Monday 26 January 2009

Anniversarii

Latinum ( a simple google search for 'latinum' or 'latin podcast' will find it at the top of the list )  is approaching its second anniversary. The entire Adler course is almost all online - all 97 lessons of it, offering several hundred hours of structured Latin tuition.

In addition, Latinum offers a growing selection of Latin readings, and a huge vocabulary learning resource, neo-Latin colloquia, and resources specifically targetted at GCSE.

Over 3 300 000 ( 3 million three hundred thousand) individual audio episodes have been downloaded from Latinum so far, rather a lot of Latin.

Schola on http://schola.ning.com has its first anniversary at the end of the month, with over 780 members. People join every day. Schola now has a real time chatroom, which gets busy every day, with people forming friendships with others who have only Latin as a shared language of communication.
Schola also offers blog posts, a forum, Latin videos, and a huge photolexicon with over 3 500 labelled images.

Tuesday 20 January 2009

Original Letters, Illustrative of English History : To 1586. Including Numerous Royal Letters; from Autographs in the British Museum, and One Or Two O

Original Letters, Illustrative of English History : To 1586. Including Numerous Royal Letters; from Autographs in the British Museum, and One Or Two Other Collections By Henry Ellis: "ETSI non scribo ad te frequenter soror charissima tamen nollem te putare me esse ingratum et tui obli yisci Nam diligo te eque bene ac si misissem cre brius ad te literas et amo te sicut frater debet amare charissimam sororem quae habet omnia ornamenta virtutis et honestatis in se Quemadmodum enim in duo optimas vestes rarissime illas tamen amo plus aliis sic scribo ad te rarissime sed amo te plurimum Preterea gaudeo te convaluisse audivi enim te aegro tasse Sic enim facio propter fraternum amorem quem tibi debeo et benevolentiam erga te meam opto tibi perpetuam salutem tum corporis tum animi Vale in Christo mea charissima soror Hunsdoniaea octavo Maij E PRINCEPS 134 OllIUlNAL LETTERS "

Original Letters, Illustrative of English History : To 1586. Including Numerous Royal Letters; from Autographs in the British Museum, and One Or Two O

Original Letters, Illustrative of English History : To 1586. Including Numerous Royal Letters; from Autographs in the British Museum, and One Or Two Other Collections By Henry Ellis: "PORTAsSE miraberis me tam sepe ad te scribere îd que tam brevi tempore Regina nobilissima et Mater charissima sed eadem ratione potes mirari me erga te officium facere Hoc autem nunc facio libentius quia est mihi idoneus nuncius servus meus et ideo non potui non dare ad te literas ad testificandum studium meum erga te Optime valeas Regina nobilissima Hunsdoniae Vigesimo quarto Maij a Tibi obsequentissimus filius EDOUARDUs PRINCEPs Illustrissimœ Reginœ matri meœ "
These letters are found on page 130 onward in the above text.
The text can be hear read aloud on the Latinum Podcast.

Reviews posted on the itunes site for Latinum

Mr. Millner has done amazing work creating and posting these podcasts online. They are a real labor of love, and his passion for and dedication to the Latin language really shine through. I still find it incredible that someone would take up such a task and make his work so readily available to all. If you have an interest in learning in Latin or at least wish to see it spared the fate of being a truly 'dead' language, please send a donation to Mr. Millner.

This is a course intended for serious study, so you won't be able to just tune in and get something from it - a little preparation is necessary. The lectures follow the course laid out in the Adler textbook, so you must get the Adler textbook to make use of the lectures. The text is available for free from Google as per the instructions on the Latinum website - it's easy enough to take it to a printer (like Kinko's in the
US) and get it printed and bound for a nominal sum. 

This is a superior resource - Latin teachers are hard to find in a lot of places; this podcast with the associated resources can actually teach you well enough to make up for the lack of a teacher provided you dedicate yourself to it. Bravo, Mr. Millner! 

 

 

 

 This is a rare gem of a site for learning Latin. It is a phenomenal compilation of many drill podcasts. If you download the book from google it is a great idea.
The podcasts are in order but you must go through them methodically as suggested by the creator/developer. Exercise patience with Latin as it is different from other languages! It's not an overnight achievement! It will come in time and so you will have to go through podcasts patiently. Overall it is worth it because it is free. Get a tutor and you'll pay through the nose! Thank you Latinum

 

 This is well-suited to the autodidact. 
Non scholae sed vitae discimus: We 
learn, not for school, but for life.

