Thursday 21 November 2019

Latin Language Chatroom on Whatsapp

Latinum has created a space where you can have conversational practice in Latin.
 The rules for the Whatsapp Locutoria will be the same rules as drawn up by the late John Doublier z'l and myself for the Schola Latin chatrooms ( now closed down) in 2008:
 1. Latin and Greek only.
2.  Focus on communication; focus on the message, not the grammar.
  • Cum errare humanum sit, ne timueritis scribere, metu errandi permoti. 
  • Scripta autem aliena nolite corrigere, nisi auctor auxilium petit.
  • Locutorium id agit ut Latine scribendi ars colatur. 
  • Ergo scribite tantummodo Latine.
 ΔIAΛOΓOI ATTIKOI  ΝΥΝ ΕΣΤΙΝ ΟΜΙΛΟΣ ΤΩΝ ΑΤΤΙΚΙΖΟΝΤΩΝ


Any of the Locutorium Latinum Latin and Greek chatrooms are open to anyone. If one is full, try the other one.
There is one rule for the chatrooms: Latin and Attic Greek only.
I set up the new Latin Whatsapp Chatroom on the 17th November 2019, and have been gratified to see it grow very quickly. A secondary overflow chatroom was needed, as after two days, subscriptions were approaching the 257 person limit. If the first chatroom is full, please join the second. 
Si per WHATSAPP confabulari per litteras vis, habemus LOCUTORIA LATINA, et possis illic confabulari per litteras, picturas ad alios emittere, etc.
 Junge Te!
Visne alios invitare? Ecce vincula ad gregem:   
 ΔIAΛOΓOI ATTIKOI  ΝΥΝ ΕΣΤΙΝ ΟΜΙΛΟΣ ΤΩΝ ΑΤΤΙΚΙΖΟΝΤΩΝ


Even if you are a complete beginner, simply say hello.  When you join, please introduce yourself
 'Salvete, nomen mihi est _______________" 
will be fine. :)   
Seeing  people chatting freely in Latin will inspire you to progress in your studies, as you will see before your eyes that Latin is not a dead language, but is still the living  language of scholars that it has  been since the fall of Rome.
 
 WHY NO CORRECTING?
Why the rule about no correcting?
 Modern language theory and evidence based research tells us that over correcting, even correcting at all, is usually counter productive in the early stages of attempting to communicate in a new language.
 As long as you are actively studying the language as you go, errors will eventually resolve themselves. Fluency is achieved through action, through exposure to the language, and through struggling with using it.
 If a learner is unsure, to the degree that they are scared to communicate at all, then they will think twice before even attempting to communicate.
 You have to just wade in and take risks. No risk taking, no learning.
 So, unless a user specifically asks for help, no-one is allowed to comment on another user's grammar or Latinity. 
In reality, in the give and take of the real-time chatroom, this rule is relaxed somewhat.
HOW TO CORRECT SOMEONE POLITELY
 A polite way to correct someone is to re-phrase what they said, correctly, as part of your reply, without explicitly saying you are making a correction.

Monday 18 November 2019

Latin Language Chatroom on Whatsapp

I set up a Locutorium (chatroom) on Skype, which runs quite well with around 250 members. However, fewer and fewer people use Skype regularly, and although the group was stable, and has been for a couple of years, there has been no expansion.
   I set up the new Latin Whatsapp Chatroom on the 17th November 2019, and have been very pleased to see it grow very quickly, with many more new faces appearing. 
Si per WHATSAPP confabulari per litteras vis, habemus LOCUTORIUM LATINUM , et possis illic confabulari per litteras, picturas ad alios emittere, etc.
Junge Te!


Please do join, even if you are a complete beginner, simply say hello, (you can use the formula below if you like.)  Then, just lurk. Seeing all these people chatting away in Latin will inspire you to progress in your studies, as you will see before your eyes that Latin is not a dead language, but is still the living  language of scholars that it has always been since the fall of Rome.
 The rules for the Whatsapp Locutorium will be the same rules as drawn up by John Doublier and myself on the old SCHOLA website:
 1. Latin only.
2.  Focus on communication; focus on the message, not the grammar.
  •  Cum errare humanum sit, ne timueritis scribere, metu errandi permoti. 
  • Scripta autem aliena nolite corrigere, nisi auctor auxilium petit.
  • Locutorium id agit ut Latine scribendi ars colatur. 
  • Ergo scribite tantummodo Latine.

Here is the join link.

