Latin for Americans: Level 1

This book is worth ever penny if you want to learn Latin! It’s very easy to digest and interesting enough to keep you invested!

I am in 8th grade and am currently using this Latin textbook. It is far better then the book I used in 6th grade Jenny's First Year Latin. I like the way the textbook is broken up in to Units and then into lessons. Every lesson has a short story to go along with the vocab list relating to an event in Roman history. The unit reveiws before a test are great. The only negative about this book, is that sometimes they thow in some concepts you dont know yet. But overall this book is great! And the workbook is also great that comes with it

This textbook does an excellent job of explaining Latin. It teaches vocabulary, grammar, culture, etc. The pictures in the book are excellent. It is an easy to understand textbook. It is the best Latin textbook on the market today. I took Latin thirty years ago (1970-1973) and Using Latin books 1, 2 and 3 by Annabel Horn, John Flagg Gummere and Margaret Forbes were the textbooks used in my classes. These books were published by Scott Foresman and Company and went out of print when the authors died. They were last published in 1961 (Book 1), 1963(Book 2) and 1968 (Book 3). These were very good books also but Latin for Americans is very similar in content to the Using Latin textbooks.. My son who took Latin two years ago in high school used Latin for Americans by B L Ullman, Charles Henderson and Norman E. Henry and he benefited very much from the textbooks. I purchased all three of these books because they are the best. Latin for Americans was originally published in 1941 and the latest edition which is the 9th edition was published in 2003. These are GREAT books!

I've been taking Latin for two years now in school using Latin for Americans, and I have to say it is one of the best Latin textbooks around! It has easy-to-use, comprehensive tables, etc., fun facts about the Romans interspersed throughout the chapters, and the funniest pictures!

I am currently a sophmore in high school and learning out of this book. I also studied from the 1st book last year. It is well written and pretty easy to understand. Definitly a good buy

Latin for Americans I belongs to those traditional Latin textbooks such as Jenney's First Year Latin and Hines' Our Latin Heritage I. The approach of Latin for Americans is basically a deductive, grammar-translation technique. There are 54 lessons which include all declensions, the entire indicative mood in active and passive voice as well as indirect statement and the ablative absolute. This fairly ambitious coverage of morphology and associated syntax within the first year of school study is offset by the concise lesson format. Each lesson has a reading incorporating new morphology and syntax, color-coded morphology charts to assist visual learning, illustrations of new syntax, form and grammar drills, and a short vocabulary. The emphasis throughout all lessons, in which stories are thematically grouped ( i.e., Roman gods, Roman history, social life, myths and legends, etc.) and linked to lavish color pictures, is reading comprehension in Latin. Each lesson does have a short writing exercise, usually of about five short sentences to be rendered from Latin into English. Latin for Americans I is an ideal text for 8th or 9th-grade beginners of limited experience in language learning because it moves from very easy to somewhat more difficult on a slow curve. Basic grammatical terms are not fully assumed as background knowledge and Latin sentences are kept short and unambiguous. "Bite-size" lessons work well initially to instill confidence in inexperienced learners. As a Latin instructor, I would express only one reservation about the Latin for Americans series ( on which I learned in school): Latin composition is definitely underplayed. I find myself creating writing exercises which the book lacks, a reminder that any textbook is only a map and not the territory. On the other hand, one of the finest features of the book is its lush pictures and illustrations, a powerful invitation to ancient art and archaeology. After touring ancient sites in Latin for Americans, any student will want to visit Italy and Greece for a first-hand look. Overall, Latin for Americans I is a realistic option for the traditional Latin teacher who wishes to save the direct presentation of grammar but within an attractive, learner-friendly context which presents the learning of Latin as more than mere verbal drill.