Learn Latin: A Lively Introduction to Reading the Language

From a 'blog entry (http://richleonardi.blogspot.com/2006/05/prima-latina.html): I wrote recently about my interest in learning Latin. It comes in part from wanting to be able to instruct my children in the language, but also with the realization that, with my thirty-eighth birthday around the corner, there are only so many things I'm likely to accomplish before I turn forty. Learning Latin and the rudiments of Greek is something I think I can do. For "primers" I chose two books: Peter Jones's "Learn Latin" and G.D.A. Sharpley's "Teach Yourself Beginner's Latin." Both volumes are very good, beginning with lessons in the first conjugation and adding a dozen or more words in each chapter to help students build a vocabulary. If I had to choose between them, though, Jones would be the favorite. Based on a series of articles that ran in the Telegraph of London a decade ago, "Learn Latin" promises to leave students able to read basic Latin in nineteen weeks. "I guess that anyone who completes the course will have covered about two-thirds of a GCSE course in Latin." The book is laced with Jones's wit, humor, and knowledge of the intersection between English and Roman history, but this is no gimmicky approach to learning the language. You are asked to drill, drill, drill. After completing just the first chapter, I had filled four pages of notes with work from the requested exercises. And it works. I walked my kids through the first lesson of Latina Christiana I without having to consult the teacher's guide. Sharpley is good, but his approach is somewhat less methodical than Jones's. He also occasionally lets fly pedantic zingers like this one: "The classical period of Latin was a moment in the language's evolution which could not endure, for no living language can remain the same for long. The efforts of later grammarians to preserve classical Latin were a symptom of its passing." So am I studying a collection of disease-like symptoms, then? If so, why bother learning it at all? On the plus side, he does spend more time on pronunciation. (Remember, Jones's is a reading course.) In sum, you can't go wrong with either author, but go with Jones in a pinch.

I have tried them all. Latin instruction books are usually not very user friendly. I have Rosetta Stone full version and while it is great for expanding vocabulary, it doens't even attempt to deal with grammar. Most books, Wheelock, etc. assume you have a degree in English grammar. (Which I do but it still doesn't help) Peter Jones book seems to do a better job than most in explaining why Latin sentences are put together the way they are. It also does a good job of explaining endings...both nouns and verbs. It doesn't explain the ablative case. No book I have found so far has, but it does at least show pretty clearly what it looks like.

I totally agree with the reviews below.I'm korean and never knew latin, and this was a bliss.It's so easy and fun to learn latin with this book~

After dealing with my son's Latin courses and instructors, let it be said that this book is revitalizing. Most of my son's Latin teachers in high school and now college were and are now clustered, humorless, unreal people. Mr. Jones changes all of that. His book makes the subject of learning latin as light as it should be. I am coming from the point of view of an American Catholic who had to mouth our "Pater Noster"'s and Litany of Saints without having any idea what was being said. No longer. He almost makes me want to pick up Latin again as he adequately explains tenses, cases, gender, person and verbs with a layman's level of accessibility. And then he intersperses these lessons with witty digressions on Roman history. He even tackles the awkward subject of Latin poetry. My son tells me that the rhythms are quite interesting. I might just have to purchase my own copy, because this book can be appreciated on so many levels. Also I wish to affirm after helping my son, this book is the best available. We slogged our way through the abstruse "Wheelock's Latin" and will never do that again. In 20 lessons he does what that previous book couldn't do in 40. (By the way, in response to incredible demand, he has also written a follow-up to this called "Learn Ancient Greek". My son also tells me that this makes greek no longer "Greek" to the reader.) (The rest of foreign language teachers should take note of him. If they could all write or teach with this much clarity, society would have fewer stressed out parents and disengaged students.)

I took one semester of Latin in college 12 years before I got this book. As soon as I started reading it I knew it would be a great way to get back into Latin. I've looked at every beginning Latin book I could find; none are better than Learn Latin. If want to teach yourself Latin and do so from a book that makes it interesting, funny, and therefore painless, this is the book!