When you join, please introduce yourself 'Salve, nomen mihi est ....." will be fine. :)

 WHY NO CORRECTING?
Why the rule about no correcting?
 Modern language theory and evidence based research tells us that over correcting, even correcting at all, is usually counter productive in the early stages of attempting to communicate in a new language.
 As long as you are actively studying the language as you go, errors will eventually resolve themselves. Fluency is achieved through action, through exposure to the language, and through struggling with using it.
 If a learner is unsure, to the degree that they are scared to communicate at all, then they will think twice before even attempting to communicate.
 You have to just wade in and take risks. No risk taking, no learning.
 So, unless a user specifically asks for help, no-one is allowed to comment on another user's grammar or Latinity. 
In reality, in the give and take of the real-time chatroom, this rule is relaxed somewhat.
HOW TO CORRECT SOMEONE POLITELY
 A polite way to correct someone is to re-phrase what they said, correctly, as part of your reply, without explicitly saying you are making a correction.

Tuesday 15 October 2019

Busby's Introduction to Latin in Audio

A new online audio book for learning Latin from The Latinum Institute
Published online on 15th October 2019

Rev. Dr Richard Busby was born on 22 September 1606 and died on 6 April 1695. He  served as head master of Westminster School for more than fifty-five years. 
Reverend Busby is buried beneath the black and white marble pavement of the choir of Westminster Abbey, which he gifted to the abbey in 1677. 
His English Introduction to Latin has been made into an audiobook by Latinum.
Busby's Syntax 13 
 Russel Barker wrote a memoir, which is available on archive.org.  

He was famous for his liberal use of corporal punishment to discipline the boys. His pupils included the poet John Dryden, architect Christopher Wren, and scientist Robert Hooke.

Among the more illustrious of his pupils were Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, Robert South, John Dryden, John Locke, Matthew Prior, Thomas Millington and Francis Atterbury.

Richard Busby with pupil
John Riley (1646 - 1691).
Oil on Canvas
124.5 x 99.1 cms
Christ Church College
Oxford University
Image from Art UK

Thursday 10 October 2019

Latinum Latin Course


Welcome to the Latinum Institute


The Latinum Institute offers a complete Latin Language Audio Course for self-study, including Adler's Practical Grammar of the Latin Language.
You will find everything you need here to study to an advanced level. There is no need to even buy a single textbook, if you are prepared to use digital books. Links to online free textbooks are provided, where these are available. The audio course materials are designed to be 'stand-alone', and can be used without sitting down in front of a book. You can study on the go, in your car, out walking or running, or while doing household chores. 


 The Language Catalogues

Structure

 The Adler Audio Course is structured in the following way:
Each of the 97 lessons is in 3 parts: ( except for the first four lessons, which follow a slightly different arrangement)
  • Grammar and syntax with extensive paradigms added to the text. The grammar is very detailed, with large numbers of additional paradigms and useful memory clues. Vocabulary is presented in advance of every lesson.
  • Model question-answer conversations in Latin-English-Latin. Here you consolidate your vocabulary, and learn the grammatical structures in use.
  • Slow repetition and fast repetition of the conversational material in Latin only, for review.
 

Supplements to Adler

In addition to the Adler Online Audio Course, a suite of supplementary study materials specifically for Adler's course have been created: 
  • Adler's Textbook is available for free on Google Books here.
  • The Dictata (Exercises) are free on Google Books is here
  • The Dictata (Exercises) transcription by Carolus Raeticus is here
  • ANKI flashcards for Adler by Carolus Raeticus are here
  • Clozemaster Games by Adam Bushashia for learning the vocabulary for Adler in the context of sentences of the exercises are here
 Suggested Curriculum for using the supporting course materials 

    
All the Latin audio here is carefully read in restored classical pronunciation. Evan der Millner's pronunciation of Latin has been extensively peer reviewed, and conforms to the academic gold standard - W S Allen's 'Vox Latina', Sturtevant, and the Cambridge Philological Society guidelines. Greek pronunciation used on the course follows a form of reconstructed Koine, approximating the way Greek may have sounded during era of the late Roman republic.. 

Mastery

The Latinum Institute offers you the tools to master Latin and Greek. To this end, textbooks that were written for teaching Latin as a ‘workhorse’ language are used – including parts of Comenius‘ famous 17th century course, Adler‘s Practical Grammar, Kontopoulos' Greek Course, and extensive supplementary materials. 
You can follow the curriculum broadly outlined here – but feel free to use the materials in any order. For Latin, you are encouraged to begin working with Adler and Comenius. 

Levels

The Latinum Institute has subscribers at all learning levels - complete beginners, those wanting to brush up on old Latin, Greek or Hebrew (and Aramaic) and advanced students at university level. Several Latin teachers also subscribe to The Latinum Institute, and use the materials for professional development. There is also an audio-visual component to help beginners. 

Videos and playlists on Latinum's extensive Latin collection YouTube Channel. Your membership subscription here also supports Latinum's You Tube channel. This includes three introductory audio-visual Latin courses.

