult language, by the way) able to build the kind of proficiency in 2 years that many 5-year students of Latin only daydream about? The difference is in the approach: German and Russian are taught as languages, while Latin is usually taught as a synthetic, mechanical puzzle. And, don't try to say that German and Russian are still spoken -- that's not an excuse, considering that it's possible to at least approximate Latin fluency by constructing artificial social situations: audio, continuous prose composition at very early levels and beyond, and exposure to low-level readings.

Wheelock does not help this problem. Instead, Wheelock does the following: he gives you a great grammatical introduction, and then throws sentences at you, which you either translate into English or into Latin. These exercises are graded by difficulty, but there's no continuous reading.. there's no introduction of "baby prose," of substantial narrative-nuggets that might get the student thinking in Latin, and thinking of Latin *as* Latin -- that is, as an individual language, one that should not be forced into an Anglicized word order, or puzzled out, piece by piece.

Now, there's certainly nothing wrong with the above if it's immediately followed by a different approach. But, Wheelock is not designed with an alternative in mind -- high schools and colleges start you with Wheelock, and then throw you into advanced prose or poetry. There is no side-step, or, even more helpful, a step back.

Students that are just starting out, like me, at one time, don't realize the following: they will never learn to read Latin properly with such an approach. Sure, they may learn to read Latin properly if they do something on their own *in conjunction* with typical formal instruction, but, I suspect the formal approach then becomes a burden, a distraction from the student's "real work."

Obviously, that's a problem.. the student never really gets used to Latin word order, among other things, because he's never around enough of it in quick, digestible chunks. Moreover, if he never practices generating Latin quickly and proficiently, there will always be a barrier between the original Latin text and his true abilities, especially in terms of reading speed. Although we have only a tiny portion of original Latin literature extant, it's pretty much inconceivable for a student to ever get through those works in his entire lifetime, if, that is, he never leaves the Wheelock approach.

Instead, I'd recommend Orberg's "Lingua Latina." It's an excellent book designed for Latin fluency, if used in conjunction with other materials. It's all written in Latin, as one continuous narrative broken into different scenes and chapters. Although it starts out very simple, it moves up to real sophistication, but slowly enough that, with a little patience and review, the student is reading the final chapters (which approximate unadapted Latin, by the way) at a respectable speed, and only sometimes hunting for objects, subjects, etc., in some of the more difficult or unclear sentences. At the end of the first chapter, you will have done several pages of solid reading, which might be more reading than in all of Wheelock's chapters combined. Interestingly, your reading speed, while it will decrease as you move on to the harder stuff, won't decrease significantly. And eventually, you can get it back, and move beyond your initial stages.

I'd also recommend Adler's "Practical Latin Grammar," which is out of print, but nonetheless available on Google Books. Adler's textbook is especially good as a supplement to "Lingua Latina," since it eventually covers every important point of grammar, including complex subordination. It's focused on *conversational* Latin, which forces the student to generate and verbalize good Latin sentences from the very beginning. The entire book has been rendered into audio on Evan Millner's "Latinum Podcast" site, which -- at least a few hundred hours worth, if not more -- is available for free. In this way, you're doing two things: you're practicing complex prose with proper reading skills with Orberg's book, and practicing listening and speaking Latin with Adler and Millner.

An article criticizing the typical Latin-teaching approaches mentioned something interesting and revealing: in the Renaissance, students were first taught conversational Latin for five or six years before ever cracking open some Caesar or Cicero. And only years later, perhaps, did they ever touch poetry. Doesn't this seem sensible? To truly understand a language, or even to simply be competent enough to read at a decent speed, from the start of a sentence to the end, without juggling endless case endings and objects in your mind, requires this kind of approach. Sure, if you're doing Latin academically, there may be no time -- you're expected to have decoded at least a couple of hundred of pages of Latin by the time you hit your Ph.D. stage, in some schools. But, if you're interested in doing well and improving every day, and visibly, for that matter, forget about Latin literature for as long as you can tolerate it, and start with the basics: easy reading, and conversation.

