New Member - Intro and a few questions

[dokpm0]

Fellow Latin Enthusiasts,

I'm Kevin, an adult attempting to learn Latin on my own. I've been participating in an online study group which uses Wheelock's at it's text. Well, actually I'm on my third attempt. Anyway, recently I heard about the materials available from Memoria Press. Would any of the materials be a good choice for an adult involved in independent study? If so, which series would be the best place to start for an adult with limited Latin experience?



Thank You,

Kevin

[Martin Cothran]

Kevin,

The best thing I can tell you is how I learned (as an adult) a number of years ago. I used the Henle program. The nice thing about the program is that Henle (the author) put his teaching in the book. It is one of the few programs out that that is both rigorous and easy to use. You literally need nothing other than the text and grammar book. Some books, like Wheelock, really need a teacher to teach them--or supplementary books to tell you how to use them. Not so with Henle.

We do publish guides that cover the first five units of Henle, but they just give you a scope and sequence and a clear daily plan. The are not a necessity, although they are a convenience.

Martin Cothran

[barbara914]

Hi Kevin,

Welcome to the adult learners group. When I decided to learn Latin, I bought all the Wheelock materials. I became discouraged very quickly because each lesson contained way too much material for me.

I switched to the Memoria Press materials. First, I completed the two Latina Christiana books, and that was a good idea for me. If nothing else, it was a confidence booster. (I'm 62, and it had been years since I attempted to memorize anything.) Then I turned to Henle. Since some of the material repeated from LC, I made rapid progress at first. Now it's tougher going. Depending on how much you learned with Wheelock, you may want to just go to Henle.

Get the study guides. You just go step by step. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's difficult. It seemed to take me forever to learn the third person personal pronouns. I study Latin by the clock. I start with prayer (in Latin, of course), do the daily drill, then set my timer for 45 minutes. When it beeps, I stop. Sometimes it takes me more than one day to do a lesson, but my brain is pretty much worn out after 45 minutes.

I happen to be reading Montaigne's Essays and it's loaded with Latin quotations. They are much too advanced, but sometimes I can get the gist before I read the translation. That's encouraging!

Let us know what you choose and how it's working.

Cheers,
Barbara

[dokpm0]

After reading info/reviews in the online forums and some of the archives of the Henle mailing lists it sounds like Henle might just be the best way to go. I ordered a First Year Henle set this morning and can hardly wait for it to arrive.



Thanks,


Kevin

[lavinia velez]

Hi! Goodluck on it! Learning Latin is so interesting!