Podcasting Comes to Latin

Podcasting Comes to Latin

No doubt, you've become aware of the prevalence of iPods and other pocket-size audio players which teenagers can't seem to live without. Probably you've considered it another terrible distraction from the studying that they are "supposed to" be doing. Well, now you've got more ways to capitalize on this phenomenon with the age-old strategy: "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"
Yes, there are now ways to sneak some Latin onto those music players, and their friends won't know what they're listening to. Welcome to the world of Latin podcasting!
Plenty of Latin teachers have been experimenting with this medium for the last few years, ever since Apple's iPod became such an iconic accessory in everyday 21st century life. Apple was not only instrumental in making these mini-"Walkmen" more stylish and ubiquitous; they were also the first to make it easy for almost anyone to create materials to play on them.
This is where I will put in a plug for Micheal Posey's pre-Institute workshop on Apple's iLife suite of software, including iTunes, and some of the free online tools from the Web 2.0 renaissance, which is moving Internet content into more media (audio, video) on more devices (phones, iPods, PDAs), and usually for less money (due to open source programming and online advertising).
One of the first people to make a serious splash with a website devoted entirely to podcasts for Latin is Evan Millner, webmaster of Latinum. He is passionate about getting students exposed to more aural Latin in the hope that they will eventually feel more comfortable trying oral Latin next. To this end, he has amassed an enormous collection of audio readings of Latin literature, along with a graduated course in "Spoken Conversational Latin," using restored classical pronunciation with tonal accentuation, and all in MP3 format (one of the major podcast file types). To find out more about this exciting new mode of instruction, check out his site at latinum.mypodcast.com.