And it's not all bad: I'm glad I did Wheelock, because "Lingua Latina" was much easier for me, given the vocabulary and abstract grammatical knowledge I had. So, if you're completing Wheelock now, or about to start it, consider it preparation for what comes ahead.

For more information, read William Dowling's homepage -- a fluent reader of Latin, he first turned me on to this "natural method" of language acquisition. He doesn't accept e-mails, but you can write some snail mail to him, as I did:

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~wcd/Latin.htm

by Alex Sheremet

Latin is extremely useful.

Latin is extremely useful. One major advantage it has, its its grammatical regularity, and its clarity and beauty. Also, the reason it has survived so long, is that a great literature exists written in it, and learning Latin to have access to this literature is well worth the effort.
Thousands of people allover the world learn Latin, even people who have to struggle to do so in places where there are no formal Latin programmes. Many use the Latinum podcast’s free lessons.
The Latinum podcast now has over 50 lessons online, each lesson is composed of several individual episodes comprising:
a. grammar
b. English-Latin conversational dialogue (question and answer)
c. Repetition of the same short dialogues in Latin only, first with pauses, then again more quickly.

There are already thousands of regular users of the lessons, located all over the world. The clickable map on Latinum’s home page gives an insight into where in the world people are studying and listening to Latin.

If you cannot attend an actual Latin class, (and even if you can) then Latinum’s lessons, and extensive vocabulary learning resources, classical text readings, etc, will be an invaluable resource.
Many established Latin programmes, including schools and universities, are also now directing their students to it.
With over 1,300,000 lessons downloaded to date, this is the largest single Latin programme available.
http://latinum.mypodcast.com

Also, if you want to build up your vocabulary and you are a visual learner, then there is an ever growing resource of visual learning aids on Schola.
http://schola.ning.com

You need to sign in, and visit the photographiae section.

Here you will find over 2 800 photographs of objects, with the latin word for the object written on it.
Some also have basic phrases, introducing related verbs. Everyday objects are included as well, such as furniture, crockery and cutlery, transport, boats, etc.
There are also images related to learning greetings and salutations.

This resource is constantly expanding, and anyone serious about learning Latin will find it useful

All of the above resources are free of charge

My 12 year old son started Latin this year

Dear Evan,

My 12 year old son started Latin this year and I’d like to join him on his journey – most likely he’ll be helping me rather than me helping him. I started downloading your Latinum podcasts in the hope they also will help get me started.

The “My first/second/third/fourth Latin Lesson” series was an excellent help and I understood everything. I also find the vocab podcasts extremely helpful and enjoyable to listen to. However, the jump in level between these and the grammar, even the first Adler lesson, Pensum Alterum, I couldn’t cope with!

For me, the material went from simple English examples straight into “words whose genitive end in i” – which, when it comes to Latin, says very little to me. I speak fluent German and am very familiar with cases. Despite this, I’m having a lot of difficulty finding a way to get from “Venus Martium amat” to the first Latin declension, with five or six cases, of words whose genitive ends in i. In Latin, I don’t have enough base knowledge to be able to link things together, but I also don’t know what knowledge is missing!

Your help would be greatly appreciated! What do I need to do to make the jump – I’m a little frustrated at the moment, but I don’t give up easily.

If the upload times of the podcasts are anything to go by, then you also work till the wee hours on a regular basis - hope you find time to answer.

Thanks for your help,

Adler is divided into three sections - each lesson has part a b and c.
Part A is almost exclusively grammar. In the first parts of the first episodes, I do go into great detail about nouns, far more detail than is necessary in the beginning, perhaps.

If you look here http://www.e.millner.btinternet.co.uk/languages/Latingrammar.html
I have made some grammar tables that might be useful, especially if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, where I have made some tables that I personally found very useful, but have yet to see presented in this form in any grammar textbook.

Let me know if these tables are useful, or clear enough. Perhaps I should link them more explicitly to the Latinum podcast's main page.

Part b , as you will have realised, is English-Latin, with no grammar, and part c repeats the material with no English.

