Did you take Latin?

Forum and collegium dedicated to the teaching, writing, speaking and interpretation of Latin, ancient Greek and other languages of related cultures.

Moderator: Aldus Marius

Did you take Latin in secondary school / high school?

Yes, and in hindsight, I'm glad I did
15
68%
Yes, and in hindsight, I'm not glad I did
1
4%
No, and looking back at it, I'm glad I didn't
1
4%
No, and looking back at it, I wish I had
5
22%
 
Total votes : 22

Did you take Latin?

Postby Gnaeus Dionysius Draco on Sun Jun 20, 2004 8:18 pm

Salvete latinistae,

Okay, the results of this poll are probably going to be skewed, given the field of interest of our members, but still.

Did you take Latin, and if so, do you think it was good for you? If so/not, why? Discuss!

Valete,
Draco
Gn. Dionysius Draco Invictus
User avatar
Gnaeus Dionysius Draco
Curialis
Curialis
 
Posts: 1618
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2002 8:04 pm
Location: Belgica

Postby Q. C. Locatus Barbatus on Sun Jun 20, 2004 8:48 pm

I did, and I never was able to write or understand it, but I must say my latin teachers were the best teachers I ever had. And the odd translated text was interesting :wink: .
Quintus Claudius Locatus Barbatus
Rector
Princeps Gentis Claudiae
Consul
Senator
Patricius
Q. C. Locatus Barbatus
Senator
Senator
 
Posts: 525
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2002 6:32 pm
Location: Gent

Postby Tiberius Dionysius Draco on Mon Jun 21, 2004 1:19 pm

Well, I did Latin for about two years.

But looking back on it, I'm not really happy that I did it, nor am I unhappy. So what should I choose? :?
Last edited by Tiberius Dionysius Draco on Mon Jun 21, 2004 6:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Tiberius Dionysius Draco
User avatar
Tiberius Dionysius Draco
Curator
Curator
 
Posts: 458
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2002 5:18 pm
Location: Belgica

Postby Quintus Marius Primus on Mon Jun 21, 2004 5:52 pm

I never did it at school, purely for the fact that it was not available! Most British schools don't teach it anymore anyway - and it's hard enough to get British kids to learn French and Spanish, let alone a language that is "dead".

To be honest, looking back I probably wouldn't have been interested then anyway - I was more interested in the modern European languages.
Q. Marius Primus
Londinium, Britannia
User avatar
Quintus Marius Primus
Eques
Eques
 
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2004 5:14 pm
Location: Londinium, Britannia

Mari's Latin

Postby 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.
User avatar
Aldus Marius
Curialis
Curialis
 
Posts: 2175
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2002 3:16 am
Location: At the Ballgame

Postby Cleopatra Aelia on Mon Jan 10, 2005 7:43 pm

Salvete,

I had Latin for four (loooong) years and I regret it that I haven't chosen French as a second language instead. I work as a foreign language secretary for an export company and have to use French. With French only as a third language it was quite a struggle to get good enough to use it in business life. And Latin didn't help me neither learning French nor Spanish which I also know a bit.

Also discouraging was when I was in 8th grade (had Latin from 7th grade until the end of 10th grade) and we were translating a text and me and some others didn't even understand what we were translating our teacher said that only the educated people understood texts like that, the lower class didn't. And we had to understand this as teenagers who were learning a foreing language!!!!

The only interesting text we had to translate was by Plinius the Younger about the eruption of Mons Vesuvius where his uncle died at Stabiae.

Of course being interested in Rome it could be usefull learning Latin but the teachers at my school did it the wrong way. Some time ago I saw in the morning on my way to work on the metro a (presumably) Latin teacher who prepared to cook Roman recipes with her Latin class. When I told this my friend (an old classmate) she got jealous and wished we would've done something like that, too. I think things like these really do make a language class much more interesting, to use the language in a practical way.
Cleopatra Aelia
alias Medusa Gladiatrix
User avatar
Cleopatra Aelia
Curialis
Curialis
 
Posts: 353
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2005 12:57 pm
Location: Hamburg, Germania

Postby Q Valerius on Tue Jan 11, 2005 12:19 pm

Yes, I took Latin for three years, and it was the best sleep I've gotten in school! Qui Latinam mihi docet? Myself, of course, although I must say that my Latin teacher helped on some points, it was largely taught by myself so that in class I could make fun of the slow kids (which happened to be 99% of the class).
Q Valerius
Eques
Eques
 
Posts: 393
Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2004 7:06 am

Postby Marcus Pomponius Lupus on Tue Jan 11, 2005 4:42 pm

Hmm, I think my Latin teacher would suggest "Quis latinam me docet ?" :wink:

Vale bene
Lupus
Marcus Pomponius Lupus
Iurisconsultus
User avatar
Marcus Pomponius Lupus
Eques
Eques
 
Posts: 307
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2002 8:40 pm
Location: Belgica

Postby Primus Aurelius Timavus on Tue Jan 11, 2005 5:11 pm

Salve Lupe,

I'm curious, why not mihi? I think the dative would fit perfectly here. It seems to be a classic (no pun) use of the indirect object.

Tergestus
Primus Aurelius Timavus
Curator, Rogator, Praetor et Patricius
Civis Romanus Sum
User avatar
Primus Aurelius Timavus
Curator
Curator
 
Posts: 524
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2002 11:14 pm
Location: America Italiaque

Postby Marcus Pomponius Lupus on Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:20 pm

Salve Tergeste,

Yes, it seems like a classic case, kind of like "I give the book to Atticus" - librum Attico dono, but docere (and edocere, meaning the same) goes with 2 accusatives, one for what is being teached and one for who it is teached to.

For example:

I will teach the students grammar

Artem grammaticam discipulos docebo

It's the same with rogare (to ask). In "I will ask Atticus for his opinion", the dative would seem normal for Atticus as well, but again, both what you ask for and who is being asked the question will be accusatives:

Atticum sententiam rogabo

Vale bene
Lupus
Marcus Pomponius Lupus
Iurisconsultus
User avatar
Marcus Pomponius Lupus
Eques
Eques
 
Posts: 307
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2002 8:40 pm
Location: Belgica

Postby Primus Aurelius Timavus on Tue Jan 11, 2005 8:13 pm

Aaah, an exception! One of the joys of Latin (and English).

By the way, I studied Japanese for a while and was impressed by the fact that there are only two irregular verbs in the whole language: to be (which seems to be irregular in all languages) and to come.

Spoken Japanese is really quite easy to learn. Maybe the EU should adopt it as the pan-European language! (Sorry, I was just reading the other thread).
Primus Aurelius Timavus
Curator, Rogator, Praetor et Patricius
Civis Romanus Sum
User avatar
Primus Aurelius Timavus
Curator
Curator
 
Posts: 524
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2002 11:14 pm
Location: America Italiaque

Postby Q Valerius on Wed Jan 12, 2005 10:36 am

Yes, I forgot that docere took a double accusative. How silly of me. I will continue on using accusative + dative as one of my signature marks of Latin. Viva Latina!

BTW - If Japanese were to be used, and I know it never will, it would be immediately rejected because no one, and I do mean no one, will want to be forced to learn all the millia of Kanji.
Q Valerius
Eques
Eques
 
Posts: 393
Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2004 7:06 am


Return to Collegium Linguarum

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

cron