by Aldus Marius on Mon Jun 21, 2004 11:47 pm
Avete amici!
Most of us either "wish they had" or are "glad they did". As someone else noted, that is to be expected for the types of people most likely to be attracted by something like the SVR.
I have never taken a formal Latin class, and I don't think I'm missing anything.
As I've noted in a couple of other places, my Latin is entirely self-taught. In the beginning this was because there is no other way to learn Latin in Riverside County, Southern California; even UC-Riverside offers only a correspondence course.
But I have begun to think that the dearth of classes may have actually been a blessing. By picking it up all on my own, I was spared the dismal years of watching what I regard as a living language get dissected and freeze-dried like an embalmed flamingo. I never had to take it apart to appreciate it. No one learns Spanish that way, or Romanian. Na, point me to a classics club or other setting where I can polish my Latin the way Nature polishes rocks: in the rough-and-tumble of daily encounters with fellow-speakers; in the river's-flow of conversation; in complete immersion, for a week or a weekend, on a route-march with some other Legionaries, or (Ita est!) even in a classroom run by a like-minded professor.
I teach others Latin that I might have someone to talk to. I have things to read, and worksheets I've made up myself, and interest, and time. Unless I did indeed find that remarkable professor/a and that revolutionary class, I'd probably do better avoiding a formal setting. I'd really hate to have the juice sucked out of me, y'know?
In fide,
Aldus Marius Peregrinus.