You will be able to pick the language up intuitively, more or less from listening to parts b and c. . Adler's method is actually designed for this. The grammar in Adler is descriptive grammar, describing forms that you are learning intuitively through use. In that sense, it is less important than in some textbooks, where the learning is generated through grammatical rules. If you download Adler's German-English textbook, which is still in print, (Do a google search for Ollendorff Adler German) and compare them, you might find this useful, as the two books follow a similar structure.

I would select the English-Latin part b episodes, and learn those, then the part c. Only after youhave covered a few episodes in this way, would I then go back and do the grammar sections for the earlier episodes. Then, I would return and study the grammar with him in detail, which will make more sense as you will have some language structures in your head to relate to.

I would also download the textbook, and the answer key print up a chapter at a time....ask him the Latin questions, and have him respond.

Then, have him ask you. Keep the learning as active and conversational as possible.
The written text may also be easier for you to interpret to him, in terms of grammar.

You may also ask him to write out some of the translation exercises, after he has learned the lesson.

Hope this helps.

Evan.

SCHOLA

SCHOLA

Red social para comunicarse en latín.

http://pacifica.typepad.com/

From the Pacifica Weblog, On Latin....

The answers to some of these questions lie beyond the ken of mortals, but some I can divulge. I don’t speak Russian, though I’ve been known to dream in it, and I don’t know if my monastic friend speaks, dreams in, or otherwise has an intimate relationship with English. This was not an issue, though, because we typed, of course, in Latin.

It’s true: there are places where conversations happen entirely in that time-tested tongue. Through a website called Schola, for instance, I am in touch with ordinary persons from such locales as Portugal, Poland, Israel, Montenegro, France, Australia, the Ukraine, Germany, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Spain, Bulgaria, Russia, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Brazil, Alberta, the Philippines, and—brace yourself—the San Fernando Valley, all united by the fact that we use Latin for actual communication.

This is not just something to do. It is exhilarating. Would I could convey the bliss and beauty of two humans with mismated native tongues, conversing in a third! We’re talking something between a first kiss and first tracks on an Alpine slope, more electric than Circuit City struck by lightning and a Prius at the same time, and more breathtaking than a knee to the diaphragm of a winded asthmatic, underwater. For me, besides purveying these intrinsic thrills, it evokes my European childhood, when I often plied this practice on the playground. But, nostalgia and overstuffed metaphors aside, the accomplishment feels tremendous. I don’t like to toss around citizen-of-the-world palaver, but, baby, this is its quintessence! And it’s never too late to take the oath: I know of multiple first-time Latin learners in their sixties and beyond.

Nor is this pleasure limited to electronic realms. This summer I will travel, in the corporeal world, to Rusticatio Virginiana, a week-long retreat at a villa formerly in the Washington family, where one speaks only Latin. Doing everything from trail-tromping to wine-tasting, from disputing Ovid and Catullus in many-hour sessions to sitting on the porch shooting the West Virginia breeze, we will be using only that ancient harp-song, Latin—and having the time of our lives doing it! The chef, by the way, one Andrew Gollan, is a Latin teacher at Santa Monica High School. (Even the carrots are cooked Latine modo.) What’s more, Rusticatio Virginiana is but one of many such shindigs across the country, and far more across the world, some of which last as many as eight weeks, and many of which are difficult to get into because the demand is so immense.

While all this may convince you that there are still whackos who use Latin of their own free will, it may not yet convince you that it is worthwhile for you to become one. It is difficult, after all, to convince intelligent persons to become whackos—an impasse encountered time and again by the Apostle Paul, and spoken of by him in about the same terms (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-25). But I think you may find, as did many of his listeners, that the thing you considered folly is perhaps not so crazy after all.

To this end, on to the next post and the next conversation. Valete, amici amicaeque!

P.S. You can view my Latin comment on John 2:4 at http://schola.ning.com/group/rerumdivinarumhumanarumque/forum/topic/show?id=1987911%3ATopic%3A2563. Maneuver freely from there! Clicking “Index” at the top left will take you to the main page; at “Laternae Magicae” you can see some of the thousands of Latin videos to be found on the internet, though my recommended source for such is http://eclassics.ning.com/, which has English to help you navigate the site. Also, if you peruse the “Circulus” at the Schola site, you may recognize among the membership some of our own Latin 2 and 3 students!)

