Self Study in Latin and a question

[InterlockingNY]

My education wasn't bad. It was a standard public school curriculum. I wasn't very disciplined and that falls on my shoulders. My frustration with the latest instructional fads led me to explore and attempt to define what a classical education was (I'm a public school teacher in Brooklyn).

I bought the Henle set. Its girth led me to conclude that self study should be slow and gradual. I average one exercise per day. I used Prima Latina as a supplement/enrichment program. Once that was completed, I moved on to LC I. In each of those texts I averaged one lesson per day. I'd like to supplement with the remaining Memoria texts while trudging through the Henle set.

I use Wheelock's to break the monotony but it is quite difficult. I'm planning on getting the Grotes guide to help me out.

I have an issue: My approach to self study heavily favors the Christian/Ecclesiastical pronounciation and I'm cool with that. In fact I prefer it. Here is the question: When "c" precedes "e" or "i", should I use the "c" sound as in "cell" or the "c" sound as in "chamber"? Cicero (See-sero) sounds better than "Chee-chero" but amici (ah-mi-chi) sounds better than "ah-mi-si". Help me out.

[Gina]

The ecclesiastical pronounciation for a c before i, e, ae, or oe is "ch". hth:)

[barbara914]

Hi Interlocking NY and Others,

I, too, tried Wheelock at first and found too many concepts to absorb in each lesson. I stopped at lesson 2.

Overwhelmed with Wheelock, I started LC I in March 2006. After finishing LCI and II, I started with Henle in September. I'm very glad that I took the six months with LC before going on to Henle. It's nice to see familiar vocabulary and to sail through the earlier lessons. Other than a week of vacation now and then, I've been able to keep up with the Henle Study Guides, which have five days of exercises for each lesson. Currently, I'm on Lesson 6 of the second study guide (for units III-V).

I wonder why you're also using Wheelock. I know I would find it too confusing to work with more than one approach. Also, if you feel like you're "trudging" through Henle, maybe you're going at too fast a pace for the amount of time you have available.

I'm 62 years old and, for me, the best tool for learning is to achieve mastery before moving on. And that means review, review, review. I begin with Latin prayers and the daily fun drill (now that's an inspired phrase!) before I do the day's lesson.

As far as pronunciation, I use Christian Latin, though I'm sure it's not exactly correct. Sometimes I exaggerate the pronunciation to help me remember the spelling. My goal is to read Latin so I'm not too concerned with the pronunciation.

Good luck, and let us know how you're doing.