Latin Alive!

As we enter the season of advent and the school calendar moves ever more quickly towards the holiday break, I like to introduce some readings that relate to the season at hand.  I find offering a break in the routine with material relevant to the holidays really helps to maintain the interest and enthusiasm of students growing restless and anxious with anticipation.   Many years I have often given students old Latin hyms to translate.  Traditional hyms such as Veni, Veni, Emmanuel and Adeste Fideles are still widely popular today.  The students seem to genuinely enjoy learning the meaning behind the words they sing each year.  The first verses of the latter are wonderful for even younger students due to their simplicity.  The former is a little more complicated, but the poetry of the verses is powerful and moving.

Having read through both of these in years past, I gave my advanced students the Christmas Story: Luke 2 from the Vulgate Bible.  The New Testament, including all four gospels were originally penned in Koine Greek for this was the common language of commerce in the Mediterranean world.  In the late 4th century Anno Domini Jerome translated the entire Bible into Latin.  It was known as the versio vulgata, the commonly used version.  Today it is called the Vulgate.  This translation served as the authoritative work for the Roman Catholic Church for centuries.

This resource provides a wonderful opportunity for student work.  For Christian students there is certainly a caveat against relying to heavily on their memory of Bible stories or peeking at their own Bibles for too much help.  It must be emphasized that they need to understand the words and their meanings for themselves, otherwise they are short changing themselves.  At the same time, the familiarity of words and story allow a great opportunity for reading at sight.  Perhaps most valuable of all, in this time of shopping, decorating, and celebration overload, it reminds us all of the true meaning of Christmas.  God most high descending to earth in lowly human form, a seemingly helpless babe in a manger who would become our savior and redeemer. 

 gloria in altissimis Deo et in terra pax in hominibus bonae voluntatis  

(Luke 2.14)

The following are two links for online versions of the Vulgate.  The first is a great resource for teachers and parents as it provides a side-by-side English translation.  This allows you to move through the text more easily to find the passages you want to use.  It is difficult, however, to cut ‘n’ paste text from this site.

Latin Vulgate with King James Translation:  http://www.latinvulgate.com/verse.aspx?t=1&b=3&c=2

(It should be noted that the King James translation is based off the original Hebrew and Greek, not the Latin text.)

 The Vulgate: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/vul/

As we prepare for the new school year students and parents and teachers ought to consider ways to manage their studies so that Latin can be a successful adventure and not a stressful or overwhelming test of endurance.  Recently a colleague shared a set of tips listed on the classics page for Cornell University.  This is a fantastic list!  

Cornell is a private 4 year liberal arts  college situated in Mount Vernon, Iowa.  This prestigious school was awarded a place of honor among the 40 Colleges That Change Lives.  Check it out.

General Guidelines

• Do your studying in relatively small chunks (ca. 40-60 min).
• Do take breaks while studying.
• Be an active and interactive learner.
• When studying, use as many senses as possible: speaking, listening, writing, and reading.
• Spend 45 minutes each day reading.
• Practice with a friend.

Specific Suggestions

• Practice saying new words out loud (or writing them).
• Study vocabulary several times a day for 5-10 minutes at a time.
• When learning vocabulary, practice conjugating new verbs or declining new nouns and adjectives.
• Practice using new vocabulary in simple sentences so that you get used to seeing the word in context.
• Practice with a friend, making up sentences about the pictures, asking questions about the story, creating short questions and answers, and quizzing each other on grammar and vocabulary.
• Imagine a specific context (e.g., the home, the market, the tavern, the forum) and create sentences that describe what is happening in that setting.
• Review old vocabulary and grammar before doing the written homework.
• Study new vocabulary and grammar before attempting the written homework.
• Re-read an old reading passage to get you thinking Latin before attempting the homework.
• Read a new passage for content first, guessing at words that you don’t know, looking for key words to help you unravel the meaning of the paragraph.
• Read a new passage quickly on the first try while listening to the tape, trying to get the gist of the passage (aural and visual reinforcement).
• Read the passage aloud, trying to speak the story in phrase groups that belong together (recognizing sense units).
• Better to read through the passage several times rather than just once.
• Rewrite a paragraph or two of a reading passage by changing the time (tense) or the point of view (person and number).
• After reading the passage carefully, try listening to it on tape without looking at the text (testing comprehension).

DON’T

• Don’t panic. It’s normal for language students not to master new grammar or vocabulary on the first try. Language learning is a cumulative process.
• Don’t study for several hours in a row without a break. You’ll go nuts, and it will be less likely to become part of your long-term memory.
• Don’t be a passive learner. If you use all your senses, if you use the language to create new sentences, you will learn it better.
• Don’t just read an assignment to yourself: say the words or write them.
• Don’t study vocab for more than 15 minutes at a time, preferably no more than 10 minutes at a time.
• Don’t begin your written homework without first reviewing old vocabulary and practicing old grammar (you’ll end up having to look up too many words and forms and you’ll feel like you are spinning your wheels).
• Don’t begin your written homework without studying the new vocab and grammar (ditto).
• Don’t refer to grammar charts and vocabulary lists as you do your homework. If you have already reviewed the material, try to work from memory. Then go back and check your work after you have completed the entire exercise.
• When doing a reading passage, don’t read the passage just once. This is a foreign language, not your native language. Give it time to sink in.
• Don’t write out a literal translation of a reading passage. Better to spend the time re-reading the passage.

Bona Fortuna! Learning Latin can be fun if you make it fun!