Rein lateinischsprachiges Forum:

Rein lateinischsprachiges Forum:
http://schola.ning.com/

Template for running a Latin Classroom

This collection of phrases grew from a set originally written by Bob Patrick, written to facilitate the management of a classroom in Latin.

The extensive additions to Bob's original list are all culled from Adler’s “A Practical Grammar of the Latin Language for Speaking and Writing Latin” –Evan Millner.

Taking the Register

Salvete discipuli!

A: Salve tu quoque magister!

Quid agitis hodie? Agitisne bene?

Roll call: Discipuli, nomina vestra voco (vocabo).

Quis homo es? Who are you? A: Ego sum ……

Respondete “adsum” vel “ecce me!”

Anne est intus Marcus? Is Mark here today?

Non dubito, quIn domi sit. I don’t doubt but that he is home.

Abiit Marco. Marco has left.

Ubi est ………….? Abestne? Another student answers: abest.

Ubi sunt x et y? Cur in foro sunt? Cur non veniunt? In foro sunt quod…..

Si veniet, cum eo colloquar. (When he comes, I’ll speak to him)

Eccum adest! Here he is.

En hic est ille! Here he is.

Eccos adsunt Here they are.

En hic sunt illi Here they are

Equis aegrotus est? (A: Nemo est aegrotus)

Adestne Michael scholae? A: adest vel interest

Quem te appellem? What shall I call you?

Lateness:

Unde venis? A: Venio ex hortulo/lavatorio

Fuistine in hortulo? Fuistine in lavatorio?

Suntne pueri tardi? (are boys late?)

Venient! (They’ll come)

Ubi heri eras? (where were you yesterday?) Erasne domi? (A: ego domi eram)

In scholam venire neglexisti! You were playing truant.

Starting the lesson

Open, close door: _________, claude (aperi) januam, quaeso.

Books, paper, pencils, pens, notebooks, turning to pages, etc.

1. Discipuli, extrahite libros (chartas, graphides, pennas, libellos).

2. Aperite libros ad paginam primam/alteram/ ducentessimam tricessimam secundam—being page1/2/ 232).

3. Vertite paginam et legite versum primum per decimum (turn the page and read

lines 1-10. Again, line numbers are ordinal.)

4. Post legendum, scribite breviarium de fabula in libello (after reading, write a

summary in your notebook).

5. Claudite libros.

6. Vertite libros in mensa. (Turn your books over on the desk—for when you

want them to refer back to the page momentarily.)

7. Deponite libros (pennas, graphides, libellos, chartas) in mensa (sarcina).

Giving Dictation:

Discipuli, scribite.

Scribe sententias perfectas.

Translation

Discipuli, Redde sententias Latinas Anglice

Classroom communications:

Num intelligis, quid dicam? A: minus comprehendo (I don’t)

Pro deorum atque hominum fidem! What the …is going on here!!!!

Quid discipuli clamant!

Discipuli, nolite loqui.

Laborandum est nobis / Nos oportet laborare /necesse est laboremus.

Discipulus, tacite! Discipulus, nolite susurrare!

Discipuli, lege fabulam et responde.

Discipuli, lege fabulam, et scribe responsa.

Discipuli, Scribe sententias perfectas (complete sentences).

Discipulus, nescio quid dicas! ( I can’t hear you)

Responde, discipule!

Bene respondes, discipule!

Discipulus, claude januam!

Discipulus, noli fenestram claudere!

Aperi fenestram!

Tabulam spectate! (Look at this picture)

Spectasne magistrum?

Quid agitis?

Quid ais? (What are you saying?)

Quo ambulas?

Ad stirpiculum ambulo……

Spectaa!

Nonne magistrum tuum times?

Nonne discipuli libros habent?

Cupitisne audite?

Attendite! (pay attention)

Moneminine?

