Second Form Latin, Lesson 3 Translation

[janahigh]

The longer sentences for translation are tripping us up...is there a systematic way of approaching these? I want to build good habits and keep things from creeping in which would cause trouble in translation courses later. I'm learning along with my son, so I don't know enough to guide him in this. I guess I'm wondering if there's a method of analysis that would slow him down and prevent careless mistakes (he knows the vocab, endings, etc.) I would appreciate any advice you might have.

Thanks,
Jana High

[Michael]

Jana,

There are several different ways to systematically approach Latin translation. I'm going to give you a quick summary of my personal favorite one, and then explain it in more detail below. Warning: this is a long post, and I apologize in advance. The process isn't complicated, it just takes a lot of words to write it out. It doesn't take that long to do once you've practiced it a couple of times.

1. Find the verb.
2. Find the subject (a nominative case noun or in the verb)
3. Go through the rest of the words.
4. Put it all together.

1. Picking one word, particularly the verb because a sentence usually only has one, gives the student a focus, and makes the sentence seem less overwhelming. It is also usually at the end of the sentence so the student has rough idea of where to look. Once you find the verb, parse it. You need to know the meaning first, then what person is it? What number? Tense? Feel free to make any notes above the word that you need to. I like to underline the verb or mark it in some other way.

2. After the verb, I like to ask the student (or myself) where is the subject, especially if the verb was in the third person. The subject has to be in the verb or be a nominative noun, so that is the second goal. If I can't find a nominative noun, then my subject is most likely in the verb (I say most likely because perhaps I couldn't find the noun on my first try. Step 3 will solve that.). If it is helpful, circle the subject (the noun or the personal ending of the verb), or again, mark it some other way.

3. Now that you have found the verb and the subject, you have a rough idea of the basic meaning of the sentence, and a great starting point. I like to go through the remaining words in order from the beginning of the sentence, as this is great practice for later translation. Go slowly, and parse any word you have to. Again, making notes can be very helpful. The hardest part is often identifying what part of speech each word is, but if your son knows the endings, then he should be able to say "That's a noun" or "That's a verb." Adjectives will have noun endings, but knowing the vocab will make it clear what is a noun and what is an adjective. Drawing arrows from each adjective to the noun it modifies can be a good idea. The sentence may look cluttered when you're done, but the result in step 4 will be worth it.

4. After you've gone through every word, put it all together. You know the subject and verb already, so fill in the pieces. Accusatives? Direct objects. Datives? Indirect objects. And so on.

If this seems like a lot of steps, I understand. It looks very long when written out, but I find that if the method is used a few times, it goes relatively quickly, and the beauty of it is it makes you look at every word, so that should slow your son down and help with careless mistakes. What you are doing here is essentially writing out the process you want to eventually do in your head. As you and your son move on and feel more confident, try making fewer and fewer notes. If he knows his vocab and endings, this method of organization may only be necessary for a few lessons.

Michael
Memoria Press

[janahigh]

Thanks so much for your reply - that's just what we need! We will start applying it today.

Jana