 

 As a beggining self taught Latin student I must say this is a wonderful tool. Not only are there poetry and prose read aloud but if you go to the website you can get a textbook that goes along with the lessons. At first I had trouble navigating the website but it is worth it once you get on track. By the way, the starting leassons are on the site and all the podcasts or organized there. Plus if you email Evan, who put this whole thing together, he will respond quickly and seems very friendly. Excellent tool for anyone wanting to learn Latin on their own and many others too

 

 This is an extraordinary podcast if you want to become fluent in latin. This takes about 500 days. I'm currently half-way. It's a living language approach based upon an ingenious textbook that is available for free from Google Books. Evan Millner has spent hundreds of hours creating these meticulous recordings. Also offered are hundreds of recitations by other scholars. If you are interested in Classics, this is the way to learn latin. These recordings will endure for decades. Five Caesars (highest rating)!!!!!!
 

 

This is an excellent supplement (or alternative) to reading-only Latin learning approaches. I've taken several years of Latin in college, but felt that my fluency had plateaued. I was looking for something that would bring in other learning modes (listening and speaking) instead of the traditional reading-only method. Latinum was exactly what I was looking for and it has helped me move forward. Plus, it is something I can do while I'm driving or taking a walk. I really appreciate all the hard work it must have taken to put this together.

Like some other reviewers, my one complaint is that it can initially be tough to figure out where to start. To help out those who are just getting started with it, I'd recommend first listening to the episode titled "INTRODUCTORY EPISODE" -- which is near (but not at) the top. Then listen to "II - A Pensum Alterum (THIS IS LESSON
ONE FOR BEGINNERS)" -- which is maybe 3/4 of the way down the list. Then the main episodes proceed UP (towards the top of the list) according to the roman numerals (with A, B, C, D subsections to each). The various episodes without roman numerals are supplementary materials of various kinds which you can explore at your leisure. 

 

 

 Even though it might be hard to navigate (which I think Evan should work on), I found the material to be worthy of donating to the site for its hard work. Perhaps we could see some new things in the future? 

 

 

 This podcast is a great tool to assist you in learning latin.
Being able to hear spoken latin really helps the learning process.
 

 

 

I have been trying to learn Latin off and on for the last 20 years. There is no particular reason for wanting to do this, other than that the language appeals to me. Visiting Rome last year only intensified my desire to study it. Thus, this site was a godsend. It is, admittedly, not easy material. For those planning to use it, I recommend that they first get a copy of Adler's book, as well as the answer key -- they help immensely.

The amount of work that is involved in setting up a site like this is amazing -- my experience with much less ambitious projects, only underscores my sense of awe at what Evan Millner has accomplished. I hope this project will continue to grow. 


 I found this podcast very easy to use and follow. The lessons are clear and concise. All in all, a great tool to use in the learning of latin. 

 

 

 Thank you for creating such a wonderful collection for free. My Latin was absolutely terrible before I tried this. I'm still learning and I can't wait to learn more!!
**Note to other users: The episodes are not in order. Don't be so lazy, it's a free collection. Just sort it out yourself. =)

 

 This is great stuff. Especially if your in a latin class, this will give you an edge over everyone else. 

 

 This podcast has a large number of lessons (around 400!). This podcast is not only for advanced Latin students-- though it's easy to make that mistake as some advanced lessons are at the beginning of the podcast. Pay attention to the names of the lessons and you should have no problem. The lessons are very thorough and if you visit the web page that corresponds with the lesson, it includes both text and pictures for most of the lessons. (*Note that visiting the web page for a lesson is much more direct if you use a RSS reader rather than a podcast client.) In the lessons, the author is very thorough: he gives examples, explanations, and tastefully repeats them to aid in memorizing the content. I wish that the text and pictures for each lesson were provided in .pdf format so that they could easily be downloaded with each episode-- that's why I rated the podcast as four rather than five. I value portability and having a transcript of the lesson along with the information on the web page in .pdf format would definitely make it easier for me to print it and take it with me. Overall, it is obvious that the author spent a great amount of time producting this podcast. I thank the author for producing so many great lessons to aid in learning Latin! I can't wait for my next lesson!