Quicunque peritus est, laudatur!

Qui sollertes atque studiosi sunt, praemiis ornantur!

Tu ornaris praemio! (when giving a reward)

Audisne, quod praeceptor tibi dicat? A: Audio!

Cujus liber est hoc? Cujus est hic liber? A: Meus est

Num loqueris prius quam audis?

Auscultasne quum ego loquor?

Concludisne? (are you finishing up your work?)

Nemo punitus est (I’m not punishing anyone)

An vidistis librum etc meum?

Nunc est tibi laborandum!

Hic est liber tuus!

Non intelligo quid dicas.

Poenitet me (te/eum) ! (I’m sorry)

Pudet nos (vos/eos) ! (We’re ashamed)

Fallit me (I don’t know/remember)

Quomodo scribitus hocce vocabulum? (how is this word written?)

A: Scribitur hoc pacto.

Quomodo scribitus nomen ejus?

Scribitur litteraa Z… (It is written with a Z)

Opus est, ut sedeas quietus / Necesse est tibi sedere quiete

Scholam habere de aliquaa re.

Absolvistine tua pensa imperaata? (have you written your exercises?) A: Nondum absolve.

Quem quaeritis? (who are you looking for?)

Respondeasne, cum interrogaris? (Do you answer when you are asked?)

Quem librum habes? (which book have you got)

Habesne chartam, quae tibi opus est?

Quo curris? Where are you running to?

Cur eum offendis? (why are you pushing him?)

Obliviscerisne aliquid? A: Obliviscor vero meam pennam/chartam/librum

Num quid vis? / Num quid imperas? (Do you want something?)

Valde mihi probatur! Perplacet! (I like it)

Maxime oportet. (by all means)

Ordo te vocat! Ordo eum vocat! It is your turn/his turn

Vir vere doctus!

Verumne est? Estne verum?

Non verum est. Falsum est.

AmIsitne aliquid de minibus? A: DimIsit vero pennam de minibus.

Jussi eum facere hoc.

Hoc est mihi jucundum! Optime est! Gaudeo hoc!

Verba tua non intelligo, propterea, quod nImis celeriter loqueris!

Sis tam benignus, ut aliquanto lentius loquaris?

Visne esse tam beignus, ut mihi librum des?

Potesne respondere lente? A: possum

Procede lente! Festina lente! Walk slowly!

Reminiscerisne hoc? Do you remember that?

Quid recordaris? What do you remember?

Quomodo te geris? How do you behave?

Bene geris!

Te pro cive geris! You behave like a citizen!

Praebuis te virum! You’ve shown yourself to be a man.

Praestitis te doctum! You have shown yourself to be a scholar!

Non possum. I can’t

Non nolo. I don’t want to.

Ibisne intro? Will you go in?

Visne me assidere? Will you sit next to me?

Placetne tibi assidere in sellaa? Will you please sit down!

Visne pergere, ut coepisti? Will you carry on as you started?

Clara voce loqui pergas oportet! You must keep on speaking out loud.

Mihi opus est, ut lavem ( I need the bathroom)

Si abis, bene est. If you go, that’s OK.

Quam primum potes redeas quaeso. Come back as soon as possible

Quomodo te habes? How are you?

A: Ego me admodum bene habeo.

Parasne te ad dicendum? Are you preparing to speak?

Sero est. Its late

Utcunque sese res habet, tua est culpa. However that may be, you are at fault.

Non dissentio I agree

Faterisne illud esse vitium? Do you admit that to be a fault? A: Fateor.

Facere non possum I cant do it

Animadvertistine quod ille fecerit? Did you notice what he did? A: Animadverti

Quam rem agis? What are you driving at?

Itane? Is it so?

Quid nunc? What now?

Quid coeptas, Marco? What are you after, mark?

Tune negas? Do you deny it? Nego hercle vero!

Non opus est? Isn’t it necessary? A: Non hercle, vero.

Satin salve, dic mihi? A: Recte

Quid est? What is it? A:nihil, recte perge (nothing)

Ego tibi irascerer? Could I be angry with you? Scilicet! Heaven Forbid

Num pennam habet, an non?