STREAMING CATALOGUE: Streaming $8 /month including Adler, Aesop's Fables, Bennett, Latin Bible, Busching, Caesar, Holy Mass, Catullus, Chickering, Coleridge, Collar, Comenius, Corderius, D'Ooge, Erasmus, Eutropius, Fay, Fenton, L'Homond, Maxey, Nepos, Nutting, Pexenfelder, Reed, Reynolds, Sonnenschein, Stanford and Scott ,Virgil, and more
DOWNLOAD CATALOGUE:Streaming Download $15 /month including Adler's complete Latin Audio Course (191 hours), Book of Psalms, Caesar Reading Book, Caesar Grammar Course, Taylor's Caesar, Coleridge, Comenius Vestibulum, Comenius Orbis Pictus, Der Kleine Lateiner, Eutropius, Nepos, D'Ooge Latin Course, D'Ooge Colloquia, L'Homond Historiae Sacrae, Materia Medica, Maxey's Cornelia, Maxey's New Latin Primer, Pexenfelder, Psalms, Puer Romanus, Sanford and Scott, Dictionary in Audio, Underwood's Latin Course, and more.

Latin

Welcome to the Latinum Institute


The Latinum Institute offers a complete Latin Language Audio Course for self-study, including Adler's Practical Grammar of the Latin Language.
You will find everything you need here to study to an advanced level. There is no need to even buy a single textbook, if you are prepared to use digital books. Links to online free textbooks are provided, where these are available. The audio course materials are designed to be 'stand-alone', and can be used without sitting down in front of a book. You can study on the go, in your car, out walking or running, or while doing household chores. 


 The Language Catalogues

Structure

 The Adler Audio Course is structured in the following way:
Each of the 97 lessons is in 3 parts: ( except for the first four lessons, which follow a slightly different arrangement)
  • Grammar and syntax with extensive paradigms added to the text. The grammar is very detailed, with large numbers of additional paradigms and useful memory clues. Vocabulary is presented in advance of every lesson.
  • Model question-answer conversations in Latin-English-Latin. Here you consolidate your vocabulary, and learn the grammatical structures in use.
  • Slow repetition and fast repetition of the conversational material in Latin only, for review.
 

Supplements to Adler

In addition to the Adler Online Audio Course, a suite of supplementary study materials specifically for Adler's course have been created: 
  • Adler's Textbook is available for free on Google Books here.
  • The Dictata (Exercises) are free on Google Books is here
  • The Dictata (Exercises) transcription by Carolus Raeticus is here
  • ANKI flashcards for Adler by Carolus Raeticus are here
  • Clozemaster Games by Adam Bushashia for learning the vocabulary for Adler in the context of sentences of the exercises are here
 Suggested Curriculum for using the supporting course materials 

    
All the Latin audio here is carefully read in restored classical pronunciation. Evan der Millner's pronunciation of Latin has been extensively peer reviewed, and conforms to the academic gold standard - W S Allen's 'Vox Latina', Sturtevant, and the Cambridge Philological Society guidelines. Greek pronunciation used on the course follows a form of reconstructed Koine, approximating the way Greek may have sounded during era of the late Roman republic.. 

Mastery

The Latinum Institute offers you the tools to master Latin and Greek. To this end, textbooks that were written for teaching Latin as a ‘workhorse’ language are used – including parts of Comenius‘ famous 17th century course, Adler‘s Practical Grammar, Kontopoulos' Greek Course, and extensive supplementary materials. 
You can follow the curriculum broadly outlined here – but feel free to use the materials in any order. For Latin, you are encouraged to begin working with Adler and Comenius. 

Levels

The Latinum Institute has subscribers at all learning levels - complete beginners, those wanting to brush up on old Latin, Greek or Hebrew (and Aramaic) and advanced students at university level. Several Latin teachers also subscribe to The Latinum Institute, and use the materials for professional development. There is also an audio-visual component to help beginners. 

Videos and playlists on Latinum's extensive Latin collection YouTube Channel. Your membership subscription here also supports Latinum's You Tube channel. This includes three introductory audio-visual Latin courses.

STREAMING CATALOGUE: Streaming $8 /month including Adler, Aesop's Fables, Bennett, Latin Bible, Busching, Caesar, Holy Mass, Catullus, Chickering, Coleridge, Collar, Comenius, Corderius, D'Ooge, Erasmus, Eutropius, Fay, Fenton, L'Homond, Maxey, Nepos, Nutting, Pexenfelder, Reed, Reynolds, Sonnenschein, Stanford and Scott ,Virgil, and more
DOWNLOAD CATALOGUE:Streaming Download $15 /month including Adler's complete Latin Audio Course (191 hours), Book of Psalms, Caesar Reading Book, Caesar Grammar Course, Taylor's Caesar, Coleridge, Comenius Vestibulum, Comenius Orbis Pictus, Der Kleine Lateiner, Eutropius, Nepos, D'Ooge Latin Course, D'Ooge Colloquia, L'Homond Historiae Sacrae, Materia Medica, Maxey's Cornelia, Maxey's New Latin Primer, Pexenfelder, Psalms, Puer Romanus, Sanford and Scott, Dictionary in Audio, Underwood's Latin Course, and more.