Sunt haec tua verba, necne? Are these your own words?

Dicam hiuc, an non dicam? Shall I tell him, or shall I not tell him?

Hoc ne feceris. Do not do this.

Ne desperemus. Let us not give up.

Stat mihi facere hoc I’ve decided to do this

Gratissimum mihi facies, hoc si beneficium mihi tribuas. You’d oblige me a lot if you’d do me this favour.

Facerem hoc, si fieri posset. I’d do it, if it were possible.

Si ego essem, qui tu es…..If I were in your place…

Vellem, ut illud fecisses. I wish you had done it.

Fecitne verba discipulus? Did the student speak?

Res ad te spectat. This concerns you.

Quid hoc ad rem? What has that got to do with this? (stay on topic)

Hoc comprehendi non potest.

Hoc in intelligentiam non cadit. That’s unintelligible.

Quid succenses? What are you angry about?

Quid est hoc Latine?

Quid significant hoc Anglice?

Satin hoc tibi expolratum ‘st? Are you sure of that? A: Exploratum habeo.

Aequo sis animo! Be patient.

Expecta! Wait!

Attendite! Adestote animis! Pay attention!

Da mihi hoc! Give it to me!

Ediscendum est tibi pensum vicesimum. You have to learn lesson 20.

Adjuvabo te facere hoc. I’ll help you

Adjuvabone te in laborando? Shall I help you?

Queaso mihi des librum. Please hand the book over.

Pulsantur fores. Someone is knocking at the door.

Quid rides? What are you laughing at?

Tune s, qui rides? Is it you who is laughing?

Nescio quod faciam. I don’t know what to do.

Num hi libri tui sunt? Are these your books?

Praeter speciem stultus es. You’re more stupid than you appear.

Te et moneo et hortor!

Quam pulcher liber!

Quam bonus es!

Quam es erga me benevolus!

Quanti est sapere! How valuable knowledge is!

Dicere aggredior! Attendite! I’m starting to speak. Pay attention.

Quantum differt! What a difference!

Manum de tabula! Hands off the picture!

Honoris mea causaa. Out of respect for me

Te vehementer etiam atque etiam rogo. I earnestly ask you.

Giving a test:

Discipuli, scribite probationem (begin/write the test).

Discipuli, nolite loqui (susurrare).

Quis perfectus est? Quis non perfectus est?

Post probationem scripsistis, deponite in mensa mea.

Fer(te) mihi probationem.

Post probationem scripsistis, vertite in mensa.

Affer mihi libros. (bring me your books)

Analysing a sentence

“Pater meus rosam pulchram in horto suo habet.”

Quis rosam habet? Pater meus rosam habet!

Qualem rosam habet? Pulchram habet pater meus rosam!

Quid in horto suo habet? Rosam in horto suo habet!

Ubi rosam habet? In horto suo rosam habet!

Quid facit pater?

Quo facit?

Cur facit?

Describing a picture/etc

Quid in picturaa videtis?

Quid, pueri (puellasque) in picturaa videtis

Novam picturam hodie habemus.

Picturam novam hodie spectate!

In picturaa nostraa tabernam videmus.

Taberna in hac pictura videtur.

In pictura est taberna. Picturam spectaate!

Nonne tabernam spectas? Quis tabernam non videt?

Quid pictura ostendat? Ubi est taberna? Quid ‘head’ latine apellamus?

Explaining cases intuitively:

Mensa hic posita est.

Tango mensam. Mensam habeo. Habesne mensam? Mensam habeo! Estne tibi mensa? Est mihi mensa!

Mensa longa est. Mensa lignea est. Color mensa niger est.

Ego mensam tango. Ego mensam longam tango. Etc. Thousands of examples to be found in Adler….

Introducing tenses:

Olim, Londini habitabam. Nunc, Eboraci habito. Mox Cantabrigiae habitabo.

Introducing paradigms:

Use types of words as paradigms. Do not use the actual grammatical names of things until the students are fully familiar with the Latin forms.